Hi everyone,

My GT4 is 1yr old with around 8500miles/14000km. A week ago I had a yellow warning message about checking the coolant level, this happened when starting the car. The car was parked slightly inclined, after 10s from moving it the warning message went away. So I thought it was ok (was it?) Didn't have the message again. For the rest of the week I didn't drive the car and forgot about it, but yesterday after driving the car for 30km I parked it again slightly inclined and I had a red warning about low coolant level, saying to stop immediately the car, which is what I did. After 20s, I tried to switching on the car and the message hopefully was gone and I could go back home, driving for another 30km while constantly checking the temperatures. Everytime oil and coolant temps were fine, between 210F to a max of 220F (100-105C)

Today I called Porsche and they simply told me to topup with a bit of water (water???), so I went to the closest gasoline pump and they told me to add coolant instead of water. So they added some red coolant (https://www.atassrl.it/en/product/autorad/ Product based on monoethylene glycol...) actually, they needed to add 1L to bring it to MAX. The red indicator actually went over MAX.. So I immediately headed to Porsche because I thought that 1L was a bit too much and I thought it was now overfilled, and they said they couldn't see any leak and they said to not worry about the indicator over max. They asked which coolant I added, I said that the color was red, and they said that "red coolant is ok".

Now, I'm probably paranoid, but after reading about the immense variety of coolants, I wanted to ask you:

- Can the coolant I've added cause issues with the original Porsche one (which should be G12++ compatible)? Do you suggest to make a complete coolant change?
- I'll now check about leaks, but can be "normal" 0.8-1L of coolant top up? It's 5-10C here (35-50F). Or is it probably an issue like a leak or something else?
- Do I have to try to partially remove the overfilled coolant?

I now have the feeling that the car warms up faster... don't know if it's me that now I'm thinking that something is wrong or I did something wrong.

Thank you so much!

 

If they indeed added that much your mixture of antifreeze to water is now off and you won't have the same cold temp protection. Porsche's like to see a 60:40 mix for optimum protection.

 

Thank you for your reply! I called the coolant supplier, they said that It's not pure, it's a -40, so it's a 60:40 mix. Any thought about my other concerns?

 

Should I go to Porsche and ask them to flush all the coolant and change it with new Porsche one?! Or for one litre of “red” compatible one it’s not going to be a problem?

I read that mixing different coolants could damage the cooling system… so I’m a bit worried

 

I wouldn't give it another thought until and unless that warning comes back on. At that point, it's off to the dealer for them to figure out where the coolant is going. It isn't evaporating.

 

Got a couple issues going on here.

First, type of coolant used to top off. As you note Porsche in the OM provides a recommended standard and states mixing within that standard ok. Determine if the coolant was within that standard, if not is there any downside when you mixed?

There are several different dash warnings associated with cooling/overtemp. Which one was it and what did it say?

The min/max levels at the top of the coolant stand pipe are only adding coolant when the red warning tells you to add coolant.

The OM says under normal conditions you should see coolant to the bottom of the stand pipe when cool. What do you see? This may help to determine if it’s overfilled.

It’s a sealed system and given the age/miles of your car no I wouldn’t expect to be adding any.

Good luck

 

Yes, if this was my car I would have this completed by aPorsche specialist or the dealership ASAP!

Is your car still under warranty?

If not, I would purchase an aftermarket warranty and as soon as the grace period is up I would thrive the snot out of her

 

yeah it’s under warranty. I’ll book for a complete change then. Do you know if this is going to remove completely that 1L of generic coolant?

 

thank you for your answer 🙏
the coolant I used was a red -40 (this one https://www.atassrl.it/en/product/autorad/).

I saw yellow “check coolant level” and yesterday the red “coolant level low, stop immediately” probably because I parked inclined and the level was low. In both cases after stopping the car waiting 20s and starting it again the message went away. Oil temp never exceeded 220F
/110C.

today before refilling there was no coolant at min.

 

The car was a bit low on coolant and was topped up with a fluid Porsche said was appropriate. The system capacity is 25 liters. You guys are freaking out over a non-issue.

The real issue is where is this fluid going. No way I'd pay a dealer hundreds of dollars to flush out perfectly good coolant unless they also corrected the problem at the same time. Otherwise, he's going to get all new coolant and another set of warnings down the road.

 

Waw 25L of coolant/water mix??

Because fully changing the coolant could give me other issues?

1L of coolant, do you think it's too much and it's leaking somewhere? I was thinking to go to Porsche and, while making a full coolant change, to inspect the coolant system trying to understand if it's all ok.

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I would spend a few hundred in a New York minute. I over maintain all of my cars. Heck, I replaced the front calipers with new on my 996 GT3 because they had a scratch and that is my track car

 

Yes it will if you have the system flushed.

 

Can replacing the whole coolant cause another set of issues, or is it a pretty standard thing to do?

 

25 liters is total capacity. So you just replaced 1/25 of the system with appropriate fluid. No problem there.

I do not think flushing the system will cause you other issues if done properly. IF DONE PROPERLY. Sometimes these systems don't bleed well and you get air pockets that you have to chase. I would hope a dealer would be able to accomplish the task but a dealer is only as good as the individual tech. Some are awesome. Some suck.

I do think it's leaking or being consumed. That's why I'd use this point in time as the starting point for diagnosis. If the level stays where it's at, you're good to go and that liter you put in is not an issue. If the level continues to drop, you KNOW you have an issue and it needs to be addressed.

Alternately, if you have it flushed, you could get warnings associated NOT with the initial problem, but with air that might have been introduced during the maintenance. And it would be hard to know which it was. I wouldn't risk it. I'd monitor closely for the next several thousand miles and see what happens.