Intermittent coolant leak just behind driver tire on '05 997.1
07-10-2013, 08:38 PM
#16
Instructor
Thread Starter
The reservoir came in yesterday late yesterday. Since I'll need the car on Saturday for an autocross, I decided to replace everything today to make sure everything is in order. Here's how I did it, and some comments on how I'd do it differently. Currently, the reservoir is only removed. I mangled the level sensor on the way out. I've got a new part on the way being shipped overnight. I hope to install everything tomorrow once the new level sensor arrives.
1) Remove air intake housing. For my car, I loosened the clamp in the center and unplugged the plug on the right. Then lifted it out.
2) Remove coolant. Most people use the coolant drain plug next to the waterpump. Mine seems to be frozen in place and the star bolt insert stripped. So, I used a pump to pull my coolant out. It's technically an oil drain pump to drain your oil through the dipstick. It won't reach the oil for the car I bought it for...so it sits unused. Until now.
2) Disconnect upper front coolant tube using needle nose pliers or some other kind of pliers. I used channel locks.
3) Disconnect upper rear coolant tube using pliers.
4) Disconnect the following, from left to right : a) lower coolant tube b) reservoir sensor connector c) fuel line (?) clamp. I had already disconnected the line from the clamp, so the photo shows it open.
I left the coolant level sensor in place as I removed the reservoir and ended up ripping it out and breaking it. At this point I would see if you can't get it out intact. On the tank I removed, you rotate the sensor top 90 degrees toward the front of the car and then pull it out sideways. It's maybe 3" long, so you should have room. Hold onto it tightly. I ended up dropping it when I tested it and it fell into the shroud that covers the coils/plugs. It took awhile to fiddle it out of there. What a pain. Removing is much easier than inserting. You can't see all that well once you get your hand/arm in there.
5) Remove 10mm nut holding tank into place.
6) Tuck hoses and such out of the way as much as possible and then wiggle the thing out. First you have to get it out of the clamp holding the top into place. That means sliding it right a bit, maybe an inch at the most and then getting it to drop out of the clamp. Then you can sort pull the front up, drop the rear down and twist and grunt. After 10 minutes of rocking, pushing, grunting and cursing....it came out. It's a royal pain to remove. Honestly, I think I might try to lower the motor a little bit if I ever need to do it again. It *can* be done, but wow it kinda sucks. I then took off the overfill tube and the clamp that hold the gas line and attached to the new tank.
After inspecting the old reservoir (which is a lovely diarrhea yellow at this point in its life), I found a crack all the way down the back side of the support that holds the fuel clamp on. There is some dry pink fuzzy stuff in the upper center of the photo next the black clamp that I think was spot leaking. It's a bit tough to see, but you can see a crack all the way down the support in this photo...that the arrows are pointing to. At the very least, if you look at the bottom of the support, you can see the crack turn horizontally. Also, the rotation direction to remove the sensor is shown at bottom.
Currently, I've managed to muscle the new tank in following a similar procedure to removal. Grunt, twist, shove and curse. Repeat over a 10 minute period. Consider lowering the motor. Realize you've parked the car in such a way as to not be able to put it on jack stands. Curse some more and go back to grunting.
I did manage to get it in. At some point, I cleared most of the tight spaces and it basically slid into place. I then spent 10 minutes (grunting and cursing) trying to get it to seat into the top clamp and all the way onto the bolt. It did finally drop into place. After that, I put the 10mm nut back on but I'm waiting on the coolant level sensor to arrive before I reattach the coolant hoses. That looks to be straightforward.
So the remainder of the work to do: a) Insert coolant reservoir sensor and attach plug. b) Attach 3 coolant hoses. c) Refill reservoir. d) Find engineer at Porsche responsible for crappy reservoir plastic and tight spaces and repeatedly punch him in the head.
1) Remove air intake housing. For my car, I loosened the clamp in the center and unplugged the plug on the right. Then lifted it out.
2) Remove coolant. Most people use the coolant drain plug next to the waterpump. Mine seems to be frozen in place and the star bolt insert stripped. So, I used a pump to pull my coolant out. It's technically an oil drain pump to drain your oil through the dipstick. It won't reach the oil for the car I bought it for...so it sits unused. Until now.
