Hot day...100+

[Granitehead]

I pulled into the driveway after work today, went in the house, came out and there's antifreeze all over the driveway. The low coolant warning light is on too.

Any thoughts? Are there hoses that are prone to blow?

The car's a 2002 Boxster S with 52K miles.

Rich Lambert

[tonycarreon]

Originally Posted by Granitehead

I pulled into the driveway after work today, went in the house, came out and there's antifreeze all over the driveway. The low coolant warning light is on too.

Any thoughts? Are there hoses that are prone to blow?

The car's a 2002 Boxster S with 52K miles.

Rich Lambert

coolant tank

[Granitehead]

I forgot to mention, it's coming out of the rear of the car. Is that where the coolant tank is located?

[tonycarreon]

rear trunk.

check the carpet see if it's wet. check around the cap, pull off the plastic holder. pull up the carpet, see if there's coolant in there.

[Granitehead]

It was wet around the cap. The carpet's dry, but it was really warm back there so maybe it dried out by now?

I put some water in, started it up, and it's not dripping anywhere.

I don't know...this can't be a good thing. Lots of people probably drive Boxsters in extreme heat without the car boiling over.

[RandallNeighbour]

It could be just a hose or hose clamp or the crappy overflow tank caps Porsche put on our cars from the factory. However, it's common on our cars for the coolant overflow tank to crack with age.

Everything but the cap is hard to see and get to. You probably need to get it towed to a porsche mechanic for closer examination.

[SubVet]

Granitehead,

I bought a 2002 base model with 34K miles just last May. A few weeks later while driving down the freeway on a very hot Texas day, I had an engine light come on. I didn't hear anything unusual and did not see a change in the engine temp, but got off the freeway at the next exit. I shut off the engine at the stop light and restarted it after about a minute. The engine light went out and stayed out for about half a mile, then came on again and the temp started to rise slightly. I pulled over immediately and shut it down. Thirty seconds later, about half a gallon of coolant spilled out on the ground, near my right rear wheel.

I had the car towed to a Porsche dealership. After a complete diagnostic checkup, they said everything was normal, no leaks, and good coolant pressure. They thought that the non-Porsche dealer that serviced the car before I bought it had allowed air into the coolant system and that it may have caused it to boil over and dump out the overflow. This is my first Porsche and I don't know enough to say for sure that it could cause an overflow. I have never had another incident even though it has been very hot here in Houston. The total cost at the Porsche dealership was only $179. So maybe something similar happened to you. Good luck!

[rick3000]

If it is above the passenger rear wheel and the trunk is not wet, then the coolant most likely came out of the coolant overflow.
This happened to me and the entire coolant tank drained out. After a trip to the dealer and $600 later it turned out to be nothing. Basically, they told me an air bubble or something can just cause the coolant to come out of the overflow and it really does not mean anything is wrong with the car.
Hope this helps!

[Burg Boxster]

Could easily just be a bad cap. What are the last 2 numbers on it? If .00, know they changed the flange design on it from rounded to squared up which retains the pressure threshold better so the overflow bleed valve acts as it's supposed to (become the lowest pressure relief for the system at 19psi (IIRC).

I understand Porsche has a .03 revision available but at the least get the .01 part if you have the .00 currently (should be $15 or so - 996 106 447 01)

Old cap on left, new cap on right:

[RandallNeighbour]

the local stealerships want $29 or MORE for that revised cap! EEEK!

If yours wants more than about $15, buy it from Sunset Imports in Oregon. They charge 10-15% over hard cost for Porsche parts from their parts counter for out of state customers.

[9eighty6]

Here in Buffalo, we haven't even hit 90 once this summer ... sheesh

[RandallNeighbour]

Buffalo does seem to get a lot closer to 90 below in the winter though! Man the place you live is frigid in the winter. Of course, I've got the opposite here... it's rarely below 90 degrees above zero in Houston.

I cannot wait to move away from this traffic-laden inferno.

[Granitehead]

Thanks for all the replies!

After refilling the the tank, it hasn't leaked anything out. I'm going to take the car out for a drive this afternoon and we'll see what happens. I'll check the cap out too.

[Keith Newby]

It's a ninety percent chance it's the coolant cap. The latest version ends in 04 although the 03 is still being sold.