aways

I was driving my 2013 991.1 C4S over the weekend in stop-n-go traffic when I noticed that the engine oil and water temperature had spiked to 245F. I never got any sort of warning on the multifunction display that there was any sort of problem, which seemed very odd. I immediately pulled over and let the car cool down (the cooling fans were running). After the car cooled down a few hours later, I added some distilled water to the reservoir , although I don't think it was particularly low (again no multifunction display warning on low coolant). I then drove home (~20 miles) with no problems at all (car ran at normal temps ~194F water; 200F oil). Just wondering if anyone has ever had a similar episode, and if so what the problem was?

jfischet

the problem is porsche thinks you are too (insert insult here) to be trusted with the actual coolant temp:
https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1283...t-the-fix.html

so when it finally gets to the threshold to tell you a temp above 194, you rightfully are concerned because you haven't seen it before.

however, had they trusted you with the real info you would have noted it and not worried because 245 is not a problem.
edit: 245 is too high, should have written "245 isn't quite at the warning threshold"

aways

Thanks. I was aware of the 194 pause in water temperature, but I'd never seen it jump above that, and when it got to 245+ and the little red indicator light on the water pressure gauge came on I was worried. I guess I was lucky that I was periodically monitoring the temperature gauge because I would have expected a the engine overheat warning to flash on the multifunction display.... but it never did. How high can the temperature get (and for how long) before the overheat warning gets activated?

jfischet

i'm sorry i should have looked deeper before responding, i was assuming you didn't know about the 194 thing.

from what i've just found, 250 is probably where it would have flashed a warning so you were pretty close.

i wonder, were you in sport mode?

aways

Actually no, I wasn't in sport mode (although I was aware that sport mode runs cooler). So in hindsight, it would have been good to have been in sport mode! I just never expected the car to run that hot, even with the warm weather and the heavy traffic (lots of idling). Guess I learned something. The thing that really surprised me was that the engine overheat warning didn't get triggered. I guess you're right, though, that it probably doesn't get activated until 250F... and I was just shy of that.

Joec500

This has happened to me when one of my front radiator fans got stuck, and another time when one of solenoids went bad.

Pakman996-991.2

Are you still on your original water pump?

Viper pilot

My 2 cents worth: First, I think 245 water temp is way too hot . Not too damn hot (that would be 250+) but you should never see that high of water temp. Porsche has "programmed" two regulated temperature thresholds. In the "non-sport" or what many refer to as "normal" mode the water temp is regulated to around 218 degrees F. The oil temp runs at about 220 to 235 F during typical driving. When you switch to "sport" mode, additional cooling passages are opened and the water coolant is regulated at approx. 183 F with the oil temp dropping to approx 200 to 210 F again under typical on street driving. The coolant temp gauge on your dash does read correct up to approx. 194 F and continues to be 'buffered' at that reading until a much higher temp is reached. That so called buffering can be coded out, to reflect the actual temp value, using PIWIS as many have done. Your guess is as good as anyone's why Porsche decided to implement the coolant temperature gauge indication. But again, you can have that changed with a simple coding using the PIWIS tool. So next time your in heavy stop and go traffic during a hot day, just try switching to "sport" mode to help with engine and transmission cooling.

My 2 cents! LOL

aways

Yes. The car has 75K miles.

aways

Thanks. I'm definitely going to keep a close eye on it, and go into sport mode if it ever starts running hot again. I'm also due for an "intermediate" service, so I'll have it checked out then and ask them to change the temperature gauge code so that it reads continuously past 194F...

Pakman996-991.2

My water pump failed at 43K and it’s a common failure on this platform. I got high temp readings/low coolant warnings twice before it went out. Pulled over, let the car cool down and then topped off with coolant mix. Drove home and had no issues.

Happened again a week or so later. Not saying this is what happened in your case but they do tend to fail gradually. Have them look at it next your go in for service. Good luck

Joec500

When you say this platform are you referring to your 991.2 or the 991.1. I have yet to hear of a water pump failure on the 991.1. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen, I just havent' seen one on the forums to date.

Pakman996-991.2

I was talking about my .2. You are right water pumps going bad is not a .1 thing