rja

^
Happy to know we're on the same page It’s good advice for drivers tracking their cars to plan and budget the work. If not already done, suggest drivers pay close attention to potential warning signs like losing small amounts of coolant and / or smell. In my case, what had been surmised trackside as a coolant reservoir tank cap going bad was in-fact a ticking time bomb in the form of coolant fitting backing out.

Also, suggest being opportunistic about any work that might help offset cost of job, like a new clutch. I have a friend who had unfortunate situation arise where inattentive driver on street hit his .2RS in the rear. I don’t know all details of why repair involved removing motor, but it did and he had coolant fittings pinned and welded for a small incremental cost to him -- a fraction of what it would have cost had the work been performed as a standalone job. Silver lining to an otherwise crappy situation.

Gofishracing

Inintially all our attention / anger went to NHTSA (May 23, 2013) since Porsche is responsible- admittedly or not. Responsible trackers worrying about their own safety and those around them . At this point it is an individual's choice that he must accept as OK. They will all fail as age grabs them. There is always maintainance on older vehicles.

NAM VET

as the owner of a 25K mile car, thus far without any coolant issues, of course I have interest in this potential issue with my own car. When I had the PPI done on my recently departed 997S up in Charlotte at the Hendrick dealer, whose service managers I have known for some years, I asked about their experience with this in the GT3's they service. He told me he was well aware of the coolant issue with the early SUV cars, and could remember them well, but just did not recall any of their GT3's with this problem. He did say they did not have a lot of the GT3 cars out there, but could not recall any needing a "fix" for this glue/pipe issue.

My son and I are participating this coming August in the 52 mile back and forth Sand Hills Challenge in northwest NE, in the sand hills. It will be hot, and we are limited to 130 mph as this is our first time in the Challenge. So, I am wondering what experience the European drivers have, since they can go hot and fast for extended periods, and what they and their European dealers and their service garages have to say about coolant loss. I would of course like to get a quality fix for my car, but right now, having spent the extra $ over the value of my own departed 997, my wife would not see the rational for this cost, as part of the justification for the move from 997S to GT3 was the greater reliability of the latter.

So what do the Continental drivers have to say?

All the best....

Spyerx

Does it freeze where you are at? If that is not a concern swap coolant with distilled water and water wetter until you can get it taken care of. I've read of turbo drivers having these fail in street. Always a chance. How many of those 25k miles are track miles?

TYPE911

I own a 2008 GT3 with a late production date of July 2007. The previous owner had the coolant pipes replaced and pinned due to a coolant leak while driving home from dinner one evening. Slow speed and shut car down immediately. $3200 repair at a Denver Porsche dealer. Repair was done May 2014 at 24,400 miles, so there is a time/mileage data point for you.

To me this issue is similar to the chain tensioner issues on the
pre 84 air-cooled engines, it's not if, it's when.

Potential for much greater damage increases at track speeds. I would get it repaired asap. Easier to convince the wife of a $3k bill now than something much higher later. NamVet...love your "new" car, congratulations...and Good Luck!

tcsracing1

fell victim to the coolant hose today....
2007RS #2356 @ 37500 miles.
Approx 30-40 track days since new.
lucky that it happened just after my morning session at Sebring.
Had I stayed out I could have messed up my car or somebody else.

Had to get the car to Orbit racing where they managed to access the one troubled hose and epoxy it along with pinning it.

Gona pull the motor next month and do all of them.
Anybody who tracks their 07-08 GT3 should drop what they are doing and have it done.

Waiting for Porsche to fess up to them isn't going happen by the look of it...

aircavscout

My goodness... With all the track time you do I am surprised you had not done it yet.. Especially at SEBRING... I got lucky and had to have the engine out anyways for Rear Crank Seal... Welded at the same time. But with all the discussion on here and seeing the failure first hand I never put my car on the track until it was done... Guess it was nice to have other toys to race..

I am glad you had no issue as a result. It could have been ugly for anyone behind you...

Gofishracing

NAM VET yours will fail just like the others. It's just a matter of where & when. Try to budget it for the future. Hope the failure is going to be soft rather than hard.

skl

2010 with 9K miles. Thinking of doing it here in the next month or so. Just trying to figure if I should anything else while the engine is out. Water pump, etc??? RS clutch upgrade kit probably overkill.

Nugget

RS 4.0 clutch upgrade is worth doing, also a good time to consider Guard LSD internals. Definitely do the Sharkwerks pipe replacements.

Greentree

Nugget warned me umpteen times to get mine pinned, but I never got around to it. Well, one of them popped this weekend at Texas World Speedway. Luckily it happened at the slowest turn on the course. Several others behind me skidded in the anti-freeze before they black-flagged the run. Thankfully, there were no collisions. I slinked off the course in a cloud of steam.

aircavscout

Glad it didn't cause any damage.. Very lucky on a fast track..

It's not a matter of "If It Will Happen"...

It's a matter of "When it will happen"....

STALKER99

IMO all GT3 owners need to be proactive about this problem, for their own safety and others, street or track driven. Just get it done guys.

When I purchased my 2010 GT3 last summer the car went straight to my local shop to get the lines done. I think it's the responsible thing to do.

At Mosport a few years ago GT3 spilled coolant, a Ferrari was written off and I believe an instructor suffered a few broken ribs.

Gofishracing

file a report with NHTSA anyway

Brick996

I became victim to the catastrophic coolant line failure this past Friday night. I was driving home at about 8:30pm on interstate 15 in San Diego at approximately 70 mph. I downshifted to 4th gear to pass another vehicle. I felt the rear end get a little loose and then noticed a large amount of steam coming from the engine compartment. I pulled over as soon as I could, shut her down and called a tow truck. The car is a 2003 996tt, 1 bar tune, 52,000 miles, never been tracked. I have filed a report with the nhtsa.