Picked up my car(2001 boxster S) today from the body shop. New front bumper, replaced the plastic radiator ducting, & replaced one of the radiators. The thing looks great... HOWEVER! When driving home, the red light at the right on the temperature gauge was flashing. Thought maybe when the shop replaced the radiators, they didn't get the system filled all the way up. Shop was closed by the time I drove off with it, so I didn't have the option of calling them right away. As an emergency precaution, I topped off with half a gallon of Ozarka water & half a gallon of Peak coolant that I picked up at the nearest gas station. Seemed like it was a little low.

In traffic on the way home, I made a cardinal sin, & took my eyes off the temp gauge for a little. When I glanced down, the damn thing had shot up almost all the way over. I shut the engine off immediately, & pulled off to the shoulder. There was no leaking coolant under the car. Coolant level was fine. I let it cool. Back on the road, it started running hotter than midway on the gauge again. Shut it down & pulled over again. Never heard the radiator fans come on. The engine cooling fan on the right side vent was running though. Radiators were cold to the touch. Maybe they replaced the thermostat incorrectly? I limped home a mile or so at a time, letting the car cool for several minutes before resuming. 30 mile trip took 4 and a half hours. In the drive way, I noticed a spot of coolant, about the size of a hockey puck in front of the right rear wheel, but nothing was dripping that I could see. Sounds dumb, but after being out for my rental car while the Porsche was in the body shop, and after scraping up the deductible for my sorry *** insurance(who was rushing the body shop), I had no money for a tow.

I'm going to call the body shop in the morning to see what they can do to help me

This sucks! Probably going to be fired if I cannot make it into work tomorrow...

Anyways, I just wanted to implore for some helpful knowledge from all of the great minds on this forum.

Oops. Just realized I posted this on the 996, not 986 forums. Sorry bout that fellows. Long day.

 

Sounds like you are still low on coolant. Need to purge the air out and displace it with more coolant.

 

+1 on purging the system.

 

These cars do not fill like a normal car. It is best to use one of the vacuum systems to fill.
http://www.autobarn.net/xxxw-uv-550000.html

There is a metal bail on the black thing on your coolant tank.
You need to snap the bail vertical to help bleed the air. Your fan thermostats may have been in an air pocket, too cool to switch.
Boxster guys can you see the tank bleeder on a Boxster like on a 996?

 

Not reading anything but cold radiators and over heating with only purging air mentioned I'll add maybe the thermostat is stuck. Water has to pass by it to circulate forward to the radiators.

 

True it could be the thermostat, on another thread he has pics of front end damage that resulted in a radiator change by a body shop, among other things.

 

didnt read it at all... suspect water pump - or air

vote waterpump if not replaced

OH - read the replace radiator part... AIR IN SYSTEM

 

Thanks, guys for the replies. Got it solved. It was air in the system. On the boxster, the bleed valve thingy is underneath a plastic cover by the coolant & oil inlets in the rear trunk space. Was up early this morning, so I decided to bleed the system myself. AS soon as I flipped the clip on the bleed valve up, I could hear gurgling, as coolant level in the reservoir dropped. About another gallon was needed to get the thing filled up. Drove 15 miles to work this morning with no issues at all. Thank God! When I ran it hot last night, I was afraid the engine was @#$%ed! All is fine in the Porsche world now! My eyes will be glued to the temp gauge for a while, though.

 

I like to drill two small holes in the thermostat, helps get air out.

 

Ahmet,
Do you have to take it out first?

 

why are you using peak coolant with spring water? I recommend g-12 coolant with distilled water.

 

Used what was available at the time. The system holds about 6 gallons, and close to 2 of that is my Peak & Ozarka mix.

I've read that when mixing 2 different kinds of coolant, as long as one type does not exceed 15% of the mix, you should be fine. I think I'm well over that mark. The anti-corrosives in the 2 different types of coolants may not be as effective at this point. I've read pn some forums about some coolant mixes "jelling up", but have never seen that personally. Something to keep my eye on though. In the near future I will be doing a coolant system flush to replace it with one type of coolant. Looking back, I may have been better off just adding water, instead of adding Peak to the mix, but no one ever accused me of being the smartest monkey.

 

No, no Mobil 1 5-50 with ... oh wait that is a different thread

 

Where exactly is this metal bail located

 

Your on the right track,,, I would flush the system with clean water, fill run , flush drain and then refill with a vacuum lift with ONE BRAND OF COOLANT!!!!!
These engines being all aluminum, are super sensitive about corrosion. I use the Porsche stuff, its not too bad off amazon and its concentrate.
I mix it with filtered water or distilled. I've noticed its got a different "feel" when you get it on your hands compared to the old stuff..
I assume its whatever they put in to keep corrosion down and lubricate the water pump seal.

Oh and FWIW,, I've probably replaced a dozen engines both cast iron and aluminum with gell/rust/gummed up water pumps damage from the wrong mix over the years. The usual fail is the pump impeller area clogs up over time till it jams the impeller or eats holes in the pump cavity. .. (LOL early engines with AL parts were horrible for galvanic corrosion if the blend of coolant isn't right... )

In my experience,, the most important thing is the PH needs to be right so electrical currents in the engine don't start bad things.

If you don't use the Porsche stuff you need one of the other variations of the G12 blend. (Most of the correct ones are pink or almost yellow NOT green.. )
I believe all the approved ones are a Propylene Glycol, not Ethylene Glycol (Green) I'd have to do some serious googling to find that bit again..

LN engineering sells a low temp thermostat, It's not a ton lower but it makes the engine run steady right on the money at 180 and no spikes..

One of the hardest bits of working on a 996 for me, is forgetting everything about other engines, its got a lot of unique internal things going on.
Porsche worked hard to keep the weight down at the expense of material thickness (My opinion from looking at torn down short blocks....)
The engine cases visually are not as heavy as the aluminum block in a honda civic... Old habits ya know!