Petersa9

I noticed a small 6" puddle or coolant on my garage floor this morning, nothing major. Yesterday after a spirited drive I noticed a smell of coolant more so than usual. So I checked the normal things like coolant level, smoke from exhaust ie hg failure, inside cap of coolant tank, health of coolant and intermix. All checked out OK.

It's hard to tell where the leak is coming from, but I was hoping someone had a few suggestions or ideas on where to look. I don't want to disassemble the front end for a simple hose fix.

Any ideas?

MY03 C4S 53k.

Sneaky Pete

Is it coming from the bumper or closer to the LF wheel? If the wheel, pull it off and remove the wheel liner. There are some hose connections you can see. There is one connection that is a 3-way hose. I found a leak there after a good drive and the hose could not take the pressure after I turned motor off. Feel the hoses......if there squishy than you need to replace them. You have a 12 year old car. And if you do need to remove the bumper cover it is a quick 15-20 minute deal.

Petersa9

On visual inspection I found coolant running off top of radiator. Think she's leaking. I'll take bumper off tomorrow and get some pics posted.

Hurdigurdiman

You may as well clean between rads and condensers when you have the front off.

another link

Petersa9

I pulled the bumper and inside liners this morning. The leak is coming from the top of the radiator along the top plate. All hoses and connections were dry.

To make matters worse upon inspection of the other radiator I found a small amount of antifreeze seaping from the same location as the other.

Other than replacing the radiators are there any other options?

Furthermore, according to Pelicanparts the radiators for the 4S are not shared with the C2/c4's. http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/...WATRAD_pg1.htm

Should I go third party or OEM?

Ahsai

If you are able to see the cracks/holes, you may be able to fix it with aluminum brazing sticks.

Your radiators are $592 each + shipping from porschepartshub.com

geetee

one the c4s/turbo radiators, they tend to leak at the tabs....you can actually use pliers and bend the tabs a little to stop the leak. spirited run..leave the car on and take bumper off and see where the leak is. If it truely is around the tabs, bend them in a little to see if it stops. If it's too far gone you have OEM 550 ish or CFS all aluminum for 650 ish or can go cheap aftermarket starting at 300 ish

Petersa9

Thanks for the input. I'll give this a try first. Expensive repair.

Petersa9

Just ordered a Leakfinder kit to get to the bottom of this.

sjg1138

Would it be possible to braze the leak closed? Off the car that is. Then you could pressure test it to see if it was fixed.

Ahsai

Yes,
It should be safe if it can hold 30psi without leaking.

Petersa9

I was rethinking how to test for leaks instead of adding dye to the system remove the radiator, clean it up good, then fill with water and the dye from the leakfinder kit. Capping one end, pressurize it will my air compressor to 30psi and look for leaks.

Also, is it still OK to use th Audi branded antifreeze instead of the Porsche branded stuff? I read in the turbo forum it's the same stuff.

Macster

Couple of things.

If you are seeing coolant there's no need to use the leak finder kit.

Coolant shouldn't be there. If the hoses and hose connections are coolant tight then the leak is from the radiator itself.

While bending tabs might "stop" the leak this is at best a temporary fix. My advice would be to replace, at minimum, all radiators that are leaking. I would go so far as to advise you to replace all radiators. They are of the same age and have been exposed to the same elements and wear and tear and if one is leaking then the odds are high that if the others are not leaking now they soon will be. You could have the car back in the shop for another leak repair shortly after getting it back from this repair.

There I believe aftermarket radiators that many owners who've gone through this swear by. I have no experience with these radiators. When my Turbo's radiators -- all 3 unfortunately -- manifested leak sign on a recent trip back east -- I had all 3 replaced with factory radiators.

But search for aftermarket and all aluminum, too IIRC, radiators. Had I the option at the time I think I would have gone with these.

I do not know if the Audi anti-freeze and Porsche anti-freeze are the same or not. With the Porsche engine, the water pump seal needs a good and proper anti-freeze as this seal is lubed -- it can even "pass" some coolant and still be considered good -- by the additives in the anti-freeze. Thus my advice would be to just use the Porsche stuff. It is not like you have to change this every other month and using the "right" stuff takes the worry out of possibly using the wrong stuff.

After dealing with leaking radiators the last thing you want is to have to deal with a leaking water pump.

targa996

My indie uses vw/audi coolant - I have also used Pentosin sf - which their site says is the right stuff . Yes, don't mix the wrong sort of coolants. Pentosin is available at a lot of the auto parts stores here, including o'reilly ...