986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post - Overheated

dja1980 · 11-10-2014, 05:14 PM

I’ve done a bit of reading on the subject, and I assume I’m dealing with a water pump issue, but I wanted to post my experience first to make sure I’m heading in the right direction.

My 2002 Boxster S has roughly 67K miles on it, and my wife and I took the car out of storage last weekend to head into the city for a concert and hotel stay. We were in very heavy stop-and-go traffic for about an hour before we valet parked at the hotel with no issue.

Upon retrieving the car in the morning, I got a dash warning that my coolant was low (1st time seeing that). The temps seemed fine as we made our way along city streets, but as we were accelerating onto the expressway, I got another warning that the engine was too hot (about 15 minutes after leaving the hotel). The temp came back down as the RPM’s came down, and they stayed steady (warm, but not dangerous) for the 40 minute drive back to drop my wife off with her SUV and pick up my daughters (still an hour away from our house).

I stopped at a local grocery story to pick up some distilled water for top-off. There was a very small puddle under my car, the trunk lid was steamy/wet, and I added just under a gallon of water to bring it to the proper level. I started the car, and the low coolant warning was gone, so I figured I was good to go. I proceeded to get onto the expressway, and within a minute, I got the engine too hot warning again.

This time the needle was maxed out and not coming back down, so I immediately pulled off to avoid engine damage. I turned the engine off while waiting for a green light, and when I started up again to cross the street and pull into a gas station, I got the low coolant warning again. I figured I had already lost the gallon of water I had just added, but when I checked the trunk, the coolant was still at the proper level I had brought it to.

Fortunately, my step-dad owns a car trailer, so he was able to pick me and the car up to avoid a towing bill, but now I need to figure out the next step. I figure one of two things is happening… either my cooling system has failed, or I have some major engine issue causing more heat than the cooling system is able to keep up with (hoping the latter isn’t the case). Do I start with pulling the water pump out for inspection before ordering parts, or should I start looking elsewhere?

11-10-2014, 05:14 PM	#1
dja1980 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Sycamore, IL Posts: 99	Overheated – Where Do I Start? I’ve done a bit of reading on the subject, and I assume I’m dealing with a water pump issue, but I wanted to post my experience first to make sure I’m heading in the right direction. My 2002 Boxster S has roughly 67K miles on it, and my wife and I took the car out of storage last weekend to head into the city for a concert and hotel stay. We were in very heavy stop-and-go traffic for about an hour before we valet parked at the hotel with no issue. Upon retrieving the car in the morning, I got a dash warning that my coolant was low (1st time seeing that). The temps seemed fine as we made our way along city streets, but as we were accelerating onto the expressway, I got another warning that the engine was too hot (about 15 minutes after leaving the hotel). The temp came back down as the RPM’s came down, and they stayed steady (warm, but not dangerous) for the 40 minute drive back to drop my wife off with her SUV and pick up my daughters (still an hour away from our house). I stopped at a local grocery story to pick up some distilled water for top-off. There was a very small puddle under my car, the trunk lid was steamy/wet, and I added just under a gallon of water to bring it to the proper level. I started the car, and the low coolant warning was gone, so I figured I was good to go. I proceeded to get onto the expressway, and within a minute, I got the engine too hot warning again. This time the needle was maxed out and not coming back down, so I immediately pulled off to avoid engine damage. I turned the engine off while waiting for a green light, and when I started up again to cross the street and pull into a gas station, I got the low coolant warning again. I figured I had already lost the gallon of water I had just added, but when I checked the trunk, the coolant was still at the proper level I had brought it to. Fortunately, my step-dad owns a car trailer, so he was able to pick me and the car up to avoid a towing bill, but now I need to figure out the next step. I figure one of two things is happening… either my cooling system has failed, or I have some major engine issue causing more heat than the cooling system is able to keep up with (hoping the latter isn’t the case). Do I start with pulling the water pump out for inspection before ordering parts, or should I start looking elsewhere?