Not trying to create another coolant tube explosion post, just giving everyone an informational heads up. My 02 TT is for the most part a DD. (As long as it's not raining, which doesn't happen really all that much here in SoCal)
I do however enjoy the weekend spirited drive in my backyard Angeles Crest Highway and occasionally the Santa Monica mountain roads. With that being said, I have always had the explosive coolant tube epidemic in the back of my mind while on those spirited drives. Well............, with 72K miles it happened.
But it happened while I was driving home from work at 9pm. Sitting at a stoplight!!! I wasn't driving the car hard, and it was plenty warmed up, about 30 minutes of highway driving worth. Sitting at a stoplight, I noticed steam in my rear view mirror. As I'm watching the temp gauge, the low coolant warning appears and the temp rises. I was able to cross the intersection and pull over and turn off the engine before the temp gauge moved much more.
At the rate of how long it took all those things to occur, and by looking at the trail of fluid, my thought was it was a water pump failure. Apparently not.
Again, just informing people who may have that same worry hiding in the back of their mind. I don't track my car, and the burst happened while I was sitting at a stoplight. I knew that it would eventually happen, I just figured it would happen while pushing the car hard up the hill or downshifting around a corner. Not while sitting at a stoplight.

 

doesnt matter what the driving conditions are. at 190* theres a considerable amount of pressure built up in the coolant system. when the glue lets go the fitting pops. no its time to decide how far you want to go to fix this and some other issues you arent even aware of since the likelihood of a motor drop are in your future

 

Thanks for sharing...it's definitely always in the back of my mind as well. In a perfect world, my pipes will hold until my clutch starts to slip so that I can take care of both at the same time.

I totally get your point that it doesn't have to happen while pushing the car. For me, if it would happen at 9pm at a red light that would actually be ideal!! I only use my car occasionally but sometimes I might be out for a drive near rush hour and it would really suck (blow!) if it would happen then.

Anyway, glad you and the car are OK, now you can fix it and forget about it. BTW, are you planning to take care of anything else while in there?

 

Even though I was lucky to have this happen while sitting at a stop light, it unfortunately happened while I am in the start of a big kitchen expansion/remodel. Clearly I am going to get the coolant tubes pinned while the engine is out. I'll replace the water pump, and any vacuum tubes/hoses that look to be hard and brittle. I also plan on installing the gt3 cup car dip stick conversion, just for piece of mind.
Other then that, that's about all I can muster at this time. I know a new clutch would be ideal, I'll just have to do it at a later date. Any other thoughts on basic replacement items while the engine is out?

 

Do you know which tube popped out? Just wondering is some are more prone to this than others.

 

Hey I'm in the same boat. Two weeks ago I drove mine down to SoCal for some business meeting had a lot of chasing around to do down there and thought it would be fun to have the turbo. Coolant pipes were the last thing on my mind because 5 years ago I had bought the Torque Solutions 8 piece fitting kit and paid a shop to lower the motor and weld them. Turns out almost none were welded and I found myself on the way to a meeting stranded with a popped fitting I've been driving and tracking the car for 5 years thinking they were done. Car is still in Encinitas

 

^Wow, that sucks that a shop didn't make good on said repairs.

For the OP, with the engine out and in regards to the clutch. You could do a minor refresh of it by just changing the disk and nothing else. It's no more than 30 minutes to do this job with the engine out.

That's unless you're looking to upgrade clamping power for future upgrades.

 

Did the shop just glue the new fittings back in ala OEM treatment??
This is the one that popped on me:


In addition to all the previous small things I will replace, the clutch accumulator is also on the list to be replaced

 

not that i would say to do this as permanent fix but you can actually get to that fitting without dropping the motor to pin . it. may help you get your ride back on the road and allow you to wait until the remodel is done to start a porsche remodel.

oil temp sensor, intake manifold rubber gaskets, fuel filter, coolant tank reservoir are all things i would look at replacing if you do remove the motor. also if your going thru the trouble of removing the motor i owuld suggest welding the fittings vs pinning. eliminates any chance of future leaking and ypour going to do a water pump anyway.

 

This time last year I replaced a leaky coolant tank reservoir along with a new intake manifold gasket and fuel filter. All brand new g13 coolant (which is now on the street in my neighborhood). Forgot about the oil temp sensor being accessible now that the engine has been dropped.
I have heard mixed reviews with the welding option of the coolant tubes. One instance the weld had formed a stress crack and started leaking.

 

i have done it both ways. the welding work is dependent on the quality of the welder. all 8 fittings welded and under pressure testing 2 pin holes were found. they were addressed and never a leak again. pinning keeps the fittings from blowing out but does nothing for eventual leaking unless you remove each fitting jb weld them back in and then pin. if your doing all that may as well weld them since all 8 fittings have to be removed from the engine.

 

that's on my list since i bought the car in jun 2014. car is 03 sits at 57k, i drive it only on the weekends but i need to wait a bit longer, no time/ but i wish for heated garage with a lift and drop that motor/sucker and pin/weld/jb weld all the pipes. last year I replaced front rad - because it was leaking bad. since now its winternation time

 

Both of you please update the Rennlist thread tracking this and report it to the NHTSB as while they didn't act in the original investigation they supposedly left it open for possible action later,

 

Funny, was just thinking this issue reminds me of the oil cooler line failures in the Lotus world.

In that case, a recall campaign was put in place to address the poorly crimped hydraulic line connectors, that could result in catastrophic loss of hot engine oil, with subsequent resulting engine damage.

I believe that the NTSB compelled Lotus there, at least in part, because the issue was well documented by owners.

Maybe PCNA could be likewise compelled?

 

Gee should stand up as one and go after Porsche and let them fix this under warranty. So if I'm driving on the hway going speed limit. And coolant pipe burst open. And die. Porsche will will say. Oh. The car was old. We don't care. I think this is the only thing that pisses me of about the car.