996FLT6

Blew a coolant fitting at thill from halfway between exit of 13 to 14 all the way to exit of t1. Was on waterwetter. This was a nasa hpde event with chuckload of cars. No one ever knew I blew a coolant fitting and no one spun. I do recommend waterwetter if u don't pin/weld but at this point y not. Age seems to be the culprit for the pos coolant fiitings to pop off. Mike

rickg87

I have an 07 RS and want to have this problem taken care of.
Should I use a Porsche dealership or private shop. I'm in NJ
Princeton Porsche did the RMS before I owned the car. I also have
Relationship with a few P race shops.
Pro/cons

RedRSA

Personally, I would probably prefer a qualified independent. Select a shop that has experience on a number of cars and a good track record. The method they choose (pin or weld) is less important than their expertise and quality of their work.

Andrew D.

^^^^^ I agree. An independent shop experienced in dealing with this issue is a good way to go.

AudiOn19s

we saw a really odd failure at the track this weekend. '07 GT3 dumped coolant at the track everyone thought it was a typical failure.

Go over to the car and while the fittings hadn't been welded, what came off was one of the hoses on the expansion tank...not the main feed tube down to the water pump housing either, it was the vent tube that blew off. I'm not sure if there was some other issue with the car and it over heated or exactly what happened.

The expansion tank looked brand new like it had recently been replaced. The owner was new to the car it still had temp tags on it.

Either way, it was odd, but it dumped all of it's coolant out of that vent tube.

Sadly the result was a friends 996 GT3 hit the wall hard and will likely be written off. Really crappy thing to see.

Gofishracing

rickg87 Is that MMC ? You know all the shops. Dealer not right choice for fittings. Use one of the independents.

rickg87

Yes, I guess I just needed to hear it. I'll go independent shop.
I got to get it done. I want to play around on track with it but i won't until
I do this

Nugget

I doubt a dealer would even be willing to do a pin or weld job -- it's not a Porsche-approved repair. I know my dealer here won't, although they have shops they'll suggest for getting it done right.

AudiOn19s

Data point that may be of interest to some of you:

There was speculation that Porsche changed the design of the fittings on the newer 2010+ cars to add additional depth in how far the fitting sat inside of the housings.

My fabricator just got done welding a set of pipes on a 2010 and advised there is NO difference in depth of the fittings into the housings.

He did indicate that when the fittings came apart that the epoxy used on the 2011 car he was working on was a different color from all of the 996 and 997.1 cars he's previously welded. He wasn't sure if the epoxy was changed or if possibly this newer epoxy hadn't been subjected to the heat cycles yet that turns it the brown color that you see on the older fittings when they fail. He indicated this was more of a green color of epoxy.

This was from a 2011 3.8 RS with low mileage and no track time...yet!

aircavscout

Not true about PORSCHE dealer not authorizing it.

When I had my engine out at Porsche dealer replacing RMS under CPO had them welded. They removed all parts. Took to independent welding shop, installed shark water pipes and put engine back in. And covered it under warranty. All Dealers are not the same... IMO

mooty

i personally know of a 2011 RS
low miles
no track
8000 miles
the pipe is about to come undone itself

Ginsu Tim

2008 GT3 here, I did the work preventatively in May.

Connections were welded, used the sharkwerks coupling.

Saw up my car's skirt.

$6k :barf: But that included a few other bits of work.

3 track days since, and you know what I haven't worried about once?

NAM VET

Just to give information on the cost for fixing the coolant pipe fixes, here is what it cost me. I had:
engine of course removed.
I bought the BBI pipes
remove water manifold and sent out for pro welding
new clutch throw out bearing
remove flywheel and replace weeping RMS with new bolts
flush brakes/clutch with Pentosin
remove front bumper and repair a rad screen
Sharkwerk's pipe
I supplied oil and filter
Fresh plugs and coils
Fuel filter
Evaluate clutch and pressure plate

Cost was $4200

PM me if you are near Charlotte NC and wish info on the independent shop that did this for me.

All the best...

Crester

A friend was telling me about these issues this weekend and I'm trying to look into it. Could somebody please summarize and tell me if this only applies to Turbo/GT3/GT2? Also is it only 996 and 997.1?

Thanks in advance.

Spyerx

Any water cooled mezger engine
996.1, 996.2, 997.1 997.2, GT3/RS/4.0
996.2, 997.1, 997.2 GT2 (did they make a .1/.2??)
Turbos would be 996 gen and 997.1 gen.

For turbos, 997.2 gen moved to 9A1 platform.
This doesn't affect the non-GT cars, except turbos as above.

I think i got them all...