cannga

Hi, am a 997 Turbo owner but asking this question here because of the board's experience.

I've noticed some fluid leak from the left front wheel area of my Turbo: the car would leave a patch on the ground of what looks like hydraulic fluid after I've parked. About three weeks ago I had the one year service at the local Porsche dealer where some "brake cleaner" was listed on the work order. I can't recall if the 2 events are related time wise.

It appears the fluid comes from the luggage compartment (see picture), where the brake fluid reservoir is, and then drips down to the wheel well and the ground. I've looked at the reservoir and the level seems to be ABOVE max -- where the manual says it should be BETWEEN min and max.

I plan to bring the car to the dealer tomorrow, but just a couple of quick questions please:
1. Is it possible the dealer over-filled the brake fluid and I am seeing the spilling from too much brake fluid?
2. Is the brake fluid reservoir supposed to spill like this when over-filled, or is there some abnormal leak in the system?
3. If it is over-filled, is there something that needs to be done?
4. BTW, the oil is also filled so that now all the bars are "lit," I've read about over filling with oil before but don't remember the bottom line. Do I need to do anything?
I would really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.

carrering

brake fluid is corrosive. if left, it will eat away the paint. take it to the dealership asap and have them clean it up and syphon out the excess fluid. that picture looks like the paint may already be reacting to the fluid. it sounds like it was overfilled.

fc-racer

I bet it's related to the unique-to-turbo clutch assist system. When they get faulty, it pressurizes the fluid reservoir. I believe it's a pentosin reservoir, rather than brakefluid but it's been a while since I had the same problem with my 993 turbo.

In my case, it was the slave cylinder and the accumator that had gone bad. Hope this helps.

911/Q45

+1 on a bad clutch slave cylinder.

cannga

Thanks everyone for the spot-on replies (really appreciate rennlist's gt3 forum). Following was what I was told today; am not much of a mechanic so if something sounds awefully wrong, it's me, not the Porsche tech who messed up!

Diagnosed as a faulty clutch slave cylinder, that in turn affects the "accumulator," or is it "actuator"?? Ok -- it's something that starts with the letter "a." LOL

The fluid used in the faulty system is Pentosin and I think the tech mentions this system is shared between power steering and clutch assist (???).

GT3 Chuck

good to get that fixed...pentosin is highly flammable and has burned a lot of Pcars to the ground

Carrera GT

Ten years. Same design flaw. Not what I expect from Porsche. I wonder if the accumulator is such a smart solution (I don't have it on mine.) I can't say I've heard of a lot of Pentosin fires, but it's nasty stuff and the various plastic fittings don't inspire confidence.

911/Q45

The term is accumulator, it accumulates pressure when the car is running so that power assist is available for a few pumps with the car off. The power steering pump supplies hydraulic pressure for the steering and clutch assists. The reservior up front is for manual operation of the clutch, backed up by the power assist. When the seal in the slave fails, the fluid is pumped through it and overflows the front reservior. Pentosin may be flammable, but it doesn't hurt paint or rubber.

TT Surgeon

Funny, mine went out today too, dealer found it at my 30k svc. get her back tomorrow.