Damage

Apologies, but I don't have my owner's manual with me. I was doing a regular visual inspection of the engine bay and noticed the opaque reservoir on the left side low in fluids. Is that the coolant? Also what's the standard coolant brand/type to buy?

kosmo

yes on the left.
Made by Genuine for Porsche. Its Pink now


some people mix it w/ distilled some dont.

911rox

That reservoir holds some decent volume and usually never drops it's level... If it's low, check or get the car checked for coolant leaks to be safe...

Spyerx

+1 could be a pipe or radiator leak....

jhbrennan

Or the cap is faulty - notorious problem with early versions - I believe cap is now on v 4 - you can tell from the number stamped on the cap.

997gt3north

yeah - those caps are complete total crap - and i mean crap

similar to the brake fluid caps in the front trunk

everyone should keep a spare of both if headed to the track


but do check for leaks

996FLT6

Brake cap is really crap. Very easy to strip the threads if u titen to hard. Mike

Damage

Hmm would a leak ever leave drips on the ground if it's a coolant leak? I haven't seen any drips on the ground.

jhbrennan

Look for any white residue around the cap. If the leak is in the plumbing from the radiators (up front) to the engine (in the back), most likely it would be caught by the plastic coverings on the underbody and never make it to the ground.

Spyerx

My wife's fun to drive but the pinnacle of British (body), German (electronics), French (engine), and Japanese (tranny) reliability engineering Mini Cooper S has a very slow coolant leak at the "Jarvik-7" (thermostat housing that looks like the first artificial heart with all the tubes and crap on it) that never drips on the ground. But you can see the tell tale white residue around the Jarvik. I'll get around to fixing it eventually.

Fill it up to max while cold and see if you notice further drops. Checkout the cap, and get up in the front end with a flash light and the radiators, and if you're so inclined, pull the underbody panels and check the lines for any of that white residue, check as many of the engine coolant pipes that you can.

These are closed systems and you shouldn't be losing coolant.

Damage

Thanks guys. So once I get the coolant, just open cap and poor in until full? No need to flush out or anything else? I googled this and saw some folks mention problems with air in the system.

jhbrennan

Air in system generally occurs with a flush...topping off shouldn't create any problems. Read the instructions on the bottle re mix concentration.

996FLT6

If engine cold just fill a little over minimal level. You don't want to fill all the way to top. Mike