Muratti

Hey guys,

sorry for my English, I am from Austria.
After a spirited drive on some twisty mountain backroads I encountered this! Is it some fluid from the windshield washer tank that got out of the reservoir? Could it be something else?
My GT4 is brand new with only 1800km and I don’t think it could be cooling fluid. Happened the second time now and only after some fast driving on backroads.
Has anybody of you seen this before on a GT4?

Viperguy324

You sure that's not brake fluid?

Muratti

No not 100% but why should it only occur when I drive it harder? If there is a leak from the brakes there would always be some fluid there don’t you think?

Viperguy324

The hotter your brakes get, the more it expands... if you have a little moisture inside it's going to expand rapidly and vent out of the cap.

Clean the area and allow it to dry... then get a rubber band and a paper towel and wrap the reservoir. That will answer your question.. Be sure to spray that whole area down as it will eat your paint up. Sweat bands work the best....(like a tennis player wear on their wrists).. You might even have a bit of air in the system.

LeeDX

Yes, it's the washer fluid, as previous post mentioned, expands when hot then overflows, have had it on track when bottle is nearly full. Once level in washer drops it stops. I had it checked out by Porsche first time and they said same. If it was brake fluid your paint would be affected and coolant has a very distinguishable smell.

zedcat

Washer fluid overflow, mine does it. I siphoned out some fluid but was on a very bumpy track recently and it was all over under the frunk lid. Can't recall for sure but I looked up the capacity and it is quite large, so removing some is not an issue.

Muratti

Thanks for your answers! I just went to the car again and wiped it off, thank god the car has PPF so in case it isn’t washer fluid there won’t holen anything to the paint.
When I wiped it off the dirt in mixture with the fluid felt like oil, can‘t believe it is washer fluid with this texture...
i will call Porsche tomorrow and let you know what they say.

LeeDX

Yes, Porsche washer fluid isn't like the stuff you at petrol station - that's what confused me to start.

Voyager6

On LHD cars the washer tank runs in the fender between the door and the wheel well and runs at least half way to the rocker panel. So the leak in the photo looks to be from the washer tank. For brake fluid to get there, there would have go be a lot lost and is probably easily visible under the hood.

On my Boxster, I recently pulled the back half of the left front fender liner off the car and out popped a blue washer tank cap that had been previously lost and replaced.

V6

bretster

Washer fluid leak just on our 991.2 Carrera.

Muratti

Just to keep you guys up to date: I was at Porsche today... it is indeed just washer fluid. It seems that because of the way the fluid container is designed it it possible that fluid can come out of the breather pipe.
we let off some fluid to be sure to check it’s colour and yes it’s just that.
I was in doubt because the cap of the container was and is clean so I didn’t know where the fluid could have come out and I didn’t think that it was broken. Intact it was the breathing tube.
So all good, thanks for your answers.

WarbirdDude

Thank You !!

I just went through this..... My car is new to me and I was getting this same thing on a long 4+ hour spirited road drive and thought it was weird but I must have hit some puddles... It was dark like brake dust and had the same witness marks from fluid. New car so I questioned myself and figured I just watch it.

I ran the GT4 at Waterford Hills for a track day and it had heavy dusting and more fluid trails exactly as shown above. So I took photos and had it checked out at the the dealership. I was concerned due to the amount of dusting and it only being on one side of the car. Maybe a sticky piston or something?

They went through the caliper and found everything in order. No issues with the brakes whatsoever, equal pad wear and everything working properly.

They said they had seen this before on a track car when the headlight washer fluid was full and the overflow was venting out washing brake dust down the side. My car had all the fluids checked and topped off when it went in for the transmission swap. a couple of weeks previous.

I just returned from a 3 day event at Grattan Raceway this past weekend and got some weeping but nothing like the initial dusting that had me concerned. I was role playing with a very seasoned instructor and challenged him with diverse bad techniques. So the brakes got a good workout in various scenarios.

After 3 days of normal hot laps, student rides, and role playing bad habits I had slight weeping and accumulation that was thickish looking but confined to the body line directly at the bottom of the wheel well... The dusting down the side of the car is gone and both sides of the car seem be getting normal dirt accumulation at the same rate.

Thanks for the thread and the confirmation what I'm seeing is normal. When I built my Caterham 7 I learned very quickly that when anyone asked about some of the oddities in the building or in the driving they were answered with TADTS or "They all do that Sir".

I will post a couple pics of the heavy dusting that sent me to the dealership to get things checked. The right side was clean and only had normal levels of dust/dirt but the left side actually had dust up into my door handle area...
You can see the dusting, when it was being wiped off, and the right side for comparison.

After some of the washer fluid was removed all seems normal. I guess it's a case of TADTS.... lol

Joe

Muratti

Thanks for your detailed answer, Joe!
I don‘t even think mine was totally filled up and I was not driving on a race track so even if your dort area is quite a lot bigger than mine I would also still see this as normal.
The guys at Porsche also told me that if it had Ben brake fluid and I wouldn’t immediately remove it at least after 2 days the paint would be completely damaged!
So also with being just logic, coolant tastes sweet (they actually tasted the washer fluid that was spilled on the car 😂 and then they checked the paint which was totally fine and so it could only be washer fluid. But also as they removed the inner fender screws it was totally visible where it came from.
So to all people concerned about that problem: don’t worry!

WarbirdDude

lol..... yea I've been tasting coolant for years. (that may explain other issues in my life,,,,, Hmmmm..... lol) and went to do that when the car was in the condition shown. But I really didn't want to taste brake dust. I guess I found my personal limit with no safe word needed.

I would never say not to check when you see fluid, dust, or other witness marks/tracks that are out of the ordinary on any car or machine. However, it seems GT4's drip, leak, or dust the right side of the car if the headlight washer reservoir is too full. So don't panic but check things to be sure.

Tasting bits of your car is up to you. lol. Probably some parts of the interior are better tasting than the left tire washer fluid and brake dust condiment dispenser but that's a personal choice.

If I find anything more about this later I'll post here. Thanks !

Joe