987 Coolant Flush????
 

Have any 987 owners done a coolant flush yet? I am thinking about having this done prior to winter hibernation. Porsche says it is a lifetime coolant, but I find that a little hard to believe. My (2006 987S) fluid is now more than 5.5 years old.

What say you 987 owners?

How much Porsche coolant do we need to buy? I'm guessing 1 gallon of conc. Is plan water added to the Porsche coolant, when doing a flush? Or is distilled water used (like for a battery)?

Thanks.

The coolant may be "lifetime", but the water pump isn't. Porsche never has to live up to the lifetime challenge because the wp fails anywhere from 3-5 yrs. You're probably living on borrowed time if you haven't changed your water pump. My Boxster's went out at 3.5 yrs & 26K mi. Luckily it was in warranty. I was thinking of changing the Cayman's soon b/c it's a yr older, but I'm going to roll the dice since it's a CPO car.

Husker, really, the water pump is a weak spot? Are there any tell tale signs prior to the event?

If there were any sounds before it let go, I didn't hear them because I enjoy my Blose stereo. It just decided to die all of a sudden. There was a distinct coolant smell one afternoon driving home and upon investigating I noticed there was a small stream from the front of the engine. Prior to it streaming, there were no drips in the garage at all.

Please carefully drain your coolant into clean containers, I'll gladly pay the shipping costs to my shop.

What's your shop so I know never to go there.

My shop only services customer cars that I choose.

In any case, I only use it in my personal fleet mainly for topping off.

In any case the OP will need 3 gallons of Porsche Antifreeze ($28 each at my dealer) mixed with 3 gallons distilled water.

Total capacity is 5.89 gallons if you have a manual tranny, 6.42 for a tip.

I think that's true of any shop, no?

Perhaps, but I closed for business years ago, just fool around now in my spare time and to help friends with their cars.

well let's see. mine was in the middle of failing 986, not 987) and here's what i noticed:
VERY slight coolant smell after driving long and hard
a "whooshing" sound from the engine compartment (WP pulley wobbling)
a "rattle/grinding" noise that got faster when accelerating
but what made me really think it was the pump was some "crust" on one of the hoses. though no visible drips on the ground...

Play in the water pump pulley is a sign the pump is going out. Relaese the tension on the auxiliary belt and then chaeck the pulley for wobble. I replaced the belt and the pump failed promptly after that.

Its important to catch the pump before it fails because when it does, the plastic impeller tends to grenade, which can send little bits of plastic into the tiny coollant passages in the head which can cause blockages and lead to cracked heads or blown head gaskets.

Many people treat the pump as a wear item and replace it periodically, 30-50k miles to avoid problems.

Paul, really? 6 gallons for the Boxster?? That's twice the coolant capacity of my Ford Explorer.

Do dealerships and indy shops really have distilled water laying around for these projects?

Hard to believe until you consider your car has 2 radiators, a water cooled oil cooler and at least 20' of 1 1/2 inch tubing/hoses. A quick look at your owners manual should satisfy any doubt.

I guess good shops use pure water.

Thanks, Paul.

To others, I am not buying this "replace the water pump" early notion as a wear item. I asked one of the largest discount Porsche dealership parts departments today about this, and they told me the following:

In 2009 they sold 5 water pumps for the 987/997. They sold 9 in 2010.

For the same periods with the 986/996 they sold 53 and 71 respectively.

I'll either wait for it to brake and replace it, or wait till the car is a little older, like in 2016.

I replaced my coolant two years ago when I updated to the LN low temp t-stat...wish I would have done the water pump at the same time. As stated, if the impeller breaks, tiny pieces get stuck in the cylinder head and cause major issues. I've seen it happen to some friends and it's enough to scare me to change mine as a precaution.

Jmatta, are you going to be at TRAC next weekend?

Thanks for your perspective.

Water pump failure is not a 986/996 issue. Every car made has a water pump replacement schedule. It's usually done with the timing belt (when there is one), which is typically 45,000 to 75,000 miles. Again, this is all cars. 944s are largely changed every 30,000 miles.

I just replaced the WP in my 987. 88,000 miles and it looks basically new. No seepage and the slightest hint of play (.001"). You guys got me worried so I did it. Now at least I have one less thing to think about with my upcoming 6500 mile trip. Gave me a reason to do the low temp thermostat as well.

50k is very early to have to change a water pump, on most cars they last at least 100,000 miles. The Integra I sold still had the original pump at 200,000. Though I agree, if you have to change a timing belt, do the water pump also.

The water pump in my Integra GSR only lasted about 80k. Spewing antifreeze all over the place.

Loved that car, 8000 RPM for the better part of 200,000 miles.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37...front_left.jpg

you have two types of maintenance - reactive (replace when broken) and preventative (replace before it breaks). reactive - spilled some milk? clean it up. grass getting long? mow it. on the other hand, preventative maintenance is done to reduce or defer a potential failure that would cost lots more to address as reactive maintenance further down the road (ie, you paint your house every 5 years to avoid having to replace the siding every 10).

vehicle maintenance schedules are developed the same way. tires worn? get new tires. brakes or shocks shot? replace them. all reactive maintenance. bad oil or worn timing belt can grenade an engine, so these are replaced as a preventative measure.

the m96 engine was new to porsche when it came out, and they didn't quite know what would wear and what wouldn't. as a result there were some 'misses'; items that we now know do wear out, that their failure has catastrophic consequences on the engine (ie, reactive maintenance is too late or VERY expensive) but are not listed in the maintenance manual as preventative. ims, water pump, chain tensioners. these should be preventative maintenance items but are not listed as such by porsche (probably due to the liability associated with acknowledging these issues).

but it is not black and white. no-one will tell you that your ims WILL fail at 96k miles, that your water pump WILL fail after three years. only that it MAY. you need lots of data to make accurate predictions in this field; porsche appears to be holding theirs close to their chest, and anything you get on the internet is worth what you pay for it. i would note that porsche has been constantly updating (to the point of eliminating) the ims, so that tells me that they are very aware of it.

so, in the absence of qualitative or quantitative info, you have to make your own call; defer a small cost with 'x' % odds that you invite a large cost in the future, or fold your hand and replace the damned thing when you do a low temp tstat.

Excellent post, 944boy, thanks!

You have one of the highest mileage 987's I've seen. Good job. Considering I only drive mine about 2 times per month from mid-April till mid-October, I feel I have a lot of miles at almost 44,000. More than most owners who have these as DD.

Tell me more about the low temp thermostate. What temp does your Boxster run at now (mine is right at slightly <12:00...the needle is dead center on the '7' in '175')? Does it reach op temp faster too? Thanks.

I have no comment about the low temp thermostat, I am still waiting on the vacuum fill tool I ordered to get it running again.

I have not been daily driving the Box recently as I switched to commuting on my motorcycle most days. However I do believe in driving the wheels off of anything I own. So 88K is just getting started..... :cool: I do also believe in a mix of PM and RM. Served me well so far.

Also the 987 is my snow toy. So much fun hitting twisties in 3" of un-plowed snow. But I'm lucky in not having salt on the roads around here.

The coolant that came out was also the cleanest and best looking of any car I've drained. That made me feel good too.