Toddimus

Very good idea! That would be the ultimate solution. It's the way it should have been from the get-go. I don't think there's enough room to do it though. And the pipe thread would have to be just the right size because I don't think boring out the hole is an option. I'll do some measurements of the hole and tubing size to see if it's feasible. Any idea where I could find an aluminum fitting like that? I'd be concerned with galvanic reactions if I used brass or steel fittings. Maybe plastic??

I was worried about that too. I don't think JB Weld is very flexible, so that could be an issue. I was also worried about the bit of steel in the mix with the coolant. Granted, the amount exposed to the fluid would be very minimal (i.e. only at the inboard edge of the sleeve).

DWPC

I'd research the OEM adhesive/sealant. Is there a Porsche shop procedure for this? Like the MDs say..."Do no harm". And I still recommend contacting Porsche. It's pi**-poor connection design for a pressurized system.

jpoint

I seem to recall some guys re-gluing the pipe on the GT3 engines and drilling a small hole in the side of the aluminum manifold, tapping it, and installing a set screw to prevent the tube from working loose again. I think there's a thread on the 996 GT3 section.

TozoM8

I would drill a 3.3mm hole on the top of the allu cast, tap it to M4 and use JB Weld with a set screw on top. That will hold it for sure.

leek

I am not sure that we have the same problem but I have an 08 CTT that all of the sudden let loose a bunch of coolant on the floor at about 85K miles. Barrier (dealer) towed it and after evaluation ordered a new part from Porsche that superceded the original part. It was a several thousand dollar job but they covered about 1/2 of the cost. Before trying to repair the original I would check to make sure that there were not other flaws with the factory install.

slots

Hello New member here, long time viewer first time caller.

I had this exact same problem as the OP listed with my 2008 Cayenne Turbo last week. Had to drop the engine and replace the distributor housing using parts:

948-106-154-01
948-106-069-10
948-106-026-04
948-106-061-06
and a few others... Total cost was >$3300 for this episode. Not happy, don't feel this is a normal type of thing to have happen to a car with 30k miles filed a safety complaint on it to document it (NHTSA ID Number: 10547588) in case it helps anyone else including porsche fix this problem and compensate us for the repair costs. I am otherwise problem free on this car and I love it so much.

slots

Sorry in advance if this requires a new thread being the same problem but another model or not noob poster :P

bobby.trimmer

Toddimus

What did you do to fix this problem I have an 08 turbo cayenne and had the exact same problem happen to me, where the glue came loose and pushed the coupling out. thanks any help would be appreciated do not want to pull engine

Toddimus

Sorry, I haven't checked in for a while. I did fix it myself, with a very low cost solution (with a few extenuating circumstances). The expensive part was the $100 of super coolant I bought to re-fill the system. It's a long story, but the extenuating circumstance was that the plastic "plug" that keeps the drive coupler to the high pressure fuel pump broke when I pulled the pump out to access the water distributor. It's a simple, white plastic part that should cost $0.25, but Porsche wants $40 for it. That's just criminal!

I prepped the surfaces of the cast part as well as the tubing sleeve with some coarse "dremeling" of the surfaces. Then, I used some acid to etch the surfaces to remove any oxidization for a better adhesion. After a careful rinsing of the acid, I used JB Weld to glue the parts back together.

It looks to be a permanent fix, but if I had to get back in there I would do as jpoint suggests:

I thought about doing just that, but it's pretty tight back there and I didn't want to make a "mess" of the cast aluminum distributor back there. If it fails again, I'll add the set screw and fix it for good!

Slots, I'm sure that's the way the dealer would want to fix it. I bet their updated part has some sort of secondary keeper feature to prevent this from happening again. It's a part failure and Porsche should cover this as part of an extended warranty and/or recall. Not everyone wants to dig in like I did and fix it "shade tree" style. Ultimately, we both ended up with a fixed car but I'm not $3300 lighter like you are. You have a warranty on it though!!!

See above for my procedure. It really wasn't that technically difficult, but it's a very tight space and it helps to have small hands, so I enlisted my wife and son to help...

slots

This was not covered by warranty as mine on my 2008 has now gone expired. Seeing as we are on the 5 year expiration window I would expect more people to start reporting this problem that are required to spend >$3000 to fix. With this in mind I did document this problem on the Safecar.gov site (report number 10547588).

Like the last few years of coolant pipe problem people I believe this site and others encouraging people to file these reports on the safe car site was what ultimately resulted in Porsche doing a recall and refunding people for the repair costs.

This is a dangerious design flaw which at high speed could result in accidents and engine fire from overheating. I lost 8 gallons of coolant in just a few seconds in a big pooof. This car was always serviced and has very low miles and treated with kid gloves and other than this episode was the best car I have ever driven. And I still feel that way but I'd like my 4k back tyvm.

Cheers to this site where I found the OP with the same problem so its not just in the turbo cayennes.

slots

Andy E.

In the tech notes section of last month's Excellence magazine, there's an in-depth discussion about the coolant distributor failures that have been plaguing the 957 Cayenne as well as certain 911 models. The bonding agent that is used to fit the hose pipe extension to the cast manifold fails under high heat conditions.

Also, there's the potential hazard of damaging certain transmission components after such a failure. An interesting read...

ndx

I would personally weld that with ALU sticks, but I don't think it would be possible without removing it.

CaptJim

I believe it should be a solid bond or weld. It would be the expansion and contraction of the metals with a poor bond that caused the problem in the first place. No movement required.

+1 JB Weld as a fix that may last for another 5 years. Clean well first.

Toddimus

I'd love to read what it said in Excellence mag. I don't know if you are allowed to post the text of it in the forum (per copyright rules), but if anybody can scan it and send it to me, I'd be interested in seeing what they said.

For what it's worth, it's still holding up about 6 months later. And I did clean VERY well before apply the JB Weld. I even used an aluminum etching acid to prep the surfaces.

Cheers!

RacerX5

Not much to lose by trying this repair. But once complete, I would run the system up to full temperature with a coolant pressure gauge mounted in place of the cap. Make sure the system pressure is not pegging the gauge. A blockage in the system somewhere can cause excessive pressure, and it will find the weakest link. A blockage can be caused by a number of things; failed thermostat, bad auxiliary cooling pump among them.