FFaust

Coolant is a "hot" issue on these Mezgers.

Car is parked so I can't take it anywhere for a while.

Leak is at front of engine on the left side. Looks like it might be from between cylinder block and crankcase; is this possible? I can't tell if it's coming from above and dripping on bottom or coming from where I just said.

Pic 1: One week's worth of dripping
Pic 2 & 3: Obvious

Might need an engine drop, and this would be a good time to get some tig welding done, so I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row.

enthusiast

That is a lot of coolant ! Have you looked a the other threads on this subject, the darn metal plumbing fittings and failed adhesive? I see you were on the Dec 2010 thread.

How about this Nov 2008 thread as it appears 'Cruggles' had same coolant leak path as you (with photos). His dealership tightened one hose that didn't fix the leak then 'Cruggles' didn't state what the final fix was.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-gt2-...hlight=coolant



Appears your transaxle was removed at one time (no cosmoline on it in your photos)?

Glen

I would wager it is the intercooler sitting on top of the motor under Your intake plenum. They usually crack due to vibration at one of the 4 bolt down tabs and then the coolant finds its way past the o rings and then down. Get a little mirror and flashlight and look for coolant on top of the motor(very hard to see) You can replace this part without pulling the engine even though they say You cant. You loosen the intake plenum at the rubber intake fittings and pop it up to get enough room. Very common failure and difficult to diagnose.

Glen

There is one other thing weve seen and that is excess porosity in the cylinder heads and very rarely the case has caused leakage. Usually Porsche replaces things if thats the case...

911SLOW

Francois, wasn't the leak noticed in the recent inspection you did in the dealer? I know you haven’t driven the car much since.

Glen has a point and if there is the problem, you might be able to fix it without E/O job although the workshop might not know the way, on the other hand fixing all the coolant fittings in one time is a better decision IMO just a more pricy one..

If you decide / have to take engine out then plan well ahead on other things that you might want to address that require that, "while you are there".

FFaust

Thanks Guys, lots of good stuff.

Yes, I am familiar with the bonding issues and the only up-side here is that if the engine does have to come out, I'll try to get the fittings welded.

Cruggles' problem looks identical except for the colour of the coolant, I'll follow up.

Good catch on the cosmoline. Previous owner ran a cup tranny and put the original gearbox back in before trading the car in

You got that right, I guess I'll have to try harder, urgh. Maybe what I need is a boroscope.

There's actually a reference to that in the thread that Enthusiast posted.

Thanks John, I have my doubts about the dealer inspection. I think that they were very happy to get "rid" of this "special" car. There was a distinct smell of glycol when I picked up the car and they said that they had had to top it up; now I know why. The car had been sitting for some months + they had a hard time to pass emissions, so I am not sure how much else they really looked at.

Car is low mileage and is CPO so I am not too worried. But I need to make sure that I go in there as informed as possible.

As far as the "while you are there" stuff, the only thing would be R & P (the LSD is still new), but I am not ready$$$

SH || NC

I'd also check your plastic coolant tank for cracks and/or leaks.

911SLOW

It has warranty? Good! make them pay now.

R&P wou can always do when RMS leaks : )

enthusiast

I hate to say it but you can see why the 'air cooled' diehards hate water cooling systems. The GT3 has plumbing for the water cooling all over the left side of the engine bay and underside of the car including the transaxle's oil-to-water heat exchanger.

FFaust

So that's what that is

Cruggles

I feel your pain. You are right, it looks just like what I had/have. I had several shops look at it and each time I thought it was fixed, but after sitting for a couple days after being at the track, it would show a small puddle under the car again. I didn't get much chance to use the GT3 this last year, so I am still scratching my head on what to do about it. They did replace the plastic coolant tank under warranty and that didn't help. I think my next step is to follow Glen's advice and look at the intercooler under the intake plenum.

Chris

FFaust

Hey Chris, thanks for responding here and wow, two years later and still not resolved

This certainly is not an easy spot to look at...

AllanJ

Sorry to hear about this Francois. Hopefully your shop can figure it out and keep the $$$ to a minimum.

FFaust

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner ...Well maybe, cause it's really hard to see.

Could see a little from underneath, and from the top after I removed the airbox; the lower half of the intercooler is wet. I might dig in some more and remove the plenum to get closer to the action and to confirm this.

FFaust

Thanks Allan, it gives me something to do and takes me away from the computer a bit.