Ray S

Is this also a problem on turbo's?

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...t-pipes-2.html

ilko

Oh yeah, you bet it is! Every GT1 block is put together the same way and this problem affects all water-cooled non-motorsport Mezger engines, both 996 and 997.

Ray S

Hmm...more info here;

http://sharkwerks.com/porsche/techni...urbo-cars.html

Have any of you guys had this problem? Anyone here have their coolant pipes pinned or welded?

drh

Mine finally blew on the 01 996TT at 48K miles
All of the pipes have been TIG welded now.

ilko

Porsche "fixed" the pipes in my car under CPO while the car was with the previous owner. It was a slow leak from one of the pipes, not a full blown separation. And by fixing, they re-glued them, the same way they were put together at the factory. Supposedly the new glue is better but I'm not holding my breath.

I have another 3 years left on my Fidelity Waranty so if it happens again I'm covered. Won't be fun if coolant suddenly starts gushing on the road but what can you do (other than the $3-4K out of pocket repair, that is).

TT-911

Don't go through live worrying what might happen.
Most turbo's never had a failure in that department.
Enjoy the car !

Zeus993

YES! 1+

AudiOn19s

This problem comes through age of the epoxy and heat cycles. They're all eventually going to fail given enough age or heat cycles. This didn't become a more recognized issue until we got age on many 996 Turbo's and GT3's and it's become known as a major problem at this point. There are claims the fittings on the 2010+ cars have been changed but again they're just not old enough to start seeing this happen yet.

997's will get there...they are just starting to pop up more and more....one just this week in this forum.

So if it's a street only car and you're ok waiting for the failure to happen instead of performing preventative maintenance I guess I get it....but if you track the car you are fooling only yourself that it won't happen. $2-4k in preventative maintenance or write the car off when spins in it's own coolant and hits something?

TT-911

You think 'track car' and failure.
To me tracking my turbo is as alien as considering a trip to the moon.
In my circle of friends 'tracking' is a foreign word.
In that context I said what I said.
If I was a track rat I would use an other car but in the event I would use the turbo preventive maintenance is a given. But track cars need a different approach anyway.

So in real life this 'problem' is a non issue for non tracked cars. I even would say this issue is mostly caused due to tracking. The extra heat, (continued) high revs all take its toll on the fragile connections.

I have friends with 996 and 997 turbo's that never heard of the problem and all are 'aged' now and have considerable mileage. Also my friendly Porsche dealer (the employee at the reception who always speaks his mind) never had any issues to note. One in all the years he worked there if I remember correct.

John@Fabspeed

Sharkwerks makes a coolant pipe system that is suppose to eliminate that issue and there pretty cost effective IMO.

Zero Cool

Had a coolant leak a few months ago. Turned out to be the water pump, but I went ahead with the Sharkwerks coolant pipes and pinning while the engine was out. I realize the problem may never occur but for a small amount extra it was worth the piece of mind.

JayinToronto

Having a turbo and turning a nose at ever stepping on a track is like dating a super model and promoting chastity.

atcbi5

I would not track my Porsche turbo as well. I would buy a miata and do that. I have no experience so therefore that's my personal opinion. I will do 1/4 runs, got some experience in that.

Ray S

I respectfully disagree Dennis. I think many owners buy these cars because of their capabilities on the track. You could extend your logic out to many of this cars features. For example for your street Porsche you"ll probably never need the six piston calipers and massive braking capability built into these cars. Likewise, a dry sump oiling system could be considered overkill for the street.

Many (like me) purchased this car because it has racing grade equipment on board rather than much of the lesser equipment on other Porsche's. I expect the mighty mezger to have been built to withstand the "extra heat" of track use. This weakness is a little disappointing to me.

+1

Steamboat

This is a "must do" modification if your engine is ever out.

It is a potentially "save your life" modification if you track your car. A coolant spill at speed will certainly send you, and likely the people behind you, in some direction other than the one you intended to go. Hit a wall at 130 and only bad things happen.

For street driven cars, just keep a close eye on things. If you notice a leak then by all means get all the pipes welded or pinned. You'd rather deal with that expense than wrapping yourself around a light pole or whacking some other car at 50 mph. This is a known problem.....deal with it intelligently!