atm4jim

I purchased my 2007 997 turbo back in March of this year with 57k miles with a coolant leak repaired and upgraded to metal fittings, pinned and JB welded, new clutch was done at the same time, and other issues fixed that was found during PPI.

I took the car a couple of days ago to the track and the outside temp was 110+ and no coolant was leaking under the car. But the next day, I found a couple drips of coolant under the car dripping from rear passenger side turbo. See pics below.

I tried several times unsuccessfully trying to find the source around the top of the turbo area. I run the car for a few miles yesterday but no leak was detected until the next day yet again. My guess it's because the heat from the turbo is drying the small amount of coolant and is only visible after the turbo cools down.

Any ideas where it's coming from? Please help! Thanks in advance.

I'm going to take the car back to the same shop that did the coolant leak repair/pipe upgrade and hope it's covered under the original repair.





What do you folks think the source might be?




Rear passenger side

Spyerx

Did they replace the plastics elbows on the oil cooler at the same time?

Kevin

The 997TT VNT turbochargers have water-cooled bearing housings. Most likely you have a oring that has failed.

Kevin

Here is the part number>> 999.707.583.40 You would need 4 each per turbo. $1.72 each

atm4jim

I'm not sure. Here's a copy of the invoice.

atm4jim

Thank you Kevin!! It does seem like it's leaking from the turbo. Any idea how many hours an indy shop would bill to replace these o-rings? If I attempt to DIY, any special tools needed? Thanks again.

atm4jim

[QUOTE=Kevin;14454868]The 997TT VNT turbochargers have water-cooled bearing housings. Most likely you have a oring that has failed.[/QUOTE

I agree and thank you, it's probably 1 or 2 of these coolant lines that goes to the turbo housing that is leaking as shown in the picture below that I found in the 997tt sparkplug DIY thread





I called a couple of Indy shops hoping to get a ballpark cost, first shop states it $158 diagnostic charge and cannot really give an estimate over the phone which is understandable and another shop looked up the standard book rate to replace the turbos which is 10 hours. I assume that's for both sides so about 4-5 hours, so about $750. It's a bit disconcerting the cost to replace a $2.00 part. https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/cussing.gif

The good news is that the leak is very minor that I could probably drive the car like this for a while and that I don't think the engine needs to drop to gain access.

I suppose replacing these o-rings are no more difficult (probably less) than replacing spark plugs in these cars though I've read that in itself is a big PIA. And while I'm at it I should probably replace the plugs and coil packs on that same side. Am I missing something? Any suggestions?

atm4jim

Just wanted to update my post, I decided to fix this myself and though it took me a whole day and night, It's now fixed!

I decided to replace all the o-rings since I needed to remove the other pipes that were in the way. Also ended up replacing the coils and plugs on the same passenger side while I had the bumper cover and intercooler removed. But I didn't have the energy to do the driver side. Plus the old coils and plugs were in good shape.






Old o-rings, the two on the right broke during removal as it was brittle



Coolant pipes with old o-rings



With the new o-rings

saabin

Nice work. Good to see more of us that DIY on this car..

sidwin

$2 part now let's see how much labor is involved in replacing them :-). After having my starter replaced at $1299 for material and $300 for labor nothing surprises me anymore :-)

o7silverturbo

1300 for just the starter? Did you go to the dealer?

Are you able to sit down yet?

atcbi5

Nice job!!!! Get the Bosch starter! It's like $300 bucks and it starts the engine quicker. Most that have had that spike at 3k report it's gone after replacement!