Just finished a 30 minute normal drive, arrived home and a noticed bit of smoke coming out the rear, immediately shut it down and checked the back .....antifreeze like substance draining out the center rear engine. Car was driving great like it always does, very surprised to see that.

Going to flatbed it out tomorrow...thoughts?

I've got 71,000 miles...first issue with the car in 6 years.

 

Waterpump?
Coolant overflow reservoir?

Less likely, but check your coolant cap. Tight? Does it end in part number "04"??

 

That's what my indy thinks...waterpump likely.

 

If it's the waterpump, only use a Porsche OE pump and gasket. Replace the thermostat at the same time, and replace the coolant. About 3 gallons of Porsche coolant and 3 gallons of distilled water. Bring your indy the water from the grocery store.

 

To fully drain the coolant from the system is a pain and it cannot be done by gravity. Jacking up the front of the car won't do it either. I've done this several times and the only way I could empty they system was to use a leaf blower and force the old antifreeze out by disconnecting the main feed and return that run along the side of the tranny. That was about 6.5 gallons like LexVan suggested.

 

Water pump common failure part on the car

 

Simple to fix?

 

Porsche anti-freeze is orange, not green. Using the wrong product is asking for trouble.

 

That caught my eye too. The proper antifreeze for our cars is reddish/orange and is chemically different from the green stuff. Using the wrong one or mixing the two is not good. While you are getting this fixed you may want to consider getting a thorough flush and restoring the entire system with the "right stuff" (which is also a "lifetime" coolant although some change it just for due diligence).

If you indy did this somewhere along the line, you may want to consider a new indy who knows Porsches.

 

Going to investigate this in the morning, good information thank you.

 

You need to get all that green stuff out of there, nary a drop of it should remain. As stated, Porsche coolant is pinkish in color once its mixed with the right amount of distilled water. In fact that green stuff could have caused the failure. Have the coolant tank checked too, could be cracked.

 

It definitely looks like a water pump. Changed mine with porsche oE and took me about 1 1/2.
Runs perfect.
Surprised you did not hear the pump making a noise before it let loose.

 

New serpentine belt while your there too. Your indy will look at all the rollers and alternator when he's in there.
Don't know if he'll need to drop the exhaust to do this. Plugs and coils? My expansion tank was weeping too. Changed that, while it was up.
Who put the green coolant in your ride? I'm assuming you bought it that way. If it was your indy? You best have a talk.

 

At 71,000 it's your water pump (as others have said). My opinion is that they are a PM item that shoudl be changed at about 40,000-50,000 miles as they usually fail not long after that. Check the impeller on the pump that's removed for any missing chunks of impeller blade material. A little worn away material can be normal as the bearing wears and fails and the belt tension allows the impeller angle to change just a little and slightly contact the housing. If you're missing any significant portions of the blades, the system needs to be fully flushed to get those pieces out or they can make hot-spots inside the engine when the coolant flow is blocked by those pieces. You're going to be flushing anyway to void all the incorrect green coolant, which is good.

The most complete way to extract all the coolant from the system is with an Airlift setup, which you can buy on Amazon. Uses your air compressor to essentially vacuum the coolant out of the system, collapsing the rubber lines in the process. This also makes the refill go better with less topping up over the next few days after the refill.

When replacing the thermostat, since you're in FL, you may want to go with the cooler version (I think it's a 160 degree vs the stock 180 degree). You can buy both the correct water pump and cooler thermostat from LN Engineering. Take these parts along with the gallons of distilled water and correct Porsche coolant (black container, pink inside) to your Indy. You can do this yourself if you choose. I find removing the driver's side header makes access to the pump and thermostat much easier. If you do that, make sure to have a new gasket for reinstallation.

 

Great info gents, the car is a 2005 launch edition that was purchased by me in 2009 with 10,038 miles. It was serviced twice prior to my purchase and the documentation has no indication of a coolant flush...strange. Thanks again for the information.