Copple

So my wife pointed out a nice slow drip coming from the rear of our car this afternoon. Looking at the drip I can see that it's coming from a hose connection at the bottom of the car pretty clearly (would post a pic but can't figure it out). So my question is can I replace the hoses I can easily get to and flush the system myself or am I better off taking to the shop. Tried to search function and found some info on replacing the coolant tank, but nothing on just replacing the hoses.

On a side note, just spent the past few days detailing the car. We've had some beautiful weather here in the Carolina's. Had a nice day driving around in our Cab.

gota911

Copple,

Here are my "can't miss" instructions for posting a pic. These instructions have NEVER failed to help someone post pics, so the pressure is on YOU to keep my string alive!

All words shown in BOLD indicate buttons. If you are just doing a "Quick Reply" you will have to click on Go Advanced button. Then follow the steps below:

Down below the part of the screen where you type the text and below the Submit Reply, the Preview Post, and Spell Check buttons, there is a Miscellaneous Options section followed by an Attach Files section.

In the Attach Files section, click on the Manage Attachments button.

You will now get a pop-up window. There are 3 buttons Browse, Upload, and Close this Window.

Click on the Browse button and now (in a new pop-up window) you can search on your PC to locate the pic you want to attach. Click on the name of the file you want and then click the Open button. Now click on the Upload button. After the file has been uploaded, you can click on Browse button and repeat the process to upload another pic or click on the Close this Window button.

After you click on the Close this Window, you will be back to the original "message" screen. Your pic file should be listed just above the Manage Attachments button.

If you are finished typing the text, you can click on the Submit Reply button and everyone will be able to see your great looking P-car!

If your pics are too large, you can resize them with MS Paint, or PhotoShop software, or you can do it online at this web site. http://www.resize2mail.com/

chsu74

Welcome! You should also look closer because that is also where the water pump is located. Make sure it is not the water pump that is failing causing the leak.

kromdom

Albeit it may seen very obvious that the source/cause of the leak is THE hose, pressure testing the car's cooling system will/can help pinpoint with more accuracy. More serious (read expensive) repairs can be avoided by doing so (perfect example is the WP crapping out as chsu74 above hinted at). Best of luck.

DISCLAIMER: not an expert or tech/mech by any stretch of the imagination. simply sharing my own personal experience with vehicles I have owned.

Copple

Here's my try at uploading a pic. The leak is located at the drivers rear side. Pretty sure it's coming from the hose attachment, but just in case, where is the water pump located on our cars?

Copple

note that the pic above should be rotated 90 degrees to the right.

logray

The drip is coming off the bottom of the water pump. And it looks like fluid may be coming from above that area (the water pump shaft perhaps).

The water pump hose pictured also appears like it could be leaking, if not fluid from the water pump shaft above.

kromdom

Concur with above. Now might be a good time to give this DIY a look: http://p-car.com/996/diy/waterpump/
P.S. Prudent move would be to refrain from driving your car until the cause of the leak is found/fixed.

kromdom

Above link should help answer your question. Any idea how old the current WP is? I've read some members here replace the WP on a set interval/schedule as "preventive maintenance" regardless of the presence/absence of symptoms.

jordanturbo

Be Forewarned if you are doing a proper coolant flush it does take time and lots of coolant. my 996 C4S holds around 28L or 7.5Gal of coolant, can get expensive with porsche pricing.

I had a T fitting off a line coming from the bottom of the resevoir break, leaked out approx 1 Gal onto the muffler and burnt, having smelt the burning coolant I immediately thought head gasket, lucky it was just this one fitting. I did the coolant flush, t fitting replacement, serpentine belt, air filter, oil change, replaced my tranny fluid, did pads, rotors, rebuilt the piston seals in the calipers, and did a brake fluid flush. All was very easy, did the whole list in about a day. Porsches are just cars, if you have any mechanical sense, this will be no harder than any other vehicle to work on, I actually thought the belt change and oil change were actually more simple than other vehicles I have had.

I do have a shop with lifts and equipped with a lot of nice tools which helped. but I am not a mechanic, don't even have my first year apprenticeship, and except for making my own fister D mufflers and pulling apart my front end from a track accident I have never worked on a Porsche.

Macster

Probably a water pump leak. While I had to replace the original water pump in my 02 Boxster at around 170K miles all the hoses are original and the car has nearly 249K miles now and is still coolant tight.

At around 220K miles the coolant tank failed and I looked into replacing the hoses along with the coolant tank but the tech told me two things: 1) His experience (and that of his co-workers) is the hoses last a long time; 2) The job's expensive. In your case if you suspect or find one hose is bad they all ought to be replaced.

Unless you can see a split or a crack in a suspect hose, unless you can grip the hose with your hand and squeeze the hose and then your fingers find the hose soft to the point you feel you are going to push your fingers through the hose -- hoses weaken most on their bottoms -- and in some cases this can be done, the hoses are probably ok.

In this case, then, I'd advise replacing the water pump, and refilling the system with fresh mix of Porsche anti-freeze and distilled water. Be sure you fill the system completely with fluid.

Chances are you'll find the water pump was the source of the leak.

If you want additional signs the water pump is at fault, check the water pump pulley for any play. If there is any... this was a sign my car's water pump was going out (along with some noise).

Also, check the edges of the serpentine belt. The serpentine belt (quite new) had a sharp inner edge that arose from the water pump shaft/bearings developing play and this allowed the pulley to move out of position slighly which allowed the belt to mistrack and rub. The belt should not make contact with the sides of any of the accessory drive or crankshaft pulleys.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Copple

Thanks so much for the responses. Looks like a fun weekend project, although a relatively inexpensive one. I'll replace the water pump, still think the hose may need to be replaced as well.

And yes, Porsche's are just cars. Albeit very enjoyable ones. Hope everyone had a nice New Years.

TomF

When my water pump failed, there was little or no play in the pulley. It did give me advance symptoms, including overheating, so I quickly ordered a new pump. Mine failed after only 37k... the first one lasted 80k.

pieleapulii

Jordanturbo, it looks like the t-fitting is leaking on my 996 too. Can you please provide the part number of the fitting, being that you've changed yours?

KrazyK

Your hardly a n00b (member since 2006), so do you need the service manuals to get more familiar with your systems? What years is your 996?