When I purchased my 2nd 986, it was low on coolant. I thoroughly inspected the car from top to bottom, no signs of a leak. I filled the coolant tank with ½ gallon of distilled water, plus I had the car inspected at a Kansas City Missouri Porsche dealership before leaving on my trip home, no issues were reported to me. No problems the entire way, an inspection throughout the trip home and after a total of 1200 miles showed a full expansion tank. Around the 100th mile of being home, the smell of Ethylene glycol reeked through the cockpit. Water pump I feared, coolant tank I hoped for. I got exactly what I had hoped for. Pulling up the carpet reveled the start of my nightmare. After contacting three local dealerships and garages, the bill was going to be around thousand dollars, $375.00 for parts, $600 for labor. I figured I could tackle this “DIY” project on my own, man was I wrong.
I began by removing all of the carpet and disassembling the tank top. I removed the bolts and interior hoses. The impossible lower hose that attaches to the bottom of the tank was too much for me, after about three hours, I cut through it to remove the tank! Now I’m in trouble! I was able to latch on my hose clamp pliers and loosen the clamps around the hoses. Even with the clamps removed, those hoses were not budging! I spent another two hours loosing and removing the hoses from their connections.
On Day 2 (Thanksgiving) I decided to see if I could reassemble from beneath the car, so, I jacked her up and set her on stands. I’m sorry, but for those of you out there that say you can at these connections from beneath, IMO, are wrong. In order to be able to even begin to believe you could, you would have to put the car up at a 45+ degree angle, sorry, I treasure my life more than to end up like that witch on the Wizard of OZ. So I safely lower the car and contemplated my options.
1. Give up with a totally disconnected car, have her towed and repaired late next week at the stealership
2. Reassemble what I could to save on labor, find a local garage (non-Porsche) willing to put her back together sooner than the dealership
I chose option two. First, I went out and purchased about three feet of hose to replace the one I cut. After cutting the hose to match the size needed, I clamped it on the new tank. I reattached the interior hoses, oil tunnel, tank, and firewall gasket. I slid the disconnected assembly back through the firewall, attempting the at least catch the oil tunnel. I attached the bolts loosely, installed the rubber gasket on top and marveled on my accomplishment that it at least looked almost fixed.
On Friday, I called for a flat bed to tow her to a local Meineke for reassembly. I know, it was the first time they had ever had a Porsche in their garage, however, they looked to be in their 50’s, so at least they weren’t a bunch of kids. They estimated five hours at $60 bucks an hour. $300 dollars later, they called and said she was ready. Okay I thought, not overly optimistic, I picked her up and drove away. Over the next 50 miles, I stopped and had to pressurize the tank a few times. An inspection this morning has revealed no leaks and a full tank!
The moral of this story is to be VERY careful with the DIY projects you decide to tackle on your own. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’m waking up from this nightmare.
The river of coolant
Found a golf ball under the rug on the other side, hopefully it wasn't holding something together
The parts
The spot you never want to be in
The crack
The result