MitchW

I pulled into my garage the other day and noticed steam coming from below the air filter housing of my 2004 TT. Then I drove it again the next day, fairly hard, and saw some coolant on my driveway, although none under the car in my garage. I had the cooling system pressure tested less than 1 thousand miles ago because of a funny smell I couldn't place, and they found no leaks.

Any suggestions as to what might be going on? Also, I have not had to add coolant to the car. Do I need to get it special from my Porsche dealer? The owners manual does not specify the exact coolant to use, other than it needs to be from Porsche.

Thanks!

wross996tt

check the cap, it is known to fail and leak...it quite possibly would leak out, but dry up before it reached the floor.

Chuck Jones

Look under the coolant tank...look for some white crusted residue. When they leak, the coolant dries and leaves a white substance there....could be the cap, or the tank. Sometimes they get hairline fractures that don't leak until the car is up to normal running temps.

Kevin

Can you tell us which side of the car? There is a overflow/vent that dumps to the ground on the left side above the cat.

If you open your decklid and see steam from the top center, you can have a oil heat exchanger oring failure. Keep a eye on that one..

You should have a pink coolant which is the Genuine Porsche. Go to your dealer and buy the Porsche Coolant. Zerex makes the coolant for Porsche>> special additives/corrosion protection.

MitchW

Thanks for your replies. When I noticed the steam, it was coming evenly from the entire length of the bottom of the air cleaner compartment. I do see some antifreeze pooling around the cap of the coolant expansion tank. While I see no obvious cracks or distortion of the cap, replacing it is certainly the easiest and cheapest first go at fixing the problem. It will also get me to my dealer, who I try to avoid at all costs, to buy some antifreeze.

I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

By the way, does anyone have any experience dealing with Pat Williams racing (also does repair work) in Memphis?

MitchW

Changed the expansion tank cap and it seems to have fixed things. Thanks for the advise for a cheap fix!

adam_

$160 for the diagnostics, $28 for the cap- no charge for installation since we like you so much..... feel free to have a cappuccino in our waiting room.



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MitchW

You forgot the $25 for the gallon of Porsche antifreeze I needed to top off the expansion tank. Wouldn't want you to get in trouble with your service manager for undercharging!

wross996tt

glad it worked out.

John D II

You're lucky that's all it was - I had an oil heat exchanger fail last year, which was a big job to replace.

MitchW

John-What were your cars symptoms?

John D II

I was driving down the road and the "check coolant" light came on. In 80,000 miles, I had never seen this light before, so it was alarming. I pulled over and immediately saw heavy steam coming from the entire back end. Upon looking underneath, there was massive coolant leaking. I was very close to my home and drove the car home quickly, watching the engine temp. I had the car transported the next morning and after some digging, they found a pressed in aluminum tube that the coolant hose mounts to had popped out of the oil cooler. It was a freak failure - the other side was tight as could be, but this side had worked it's way loose, then popped out. It required removing the engine to access. In the picture below, you can see the one tube that is in tact and the other side that is missing the tube. You would know if you had something like this - it's not subtle when it goes.

himself

John,

How did you repair/replace this? Any other pics?

-td

John D II

My shop ordered a new part and replaced it. We did all the coolant hoses at the same time, due to the age and mileage on my car. The hoses are cheap and easy with the motor out and the system dry...