BamaPCar

Question #1 - Just replaced my water pump yesterday as a preventative measure, and realized I forgot to clean the mating surfaces!!! Probably forgot in my exhaustion....job took me 12 hours (including multiple breaks and trips to Home Depot & Advance Auto Parts to get tools).

Am I going to have to do this all over again? Or is it basically fine if it's not leaking? If I have to do over I'm just going to cut my losses and take it to the shop.....not doing this job again.

Found out old water pump still seemed pretty good, but had a metal impeller (was replaced before clearly). I used a composite impeller one this time per recommendations of everyone here.

Question #2 - The expansion tank still is full even though I clearly lost 2+ gallons of fluid when I removed the hoses. I don't see how I replace the old fluid. Scared to run the car at all.....should it be filled another way?

doclouie

I have never done this so is the seal between the pump and housing an RTV gasket or a rubber reusable one. If an RTV gasket you should be fine. If it is a reusable one you will need to see what happens when it gets up to temperature.

Prairiedawg

Paging Bruce in Philly........

Bruce In Philly

2009 C2S 170K miles

What model and year? For my 997.2, a new pump has a placed gasket... while what you did is not good procedure, if you have a .2, I don't see an issue. If it leaks, then you have an issue.

Regarding the level... the proper way to refill is use a vacuum system like an airlift and that will get out 98% of the air. So, maybe you can just drive up to a local service station and have them top it off for you after you confirm they have a vacuum system. Assuming they are real close by.

As for the old fashioned way of just running your engine until warm, then getting the RPMs up over 6000 which blows out the remaining air pockets... I will leave that advice to others here. For me, I own an AirLift so there were no issues for me.

BTW, I am NO EXPERT. I am a hack.... I just did what works for me. Maybe Mr Petza will weigh in here... he has way more experience than me.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Quadcammer

Youre 99% likely to be fine without cleaning the mating surface. Best practice yes, but likely a non issue.

Jack the *** end of the car as high as you safely can, open the bleeder valve and let the car warm up to operating temp. That should get rid of the air pockets

roadie13

+1 on that. There is a busload of coolant in there (just under 9 gallons, I think) so nothing is going to explode if you just idle it. Just make sure to open the burp valve. You can slowly add back coolant as the reservoir gets voided. (I think it might even be possible to run the system open, ie with the reservoir cap off, to make this easier). Lots of folks refilled their coolant with a gallon or so after installing the third radiator.

cwheeler

I'd get and airlift system from Amazon. We all know idling these engines isn't the best for them. Use the airlift system and then test drive. Super easy.

Cw

BamaPCar

Ended up having to move the car so I opened the bleeder valve and idled for a few mins. Should have raised the back but that was before I read this. Refilled and now I’m down to about 1 gallon left. Will look into the vacuum system mentioned too.

Now I have a check engine light though. Car sounds like it hesitates for a second when starting. Unfortunately have to go on a trip out of town now so can’t diagnose until I’m back. Any chance that is cooling system related?

Will diagnose when I’m back....may take it to a shop to be safe too. If y’all think it’s likely low coolant related it’ll at least help me sleep until I’m back in town.

Floyd540

First off, sleep well. You are taking this mis-step harder than the car. These cars are bulletproof as to small errors in maintenance work (short of cross threading a spark plug). We are assuming this is a 997 (aka 997.1 versus 997.2) as the water pump is not considered a preventive project on .2 cars but sure is for .1 cars. Not sure what you mean by "down to about 1 gallon left". By not cleaning the face of the block , the gasket may or not seal depending on the amount of old gasket material was stuck. (assuming a paper gasket. .2 cars I believe use a rubber gasket (way better)). So it may leak but you will know about it by inspection. Filling and burping these cars can be a challenge, but it all works out eventually by running it/driving it. A low coolant sensor reading or thermostat still dry may trigger a code.
Enjoy your trip and do not give up on working on you own car. The rewards are great and you can afford to buy better wine .

Kuhl997.2!

PrairieDawg you crack me up. Cheers

Prairiedawg

Petza914

On the .1 cars, the waterpump gasket is metal. When installing mine, I smear a thin coating of gasket sealant on both sides just to make sure I don't get leaks. The AirLift is the best way to refill missing coolant and get it done in one shot. The other advantage to the AirLift is you can tell if the system will hold vacuum before you open the valve to add the coolant. If it won't hold vacuum, it also won't hold pressure so you can find and fix the problem without having to drain the coolant again.

To vacate the air without an AirLift, you can also park the car on a decline so the rear is high (rather than jacking it up) - that helps the air to rise to the highest point. Also, make sure you turn the heater on high to fully open the heater core valve and circulate coolant through there in case any air moved in there.

Sounds like you've started it and it pulled coolant from the reservoir so you've added some. Just keep an eye on the level over the next few drives, and maybe even keep the bottle of coolant in the back seat in case you need to top up - but be careful about opening that reservoir if the car is still hot. The reduction in pressure from opening the cap can cause it to boil over. Hopefully, you're refilling with a 50/50 mix of pink Porsche coolant and Distilled water.

Great job tackling this yourself.

ZuffenZeus

Hey man... I feel your pain and frustration. Most of us in the Porsche world are over 40 years and crawling under cars is not the most physically pleasing thing to do, especially when you on your back working on parts in tights situations. I couldn't help but feel empathic to you when you mentioned the multiple trips to Home Depot. I've been there, done that! There is not much more I could offer you then what's already been mentioned on this thread.

I was going to tell you to make your coolant is matched up properly.

The person I purchased my 996 from had standard green stuff put in the car. I flushed it and put OE approved back in with an airlift system. Still had some come out of the overfill tube. At first, I thought I had a leak, but realized it was just burping up a little extra that was trapped in the system. I wouldn't worry about the cleaned surfaces. As long as you used the supplied gasket and applied proper torque, you should be fine.

The CEL is usually emissions-related and so I'm not sure how changing out the water pump caused it. I would just clear it with a scanner and concentrate on getting the air bubbles out of the cooling system.

mcfisticuffs

There are several ways to refill the system with coolant. The easiest way that I've found is simply run the car.

Let it idle for a few minutes and top up the reservoir any time there's room. Slowly start to introduce revs to warm the engine...the warmer it gets, the more revs you give it (gently, before we get into a cold-start-revs-must-be-up-to-temperature-or-bore-scoring-will-shove-an-IMS-up-your-ash argument). Once the car's up to operating temp and you've put a gallon or two back in, turn on the heater and repeat.

That will do 90+% of the missing coolant. Keep a jug with you and top up as necessary over the next few drives.

KevinA

This is a very timely thread. My 997.1 is on jackstands in the garage, waiting for the new water pump to arrive from Pelican (tracking says tomorrow), and planning to tackle the job this weekend. I put the car on jack stands yesterday to get a look underneath, and spray penetrant on the catalytic converter nuts, which look ominously rusty.

I hadn't considered sealant on the gasket, so glad to see that suggestion, and also hadn't considered the potential difficulties refilling the engine coolant.

I am hoping this doesn't take 12 hours......