I just received a Cooling System Fault message on my 2014 991C2 (PDK) - the warning is yellow, not red. I had to drive the car home and watched the temp gauges very closely on the trip back (my SA said it should be safe to drive home). My oil was a bit hotter than normal (~230-240). The coolant temp stayed at 194. When I parked the car in the garage, the engine smelled hotter than normal (not a full burning smell but warmer than normal).

Does anyone know what would be causing this error? Is it safe to drive the car since the warning is yellow? Ideally, I’d take the car to the dealer that I use for non-routine service work, but this dealer is ~60miles away.

Also, I know that the coolant temp gauges in our cars stay at 194 and does not report the true temp once the car is warmed up (likely to prevent people from bringing their cars in for service thinking the coolant temp was fluctuating or too high). Can we rely on the gauge to tell us if the car is actually running too warm before the car overheats?

Also, I checked to see if the heater was working after receiving the message, and I can confirm that I can no longer get cabin heat out of the vents.

Thanks for your help.

DJ

 

One or more of your changeover valves has failed. Or a vacuum line on one of those valves has popped off. They generally fail in a safe mode, so you are safe to drive it around, but you’ll want to get that fixed before the weather turns cool.

 

Congratulations you just joined the Change Over Valve failure club.

Safe to drive and it's a pretty easy fix when you take it in.

If you need any another services done this would be a great time since they have to tear into the back of your car to find the faulty valve.

 

If you are handy, you can do it yourself. I did 8 valves and harnesses for my 2013 C4S in 5 or 6 hours. The valve and harness are about $65 (for each pair, so multiply by 8 if you do them all). The one for the cabin cooling system is relatively easy to access. You don't need to pull the bumper or airbox to get to it if you have flexible hands.

 

Thanks for all of the replies. A few follow up questions:

(1) Can they tell which valve is faulty or do they need to replace all of them?

(2) Is it definitely safe to drive 60 miles to the dealer that I trust to open up the back of my car (I've had too many issues at my local dealer to have them do anything other than routine maintenance)?

(3) Is there any reason to worry about overheating the engine or transmission (I'm not sure if the PDK transmission has a warning light if the temperatures get too high) if one of these valves is faulty? One of them seems to control the PDK fluid heat exchanger. I'm concerned that this was the slight burning smell that I smelled the other day when I pulled it into the garage.

DJ

 

Another question is "are the latest COV any more reliable than the old ones". Long term ??

 

there is an open campaign on the coolant system/bottle/sensor. well documented here.

 

I had that and turned out the vacuum line cam off the exhaust. Reattached and cleared the code. It came back and sure enough it had popped off again. I'm waiting to see if it comes back without the line popping off. Oil and coolant temps were all well within normal range.

 

How much is an out of warranty COV at the dealer? Anyone have to pay yet?

 

I think STG had his all replaced proactively at the dealership. I'm sure he'll chime in. IIRC it was about $1,200.

 

I had all mine replaced by PCNA. Around $65 a piece. Dealer said he had 18 hours in it.

 

It's a shame we can't document all the COV failures and force PCNA to offer gratis out of warranty replacements. The original part is obviously substandard.

 

went to dealer for the infamous Coolant Fault warning light. Dealer said the vacuum hoses popped off and are reattached now but the part has been updated by Porsche, it will 660$ parts and labor. Not covered - My car is out of warranty.

Does anyone have the campaign number for this issue?

Dealer said there is nothing she can find.

thanks

 

update: I asked service advisor to consult w PCNA to see if they will cover the parts/labor of this well documented issue. She agreed that it should be a recall issue. service advisor informed me this afternoon that PCNA will cover the issue out of goodwill. Save me 700$. yeah!

 

Has anyone had a "Cooling System Fault" and can't start their car anymore? Mine began to stall felt like lost of power while driving then disabling PASM light went on. Turn my car off and back on, yellow "Cooling System Fault" came on. Car now cranks but would not fire up. Had a plastic/rubber burning smell when I got out of the car.