2) Disconnect upper front coolant tube using needle nose pliers or some other kind of pliers. I used channel locks.
3) Disconnect upper rear coolant tube using pliers.
4) Disconnect the following, from left to right : a) lower coolant tube b) reservoir sensor connector c) fuel line (?) clamp. I had already disconnected the line from the clamp, so the photo shows it open.
I left the coolant level sensor in place as I removed the reservoir and ended up ripping it out and breaking it. At this point I would see if you can't get it out intact. On the tank I removed, you rotate the sensor top 90 degrees toward the front of the car and then pull it out sideways. It's maybe 3" long, so you should have room. Hold onto it tightly. I ended up dropping it when I tested it and it fell into the shroud that covers the coils/plugs. It took awhile to fiddle it out of there. What a pain. Removing is much easier than inserting. You can't see all that well once you get your hand/arm in there.
5) Remove 10mm nut holding tank into place.
6) Tuck hoses and such out of the way as much as possible and then wiggle the thing out. First you have to get it out of the clamp holding the top into place. That means sliding it right a bit, maybe an inch at the most and then getting it to drop out of the clamp. Then you can sort pull the front up, drop the rear down and twist and grunt. After 10 minutes of rocking, pushing, grunting and cursing....it came out. It's a royal pain to remove. Honestly, I think I might try to lower the motor a little bit if I ever need to do it again. It *can* be done, but wow it kinda sucks. I then took off the overfill tube and the clamp that hold the gas line and attached to the new tank.
After inspecting the old reservoir (which is a lovely diarrhea yellow at this point in its life), I found a crack all the way down the back side of the support that holds the fuel clamp on. There is some dry pink fuzzy stuff in the upper center of the photo next the black clamp that I think was spot leaking. It's a bit tough to see, but you can see a crack all the way down the support in this photo...that the arrows are pointing to. At the very least, if you look at the bottom of the support, you can see the crack turn horizontally. Also, the rotation direction to remove the sensor is shown at bottom.
Currently, I've managed to muscle the new tank in following a similar procedure to removal. Grunt, twist, shove and curse. Repeat over a 10 minute period. Consider lowering the motor. Realize you've parked the car in such a way as to not be able to put it on jack stands. Curse some more and go back to grunting.
I did manage to get it in. At some point, I cleared most of the tight spaces and it basically slid into place. I then spent 10 minutes (grunting and cursing) trying to get it to seat into the top clamp and all the way onto the bolt. It did finally drop into place. After that, I put the 10mm nut back on but I'm waiting on the coolant level sensor to arrive before I reattach the coolant hoses. That looks to be straightforward.
So the remainder of the work to do: a) Insert coolant reservoir sensor and attach plug. b) Attach 3 coolant hoses. c) Refill reservoir. d) Find engineer at Porsche responsible for crappy reservoir plastic and tight spaces and repeatedly punch him in the head.
07-12-2013, 12:02 AM
#17
Instructor
Thread Starter
New level sensor arrived today. I slid it in and spent another half hour connecting hoses and refilling the reservoir. I did a number of test drives and no leak issues so far. I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that it's fixed.
On the bummer side, the car is running very rough. I *think* it might be a bad MAF. Maybe taking the air intake housing on and off and disconnecting it repeatedly could cause it to go bad. Cleaning hasn't fixed it. Sigh. But that's the subject if another thread.
On the bummer side, the car is running very rough. I *think* it might be a bad MAF. Maybe taking the air intake housing on and off and disconnecting it repeatedly could cause it to go bad. Cleaning hasn't fixed it. Sigh. But that's the subject if another thread.
07-12-2013, 07:32 PM
#18
Instructor
Thread Starter
Found the problem with the idle. Loose coil wire. Must have knocked it loose when I was trying to jiggle out the coolant level sensor that had wedged itself in the shroud around the coils.
So, car is running normally now. I drove her 5 hours up to Denver today and no coolant issues. Granted the leak was very intermittent, but parking on a slope and revving the motor to get it really hot didn't cause any leakage.
So, car is running normally now. I drove her 5 hours up to Denver today and no coolant issues. Granted the leak was very intermittent, but parking on a slope and revving the motor to get it really hot didn't cause any leakage.
