Germaine

The Check Coolant Level light came on in my 2008 Cayenne base model.

I stopped at an auto zone to ask about buying some and they were sure what they should sell me.

Any suggestions? Of course the dealership wants me to bring it in, but not wanting to do that for something so simple.

CTTS520

You can top it off with distilled water. Unfortunately, your cooling system has a leak somewhere and should be inspected.

v10rick

Agree^^^
Keep an eye on that level, the water pump is prone to leaking.

uphoto

Yeah you really need to find out WHY your coolant is low.

wkearney99

Right because other than the fuel and washer fluid, the other liquids in the vehicle don't generally reduce in their level due to anything other than a leak. A small amount of loss will happen with some, but generally not enough to be a problem. If the levels drop you need to find out where it went. Look for signs of moisture or streaks of dirt collecting. Road dirt will stick to the thin film that tends to get left behind from something leaking.

Marv

As others have said, the coolant is going somewhere. The coolant fairy isn't the culprit.

Someone can correct me, but I was told by both dealers and trustworthy independent shops to only use Porsche coolant in the system.

This advice applied to my previous 944 and current 911 due to the aluminum used for the radiators. I don't know if the same constraint is true for the Cayenne, but why push your luck?

I followed this thread because I am curious to find out what is causing your leak. Please report back what you find.

I recently bought a 2006 base and when I got it home after a 100 mile drive the coolant light came on. I was 1/2 gallon low!

I still can't find a leak. 2,000 miles later and the coolant level still looks full. So I continue looking for clues. Hope your problem gets resolved favorably.

CTTS520

Yes. Only use Porsche coolant. It's ok to top off with distilled water until you can get some Porsche coolant from the dealer or online. Its about 50 dollars a gallon and you dilute it 1:1 with distilled water.

Petza914

I believe in early Cayenne, coolant leaks could end up dripping into the starter and damaging it, so maybe look there. 955s had a plastic coolant pipe issue and although that was fixed in the 957s, there was still one coolant T that was problematic.

Unfortunately, if you're loosing coolant but really can't find where it's going, it may be going out the tailpipe as vapor, but that means it's leaking into the combustion chamber which could be the start of a failing head gasket. Not sure if head gaskets are a Cayenne problem or not.

r553

Is your coolant reservoir OK?

Germaine

hmm. guess I'll have to chck.

Germaine

Thanks. I'll check

Germaine

thanks for the advice. I will

Germaine

Thanks everyone for your replies. I will definitely have it looked at.

Marv

Generally, the way to detect that is to roll down the windows, start the vehicle after it has reached ambient temperature, and slowly reverse.

If you get a sweat syrup smell in the air, that usually is coolant (unless someone poured maple syrup into your exhaust pipe).