Car Overheating
 

Hey back with another problem. My car started overheating. My guess is that it's because the coolant that I added didn't mix with the OEM coolant and made the coolant gel like and got stuck somewhere. Atleast that's what I've read. Online about it. I don't think it's the thermostat because it reads the right temperature without any swings in temperature and the fans come on. The only other problem accompanying this is that the heat doesn't work on the car. I wanted to ask what the problem is before I add coolant back into the car. I'm in the process of doing a full coolant flush but I not all of the coolant came out and I have added distilled water into the coolant. And I let it idle for about for about 25 minutes.

do a complete flush 2-4 times. Use ivory to help.

then once it runs clear after the 4th flush, fill it per the FSM.

There's a tool called a 'UView Airlift' that is a great way to flush the system and get the air out when you put coolant in. If you have access to one of those and an air compressor, it's a great help. Otherwise, check out these links:

Pelican Parts Tech Article: https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/29-WATER-Flush/29-WATER-Flush.htm

Pedro's Garage: Flush Coolant System

Burner's cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whc8e6baACw
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/whc8e6baACw" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

They have a little different perspective, but they are all good. Pick what works for you.
:cheers:

Yeah I'm doing it the way in the YouTube video. I'm using that one as my tutorial. I don't have access to the tool but I have an air compressor.

Alright I'll try that tomorrow. What do you mean by use ivory?

In your other thread you said you were loosing coolant.
Did you find out why you were loosing coolant???
You say your coolant gelled can you see gelled coolant????
Are you sure your coolant gelled or is it possible that your still loosing coolant?

Heater not working???
I am just guessing here but perhaps the heater core is leaking.
Check for moisture under the carpet on the passenger side.
I think the heater core is on the passenger side behind the dash.
Hopefully someone who knows for sure will confirm.

Ivory liquid soap.

I'm am being polite here, but I really suggest you just take it to a shop. If it is truly overheating and you are losing coolant, you have a much bigger issue going on. Unless you put Dexcool in the system I very much doubt you have an issue with the coolant itself.

1-2 hours of proper diag is going to be cheaper then a replacement engine, which it sounds like you may be on the road to soon.

Heater core is in the center of the car. You get to it by removing the battery, it's under a cover. Pretty simple to replace compared to many other cars. I think it's one thing they got right in these cars.

Yeah it looks like before I was loosing coolant out of the cap since it was coming from the overflow tube. So my guess is the cap wasn't sealing. I can not see any gel anywhere, I'm just guessing in that one since it only started happening whenever I added coolant to it.

In your other post you also reported a P0117 code for temp. sensor malfunction.
Do you still get that code?
Coolant coming out of both the overflow and the cap.
Caused by overheated expanding coolant?
Bad head gasket,rare on these cars.
Air trapped in the system.
bad thermostat.
bad water pump.
Starting to sound like you have an issue with the water pump not working.

The last time I checked the code was gone. The only code I have now is a code for manufacturer control whatever that means. And yeah I was thinking that it could also be the water pump whenever I searched up some stuff about these issues. Should I also replace the thermostat while I'm at it?

The first thing you really need to do is find the cause of your coolant lose--- overheating issue.
Until you know the true cause of the problem you could chase your tail and spend lots of money replacing parts and buying coolant needlessly.

"The first thing to do is pressure test the coolant system to see if you still have a leak."
That is actually a simple easy test. You just need a coolant system tester.
Harbour Frieght has them for around $90.00 I think it is.
you can pressure test the system and the cap.
Or find a shop that will do it.

If the system checks out then you need to find out if the water pump is faulty.
The fact that you heater does not work makes me think your water pump is faulty.

"But I am just guessing"

If you find that your water pump is faulty it is not going to hurt to replace the thermostat.
You could replace it with a low temp thermostat then the car should run a little cooler.

What is the code your getting???

Alright I'll test it whenever I can and I'll tell you the code once I get off of work here soon.

Alright the code it's giving me is p1531 and it says manufacturer control. That's the only code.

P1531 indicates the triggering of the Bank 1 VarioCam actuator with no active position taken.

Either an open circuit (wiring issue) or defective actuator.

Coolant is the least of your issues now.

I think his biggest issue is not knowing what he is doing................

Lol I'm not doing anything right now. Just continuing where I left off with the coolant flush. I did read what you said about the code. Its weird that mine just says manufacturer control. That's why I didn't think too much of it.

Start thinking more about it, the code is important, and because you are using a cheap "global ODB II" scanner, which cannot properly read or interpret many codes specific to the manufacture. You need a Porsche specific scan tool to correctly address the vehicle's issues.

Dang Porsche really wants their customers to take it to the Porsche authorized dealer huh lol.

No, like just about every other major OEM, they expect those working on the car to have both the knowledge and correct tools to work on the car.

Yeah true. Just seems like they go the extra step to make sure. Just taking off the idle air control valve required a security bit.

You can rent a durametric for pretty cheap. As a bonus, if you don't have the OBC, you can enable that too so you at least get outside temp on the dash. you can add other parts later.

These guys on this forum really know what they're doing. These cars are pretty cheap to buy right now but they are still premium, high performance, automobiles that are relatively expensive to maintain even if you do the work yourself. The cost of not listening could be a new engine which, for the vast majority of owners, isn't worth it.

Proceed carefully and try to follow as much as the advice as possible. I jumped in just after Christmas and the advice here, direct or from researching, has truly been invaluable.

I definitely trust them. Blue was very helpful with my previous issue so I have no doubt that they know what they are talking about. And my car does have the outside temp reading on the dashboard. I didn't know that wasn't standard.

Honestly you have spent more time messing with things then you would have spent just having someone that knows what they are doing do a proper diagnostic. time is worth money. Get it to a shop so they can tell you what is wrong. You are only going to continue to make things worse by guessing or only providing part of the issue to us. Any decent shop can tell you what is wrong it doesn't have to be the dealer. Get in touch with your local PCA and get recommendations on where you can take it to.

You WILL end up needing a new engine if you continue to drive the car or messing with it. We are trying to help you but you also have to help yourself. You are over your head on this issue.

Yeah I definitely can't fix that my self if it is in fact bad. I cleared all the codes and I'll see if it comes back. I haven't noticed any bad idling or anything that other people have attributed to the p1531 code.

But hey. Life is good. The coolant problem seems to be alright now. It didn't overheat whenever I had it running for about 20 minutes and it didn't move past the 0 in 180 and that's with just distilled water in. So it can only get better from there.

That is good sign.
But the most important thing as far as your over heating issues goes......does it still loose coolant???
If it does via the cap the overflow tube what ever way. Then you still have an issue with the cooling system.

Keep us posted I am interested in the outcome especially what you do and what happens over the P1531 Variocam actuator code;)