RodneyB

guys, I'm kinda new to the forum but hoping you can help a newbie.

I just got home from taking my wife to dinner about 20 mile run and when I stopped outside my house I had smoke/steam coming out of the rear deck slots. I opened the deck lid and had coolant splattered all over the top of the motor and noticed a puddle of coolant forming rapidly under the left side of the engine just about directly beneath the air box inlet on the left side looking into the engine bay. The temp gauge was normal and the fans were not running and never came on so I'm thinking it just started. After the leaking stopped and the car cooled off I jacked it up enough to look underneath and saw coolant above the rubber hose in the picture on what looked like the manifold the rubber hose is attached to. also when i squeezed the hose the coolant came out faster. Is this something common to the 2007 twin turbos and can i fix it myself or do i need to haul it 70 miles to my mechanic? It is kind of hard to get oriented from the pictures but perhaps they will help.

Kevin

Coolant leaks and coolant fitting failures are posted a least once a month on the 996TT and 997TT forums.

If you are lucky you have a water pump failure.

I'd open your decklid and try to see if you have any coolant on top of the engine towards the centerline or under the intake plenum area.

The water pump is do able.. The rest usually requires a engine drop.

RodneyB

One other thing I noticed while driving the car before springing the coolant leak was a sort of grinding racket like perhaps a turbo was going south. Will a water pump going out make a noise like this? I would think if the bearing in the water pump housing is what fails that was probably the noise i heard. by the time i got home and shut the car off the noise had stopped and the leak had begun. Has anyone had this kind of experience with the water pump. My car only has 15,000 miles and has been setting in storage for the last year before I bought it.

shadow993

Based on the pics and descriptions, i agree with OP... it looks like the water pump. It could possibly be a simple failed hose. Since you said that when you squeezed the one it poured out. I haven't heard of a water pump leaking that bad when not running.

The bearing noise could simply be the noisy engine/turbos. Mine always has a weird bearing noise. After reading a few post... it's normal. Especially at start up.

Since it's a 70 mile hike ... refill with fluid and poke around .

RodneyB

Sudden leak update: Pulled my air box and Y Pipe to check the pump pully . There was 1/4" or more in and out play and about the same amount of wobble I trailered the car to the shop for new water pump. All done ready to pick up when I get back from vacation next week. I was lucky that all parts were recovered in the pump housing and the temp gauge never got above normal. Fans never came on either. With just 15k miles I'm thinking that setting around in storage is not what these cars need.

jcnesq

After 8.5 years, I think the ONLY thing that has gone wrong with my '09TT was a water pump failure (about 5 years in), fixed under my Fidelity warranty.

Macster

Lack of use ain't good for these cars but the water pump failed at under 50K miles -- and 50K miles is the new car warranty miles -- so I'd classify the water pump failure as a "new car" problem.

(FWIW my 2003 Turbo only had 10K miles on it when I bought it used in 2009 but the water pump lasted over another 100K miles. A leak at the water pump was the first sign of a problem in this area.)

mdnt08

Ooops forum newbie....wrong thread

The thing I noticed when changing my head gasket and in other photos of original gaskets in the 8v engines...is the failures seem to happen near a corroded spot on the head gasket due to a coolant passage. Eventually the ring on the gasket sealing the cylinder wall buckles and gives in a bit causing tiny to small leaks. I see them on cyl #1 or 2. Given that, it may not matter on mileage or how the engine was run or cared for?