America

Have a leak of a orange color oil substance after a fresh oil change a month ago. Car has been sitting most of the time, but every time I take it for a quick drive or just park and warm up the engine, I've notice a orange substance. I think is a oil leak. Is the cooler on the front passenger side? Can a over fill of motor oil cause this? Thx for any help

"02996ttx50

coolant leak. slow pinhole from a rad. left right or center??

its more common to be either for the pass or drivers side to be leaking. feel it. it should be "slightly viscous" not like oil but more like 50/50 coolant/water. and smell sweet.

America

Really felt more water with some oil. Forgot that some coolant is orange instead of green, duh. Also just fixed the clutch slave, so failures happening all at one time. It's on the driver side, between the front lip and wheel weld. Any thought of whats actually leaking? Any diagram links of the cooling system? Thx

vogz

It's most likely the bottom end tank on the drive side radiator. Leaves and debris get rammed in the intakes on the bumper and settles at the bottom of the radiators and then starts to rot, compromising the bottom of the radiator. I'm suspicious that my passenger side radiator has a small leak. I don't have any drips yet, but there is a sweet coolant smell on that side when the car is warmed up and my coolant level drops very slowly.

"02996ttx50

from that description it could also be leaking pentosin! but that is decidedly green. if it is "watery" like consistency? though.. my "guess" would still be coolant, since it IS a 50/50 mix and therefore less viscous than any other fluids we generally spill roadside. it should by now be PINK if its the more generally used "audi/vw/porsche" branded "G13" ( it's all the same sh*t it's just different "branded", but all co-owned! by VAG! it's all propylene glycol at the end of the day. should ( again ) be pink(ish) unless its ORIGINAL GREEN!!! ( OLD!!) change it!

America

I'm getting the pit falls of a low mile old car. Car externally in great shape but looks like all the rubber seals and maybe the lighter metal stuff staring to fail due to car sitting. Do I have to remove front bumper to view the cooling system? Just bought a 04 G55 low miles and ready to do service on that. Hope no issues with that too, .

vogz

So far you've just run into a few weak spots of the 996 Turbo. A replacement radiator isn't too expensive. You'll have to pull the bumper cover and the wheel well liner to replace it. Not horrible.

rmc1148

No way to tell until you physically look, doing a radiator isn't bad. I pull my bumper and clean radiators, have you done this?

America

Haven't done anything but noticing the leak. Just wanted to get a good idea of what it is and is it worth the time and effort to do myself. I'm handy and will try almost any DIY fix assuming thing aren't in a tight spot or super heavy. Seems like a straight forward repair once bumper is off. Will be raining the next week or 2 so will be a great time to do. I'll take some pics once bumper is off and update the forum. Thx for the help

z06801

jpflip has done a really good DIY on Renntech that made the job really easy to do.

Macster

As others have said: Coolant leak. Probably once you get a clearer view of the radiator you'll see the leak is from between the bottom tank and where it joins with the cooling element.

Check the other 2 radiators. All 3 of the radiators developed a leak around this time last year at 130K miles when I was back in the mid-west. I keep the ducts free of trash so it was due to just lousy radiators.

I was 2000 miles from home and spending money to stay in a hotel while the car was in the shop so I didn't try the aftermarket radiator thing. I just had the dealer install new factory radiators and refill the cooling system with fresh coolant so I could get back on the road and home.

My 2003 996 Turbo was a low miles car too. Just 10K miles when I bought it back in 2009. And it has manifested a number of issues which while one can never know for sure I too would like to attribute some of these to the car being a low miles car.

Zamboni

fpb111

Over filled oil? AOS failing?

Zamboni

fpb111