Hi there: Relatively new here as I just purchased my 2011 C4S about two months ago. I am the third owner of the car.

I was at a cars and coffee event this past Saturday, and someone pointed out to me that my car has a third radiator. I knew it had one, but I didn't know that was out of the ordinary. One thing I have noticed since I bought the car is it takes forever to warm up - sometimes im arriving to my destination and the oil still isn't at temp 20 minutes later. The cooling is incredibly efficient when pushing the car hard. I live in Phoenix, so in the spring/summer, I will be very happy to have it.

My car is not equipped with the X51 pkg. Does that mean a prior owner installed it? Is it causing harm by not allowing the car to reach operating temperatures? Is there anything I should be aware of? Thank you.

 

The third radiator supposedly became standard by 2011, but from what I've seen installation was kind of sporadic. Presence of the 3rd radiator should have no effect on warm-up time, that's controlled by your thermostat.

 

The third radiator was a function of the PDK, starting 2011. These cars take 10 to 15 minutes to warm up. Be patient and do not throttle hard or exceed 3000 rpm until the oil reaches 175F. Ignore the water temperature. It's a dummy gauge.

 

Thanks Wayne and leeked - Mystery solved!

 

just one more thought: in my car water and oil come up to temp much faster (I also have the 3rd radiator)
It sounds to me you have a thermostat that is stuck open, (which is not the end of the world.)

 

I've often felt that Porsche engineers failed on their cooling system as they put yet more power into the same sized package. My 2010 C4S PDK has taken ten plus miles to warm up since I acquired stewardship almost 8 years ago, from 35K miles to approaching 155K miles. The heater works. Oil temps vary from 160F on cold rainy winter nights to 260F+ on hot thin aired mountain excursions. In other words, very little control and regulation. But mechanically it remains perfect and I have yet to experience any oil burning.

Adding a third radiator has not changed anything.

This is the first I've heard a member here state fast oil warm ups. So now I'm curious to get a read on others' experience.

PS: Perusing the 991 Turbo Forum recently it has been pointed out that running in Sport mode cold the oil down more, implying that there is a method for the computers to control this. I haven't had a chance to test this on my car, yet. If this is true in the 997 as well then warm up and oil temperature regulation takes on an entirely different scenario.

 

I’d say this has been my experience as well. My commute is mostly highway - and I’m wondering also if having the spoiler deployed as it does on the highway has any effect on cooling. I would imagine it does to some degree - pun intended

I however have never seen oil temps higher than ~210, but again, I’ve only owned the car during (desert) winter time.

 

Others may disagree but if don’t grills to protect the front bumper openings, install them. Having as rock or debris punching hole is $$$ as i found out on Panamera.

 

Sound advice. Mind me asking what happened?

 

Rock went thru a/c radiator. I’ve since put grills on both cars.