Peter 642

2003 C4S with 33K miles. Bought it few weeks ago. Was told it was good-to-go.
Engine coolant level looks quite low. I'm not used to 996 engine coolant, which I assumed would be pink, and this is closer to bright yellow. Pics below.

Normal, or am I ?

Update: Refilled and low again...has to be leaking. See below for new post.

jeneric996

It does look low.

Porsche has two kinds. i think the newer coolant is pink; the older version was yellow. You can mix the two.

Divot

Mine came with yellow, Porsche only sells pink. I mix the two.

Check your cap part number. It should end with "03" or higher. I switched mine out and had success.

Peter 642

In the old 944 I had to bleed the system if I wanted to go pink. From what I'm reading here, no need to bleed; just mix by topping off with factory pink; correct? Last thing I want is gel, so pardon the repeated question.

Peter 642

By the way, here's why I get nervous:

!

jeneric996

Both are compatible.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...water-top-off/

chsu74

I would buy distilled water from CVS or Walgreens for this. No reason to buy coolant to top off.

carcster88

I topped mine off with some Water Wetter

Peter 642

Bought Porsche pink plus distilled water; no reason not to do it right. Agree that for the little that's needed I could use distilled water, but honestly, it's a good car. I can spend the $40 on the coolant.

pl

u better find out where the coolant went, check the bottom of your tank, make sure u don't have any hairline leaks.

Peter 642

Was refilled two days ago to between min and max, and now it's right back under min, as if it was never filled. Clearly leaking, but where? No moisture I can see. Under a warranty, may end up at the <dun dun dun> dealer's shop....

Ahsai

Have you checked your oil dip stick and see if there's any goo?

Had the tank been replaced right before you bought it? If it was, it's possible the bleeding was not completed and you're just seeing the air trapped inside being bled out. You can pulll up the bleeding valve (the black valve with a pull pin that sits on the top of the tank) and drive it for a few days to bleed the rest of the air.

Do you have a cap that ends with .04, the latest? A very commonly failed part. Maybe repeat the filling for one more time and recheck.

Next stop is to the shop for sure if coolant keeps disappearing.

pl

check the bottom of your tank, looking for white powder, and the sweet coolant smell.
u tank looks very white, was it replaced recently?

Peter 642

No goo; just oil.

Not that I know, nor have any record of.

No; 996.106.447.01 is the cap part number.

None; none noticed. No dripping coolant, no puddles on the floor.

Did exactly this; I'm realizing that the tank itself and the overflow (reservoir) tank sit right next to each other. Unsure if last time I actually was patient enough to let the tank itself refill, or whether I let the reservoir refill and walked away (although that would be very odd and unlikely). This time I added another 16 oz. or so coolant:water and waited. Refilled to above Min line again. If still low in a few days, it's off to the shop. Thanks for the help.

Macster

Unless you drove alot of miles in that 2 days since the refill hard to believe the cap could be at fault, though a new/updated cap is recommended just on general principles.

To state the obvious, there is a serious coolant leak. You have verified the engine oil has no coolant in it, so the leak is from the cooling system to the outside.

My first guess would be the coolant reservior tank.

But another possible source is one of the radiators though the hole or leak is up high not low. This could be a hole in the radiator or a hose or a hose fitting/connection.

Yet another source of a coolant leak is the heater core.

Have you pulled the bumper cover and swung the A/C condensors out of the way and checked the radiators as best you can for leaks?

Be sure the A/C is off.

Top up the cooling system and get the engine nice and hot by running the engine at idle until warm then raise the engine speed to say 2K rpms and hold it there for 30 seconds then let the engine idle for 30 seconds. Repeat.

You want to get the cooling system hot enough the radiator fans come on (which IIRC is 212F. They shut off at 205F.)

Have the fans come on once, then shut off. When they come on again shut off the engine and check all around for any coolant leak. Use your nose. Use your eyes. Be careful! I did this to check if a radiator fan was working and the coolant tank let go with a gush of hot coolant. Had I been under the car instead of standing a few feet away looking at trail of coolant I would have gotten scalded.

Ideally you want to have the car on a lift so you can look under the car from the water pump forward, looking at all teh water hoses, fittings/connections.

But you have to be aware that with the cooling system hot and under pressure what was leaking a bit of coolant over some days could decide to let it all out in one big gush of hot coolant.

Sincerely,

Macster.