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coolflash, t-stat issue came......and went? are you sure it was this, and what were the signs?
if it was acting up. that tells me it is time to break out the....alldata!'
an intermittent t-stat would make me nervous.
850.00 thermostat? another reason to break out a manual and diy!!
Wow $850 is insane. If you DIY, also do the water pump and expansion tank.
I wouldn't be so quick with these types of repairs..... this 997.2 appears to be a bit different animal and Porsche appears to have addressed some of the more common issues of the past.
This 997.2 thermostat is a pretty new issue, at least on these boards. Even water pumps are pretty rare. I've been watching this space closely as my 2009 C2S just crested 101K miles..... I got me eyes and ears peeled and frankly, I am not seeing much.
Not looking to be arumentative but I guess since I am coming from the M3 world I was always a bit paranoid of those aluminum heads. Although the s54 block was cast iron, the heads were aluminum and did not do well with overheating. Therefore I was always out in front on preventative maintenance such as thermostat, water pump and expansion tanks. Correct me if I'm wrong but the mighty 997.2 engine is both an aluminum block and head? Anyway, I would posit that 6 years is about the life of a water pump and expansion tank.
Ah you must be a Mike Miller aficiado as am I. He is stunning, and he is correct, BMW's of all ilk and year, at least last 25 or so, are cooling systems failure prone. Not as much yr in service but mileage. Get to 120-130k max and mostly the plastic radiator neck fails, and 100k replacement of it and water pump is normal preventive. Also depending on type water pump impeller, failure can be an engine toaster. He recommends, and I've followed for many BMW's, cooling fluid changes every couple yrs to keep fresh and max ability to transfer heat. On merc went 158k on original system with no issues, but did change coolant every 2yrs.
I would appreciate P experts input, but perusing forums and other sources haven't found same issues or recommendations for 911. Even seen do not ever change coolant unless due to replacing some part of cooling system. Apparently a very complex system and impossible to truely flush. Which is very different from my other experiences. So all you long time owners/experts, give education to the first time P owner!
coolflash, t-stat issue came......and went? are you sure it was this, and what were the signs?
if it was acting up. that tells me it is time to break out the....alldata!'
an intermittent t-stat would make me nervous.
850.00 thermostat? another reason to break out a manual and diy!!
The car took longer than usual to warm up. In addition, the water temp gauge acted unusual such as showing dropping temps. Also the oil temp gauge wouldnt show the usual temps.
sure indicated what your suspicion was.......unless the gauge was acting up?
better stuck open than closed, it that was the case.
which makes me wonder: do these t-stats have failsafe to never get stuck closed?
I have seen that type in the past, but only for chevy/gm I think
if it keeps acting up, I would wonder if it is trustworthy?
mano texas, very good diy with action photos in the Admin/diy section from "dave" under waterpump /coolant flush.
I did coolant flush recently, pretty involved to de-couple all the hoses, but certainly doable
sure indicated what your suspicion was.......unless the gauge was acting up?
better stuck open than closed, it that was the case.
which makes me wonder: do these t-stats have failsafe to never get stuck closed?
I have seen that type in the past, but only for chevy/gm I think
if it keeps acting up, I would wonder if it is trustworthy?
so you're in the fatherland? blaue himmel!
Some time after I noticed the eratic water gauge behavior I had my indy retrofit the sport chrono package. At that time he indicated that I had an error code "thermostat stuck open". Also when I received my POR II and scanned the control units I had another "thermostat stuck open" error which I cleared off.
Yes, I am in Stuttgart center, just south of Zuffenhausen. I pass by the Porsche headquarters and their main dealer facilities probably once a week or more often. Last week they had a blue 918 ready for delivery in their separated deliveries area. Also saw a customer pick up his new 991 Gt3RS.
I just had to do this DIY for my '09 C2 997.2, it isn't a terrible process.
About 4 months ago I had preemptively replaced my OEM thermo with a 71º C version from LN Engineering (via Pelican parts). Recently I had been getting sporadic dash warning lights, and the Durametric was picking up codes. Initially I thought they were false codes, so I'd cleared them a few times, but after a while they'd come back with more frequency.
I called Pelican and they said the LN part had a 2 year warranty, and they issued me an RMA and sent out the replacement.
Here's how I did it:
1. Get a 5 gallon bucket and line it with a new plastic trash bag. This will insure you don't add debris to the fluid you drain.
2. Jack the car up high enough to clear the bucket.
3. Drain the engine of coolant per the service manual (from 2 different drain plugs), retighten with fresh crush rings (or reuse them like I did, no leaks for me)
4. Remove drive belt (this will give you some clearance when you have to rotate the housing
5. Remove housing bolts, these are fairly easy to get to. You can loosen the top bolt using a 12pt wrench
6. Separate housing from engine and rotate to the right (approx 45º-60º) until you can remove the thermostat. For some reason this took me waaaaay longer to figure out how to do this. You may need to move the housing up or down a bit to get enough rotation.
7. If you are only replacing the thermostat, swap the new one back in a
8. Tighten housing bolts to spec
9. Reinstall drive belt
10. Refill coolant, etc
I had wanted to replace the rubber gasket for good measure, and for some reason I was under the assumption I also should replace the pressed-in inner seal. I'd highly recommend against doing the latter unless you want to subject yourself to much stress.
1. To remove the housing completely. The instructions say "rotate further (approx 180º) and slide out (down)". This was not that easy for me. I must have screwed around with this for an hour before I ended up carefully using a crowbar at the top of the motor to flex the engine carrier back just enough for the housing to fall out/ down. At least on my car, the housing will not clear the carrier and engine on it's own accord.
2. Once the housing is out unless you see an obvious tear, do not replace the inner seal (pressed into housing). I didn't have the requisite slide hammer tool to do the extraction properly and I ended up having to take it to a shop to do it.
3. The other rubber seal is easy to do, have a field day.
4. Potentially use crowbar to gently flex carrier to reinstall
5. Remaining steps as above.
6. I used the Airlift vacuum tool to help refill the coolant, easy to use and worked like a charm.
Here's what a failed thermostat (left) looks like vs a new one.
06-01-2016, 06:11 PM
997.2 Thermostat easy DIY?
