Revs

My 2008 Cayenne S cannot keep any liquids in its cooling system. The liquid seems to drain quickly out of the rear side of the engine when attempting to fill. I had the Cayenne towed to the dealer. They say that the coolant distributor (a small plastic part) on the rear side of the engine failed and repair requires that the engine needs to be lowered to replace the part. Cost estimate is $3,700.

The Cayenne has about 75,000 miles on it. I live in Seattle, WA. The service advisor says that this issue is not uncommon in warmer climates where their is excessive heat on a regular basis.

Anyone else have any experience or information relating to this issue?

User 4221

Sorry to hear about your situation. Do a search on Coolant Tubes and you will have plenty to read.

racer_65

The coolant pipe issue we hear about is not supposed to happen on the 2008 model onwards. This one must be a different issue.

Jonathon Rolstin

+1 different issue - interested to hear about it...

ericstaup

Interesting indeed... My 2004 CTT with 75000 miles is in for a failed hose at the back of the engine. No coolant got on top of the engine. The hose is buried behind the spot where the plastic pipes transition. Having all plastic stuff replaced while he is in there for $800. I hope my Indy knows what's up cause I couldn't see how to get to the hose.

Could you get a part number for that plastic part? If he drops the engine I want to get that replaced as well. He will be doing this on Monday and I will post an update.
On a side note he narrowed down the search for a leak by squeezing one of the coolant hoses at the front and you could hear the air coming out of the back of the engine.
He termed the location of the plastic pipes as "German engineering perfection" tongue in cheek of course.
Good luck to us both!
Eric

ericstaup

Mechanic removed the leaking pipe at the back of the engine. It was connected to another fitting and he was unable to get the fitting off without ripping another hose. There was also a plastic t-fitting that he found that was crumbling. Could that be the coolant distributor? If so the engine does not need to be dropped to get to it. He is replacing everything back there that looks suspect. Looks like we have more to worry about than the normal plastic stuff under the exhaust manifold.

Eric

Hal 2000

mudman2

I think I would be looking for a second opinion, if its an 08 then the chances that his description is good is quite low

The closest description refers to a the T pipe we see on TT engines at the back. This does exist on 08 S engine in a way but I have not heard of any reports of this going since the engine change

Ask them for the part number they think has gone and let us know

leek

I am in Seattle also and have an 08 Ctt. Came down several months ago and found condo garage slab with large amount of anti freeze under the car. It was towed to Barrier. Their explanation was that the fittings on the back of the engine that collect the engine water had failed. Their had been some but not many failures, but Porsche evidently had a new part that they had to order that replaced the original. Barrier did not lower the engine and my recollection is that it was about 1/2 the price you indicate above.
They had to order a new gasket set after they got the new part so it took a week or so to get it fixed, maybe that is why they charged me what they did and picked up the towing. I have had very few other problems with the car to date (90K miles)

touareg

Leek, can you tell us the part number? I realize this is 1 year later almost