Boxster suffers altitude sickness - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

rdancd816 · 09-04-2006, 07:04 AM

My wife and I took off for a drive in the mountains yesterday. Car was running great and we decided to stop in Leadville, CO (altitude 10,430 ) for lunch. As soon as I parked the car a flood of antifreeze began to run down the curb. I popped the trunk open and the stuff was bubbling out of the coolant tank as well. AAA showed up abuot 90 minutes later and took my Box and and us back to Denver for a tidy tow fee of $350.00. My guess is water pump. Won't know for sure until Tuesday. Anyone had similar experience? We sure attracted a crowd to watch that shiny Boxster get pulled up on a flatbed! I suppose I was lucky the failure occured in the town as we were planning to drive Independance Pass and a breakdown up there would be very dangerous.

denverpete · 09-05-2006, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdancd816

My wife and I took off for a drive in the mountains yesterday. Car was running great and we decided to stop in Leadville, CO (altitude 10,430 ) for lunch. As soon as I parked the car a flood of antifreeze began to run down the curb. I popped the trunk open and the stuff was bubbling out of the coolant tank as well. AAA showed up abuot 90 minutes later and took my Box and and us back to Denver for a tidy tow fee of $350.00. My guess is water pump. Won't know for sure until Tuesday. Anyone had similar experience? We sure attracted a crowd to watch that shiny Boxster get pulled up on a flatbed! I suppose I was lucky the failure occured in the town as we were planning to drive Independance Pass and a breakdown up there would be very dangerous.

Interesting. I've never had that problem at altitude before. This is just a guess, but I'm thinking that since the increase in altidude lowers the boiling point of liquid, you might have had some increased pressure in your system that caused it to overflow. Now since the liquid is boiling at a lower temperature, your thermostat isn't going to catch that.

BTW, I've hit snow on Independance over Labor Day before. Fun in the Jeep - maybe not so fun in the Boxster...

rdancd816 · 09-06-2006, 10:33 AM

Pete, your theory may have some merit. Got a call from the dealer indicating water pump OK, pressure test normal. Asked if the radiator cap had been removed for any reason recently. I replied yes it had been removed to add coolant after I had the coolant hose replaced a couple of weeks ago and the "low coolant level" light was flashing. Seems the caps on the coolant tank are notorious for not tightening adequately. Well they have the car all week as I am out of town and are running some more tests to discover why the car threw up all over 6th Ave. in Leadville! Maybe just a new cap! Now about that towing bill...