A couple of weeks ago, I had a coolant hose split while on track. See pic below. Here's a video of the result. Fortunately, I was going into the slowest corner on the track.


I had the split hose replaced, along with its neighbor (two hoses on left in the photo), along with the corresponding hose on the opposite side of the motor. My tech has found a way to do the "Sharkwerks" fix on the fittings with the water pump in the car. He removes the airbox, alternator and idler pulley, and can then drill/tap the fittings in the car. See photo below.

Labor was 3.25 hours to replace the 3 hoses, do the fittings, and refill the system. YMMV, especially since he always seems to undercharge me for labor.

Jon

 

Nice fix and relatively painless from a cost standpoint. I've been contemplating having my water fittings done as well, but it will create warranty issues with my car. (Insane I know!)

Glad things were not bad on the track for you as we've all seen worse. I plan on using water & water wetter (also runs a foul of Porsche if you can believe it) during track season in the event I have a similar issue.

As soon as the car is off warranty it's getting all fittings welded.

Glad you & car are okay.

 

Thanks.

Water + Water Wetter gives no protection against freezing, so that makes sense that that would void the warranty. As for welding the fittings, that's the way it should be from the factory, after so many failures!

 

Hope it works for you Jon. At least you know you won't get a fitting blowout on the one's you did.

 

The factory doesn't weld them because of concerns about fatigue cracking. I guess time will tell whether the aftermarket welds are more reliable than the factory glued fittings. But even if fatigue cracking does show up, I would think the result would be a leak rather than a catastrophic failure.

 

Can you share more on this?

 

There's discussion in this thread about the possibility of weld cracking:
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...t=weld+coolant

A friend of mine had a fitting blow out on his 996tt at the track this summer. He took it to TPC Racing for repair and they told him Porsche doesn't weld them because of the fatigue cracking concerns. They repaired his by re-glueing. I think the Sharkwerks fix sounds like a good alternative.

 

Thanks.

It's amazing how this issue and and best solution keeps me up at night. Weld, glue, tap, etc... The only thing I can opt to do and remain under warranty is re-glue on my dime according to the dealer.

 

Porsche doesnt weld them because they designed them to be bonded. Welding the stock pieces wouldnt be a great idea but the machined replacements are fine.

What really matters is the material and the filler rod, along with proper technique and care to not warp the manifolds.

I have done this repair via welding on a friends cat and will be doing it again on my own car. My experience showed there was very little bonding compound used on his fittings and they came apart very easily with a small propane torch.

Failures are imo likely due to insufficient bonding compound volume from the parts supplier to Porsche. Likely could take apart, clean and rebond properly but at that point might as well weld and be done with it forever. Cracking is not going to happen if the welding is done by correctly.

 

Why would welding the manifold void any part of the warranty beyond the manifolds themselves?