Psymon

Hi all,

I saw white smoke this morning coming out thru the grill on the tail lid, first I thought it was evaporation from the recent super high humidity, but the smoke won't stop after 5 mins.

Shut down the car, open the engine bay, it looks wet which seems to the condensation from smoke / steam. Then I saw something dripping just behind the real bumper area (centre towards to the left a bit). It looks like coolant but I'm not 100% sure.

I've recently swapped the engine mount, only took out the air box and re-installed it. May be some pipes I mistakenly broke / disconnected while taking out / putting back in the air box?

Just a quick check for advise here before I get it towed to the workshop.

Thanks!

gota911

Check the coolant cap. Check the coolant tank, as it may have sprunt a leak. It is the correct location of your leak.

Psymon

Almost certain it's coolant leak then, the level has dropped below the min level mark on the tank. Cap looks good. The leak / drip looks to be from below the engine bay, so I need to get it jacked up to investigate further.

Thanks man.

gota911

You are welcome.

That's part of the reason we are all here, to learn and to help when we can.

BTW, just so you know coining in... removing and replacing the coolant tank is a b!tch. I have never done it myself, but others have said that, during the process, they conjured up a new combinations of cuss words that they thought would go together prior to working on the coolant tank. So if you do this yourself, make sure no women or children are around to hear you!

Psymon

HHaa.. thanks for the heads up! I'll probably send it to my indie for repair. Just want to jack it up to make sure it's coolant that is leaking (part of learning) and if it's safe to drive for 5 mins (where my indie is)!

DC911S

Take the cap off and see if the rubber gasket inside it looks ok. It may be smashed down too much to really seal it.

sandwedge

What you describe sounds similar to what happened when the water pump on my -09 gave in. Hope that's not it but I had both the smoke and the coolant leak.

Psymon

Thanks.

Took another look and pretty certain that it's the water pump. Was suppose to be next on my DIY list, but unfortunately I have absolutely no time before the track days in 2 weeks. So the car is now at the work shop 😣

hBomb

Seconding this. I had the exact same thing happen on my .1 c4s, and it was the water pump.

Petza914

How many miles on the car? Original water pump?

Psymon

Ok. it's the water pump that failed. It's been replaced and the car is back on the road now.

Car is 2006 C2S, exactly 59999km. Not sure if it's original pump as I'm the 3rd owner.

I'm still waiting for the confirmation from the indy, but does replacing water pump require the thermostat to be replaced at the same time too?

Thx.

Para82

When the waterpump goes, it does exactly what you described. I don't think has anything to do with the airbox, go ahead and have that coolant resorvoir looked at, consider a full flush and replace the waterpump. I just went through this last week.

Psymon

Yep, the water pump was replaced already yesterday. But I need to double check with the indy is the thermostat was replaced too.

Did you replace the thermostat together with the water pump?

Thx.

Macster

My auto mechanic buddies always told me when replacing a water pump to always replace the T-stat.

And before replacing it to drop it in a pan of water along with the old one and put the pan on the stove and turn on the burner and heat the water and confirm with a thermometer the new T-stat opens at the correct temperature and fully opens.

The time I had the water pump in my Boxster done and the time I had the water pump in the Turbo done I had the T-stat replaced, but I doubt the tech did the water in the pan on the stove thing.

In short it is or should standard operating procedure when replacing the water pump to replace the T-stat. All one is out is the cost of a new T-stat which is not very much. And if the old one is reused and after a while doesn't work right it can cost a bunch to replace it.

Psymon

Good to know, although it's a bit late now since the job is done. But I plan to replace the thermostat with a lower temperature one anyone, so will be on my next DIY list. Thx.