Coolant Leak / Overflow ???

[rick3000]

Hi,
I just got back from a half hour drive on the freeway, and something odd happened. Everything was fine the entire time I was driving and the second I parked the car, and shut off the engine, a bunch of coolant came flooding out of the right rear of the car, a little but inside the wheel. There was no coolant in the trunk, a very small amount of condensation on the trunk lid right above the coolant cap, and a little bit of coolant around the coolant cap.

The only thing I can think of is that I topped off the coolant a few days ago about 1/2" under the max. mark. It was 40° then, and today it was 65°.

Was this a coolant leak, or some sort of overflow drain?

Thanks!

[Boxtaboy]

Hate to say it, but I had these symptoms when my coolant tank had a small leak/crack in it. It got progressively worse until I was losing like a quart of coolant each time I shut off my engine. Had to replace the coolant tank, as it had a leak at the bottom of the tank where you couldn't see it, and it released coolant through the bottom of the pass. rear wheel.

It could also be that you have an older version coolant cap. Get a new one at the dealer if the part# on top of the blue coolant cap ends in 00. The updated ones end in 01 or 02. If this is the problem, it's a cheap fix. Good luck.

[jwilson95]

Same exact thing happened to me in my 02S. Coolant coming out of the same area when I shut the car off after getting particularly hot in stop/go traffic in the summer. I thought I was in for a big ticket maintenance bill at the dealer.

It turned out the cap on the coolant reservoir in the rear of the car was either loose or crooked. Porsche does have a new cap (don't know the part number) for like 17 bucks at the dealer which supposedly had a better/new seal to it.

Hope it is the same thing...

[Lil bastard]

All good answers. There is another possibility, that a clamp is leaking. Porsche uses a spring clamp, but has issued a TSB to replace these with conventional screw-type worm clamps whenever any of the originals are removed for service work. You're gonna need to get under it to see what more you can find.

If you continue to drive the car w/o addressing it, whatever the problem is could leave you stranded.

While it certainly could be the reservoir, especially w/ a '99. Porsche has since changed the type of plastic being used and it's much rarer on the later cars. If that's what it turns out to be, be certain you get the revised replacement tank. I believe the most current one is PN#996.147.106.07. Good Luck!

[rick3000]

So something is obviously wrong.
How could it be the coolant cap alone causing this?
Also, should I get the car towed? (the dealer is about 30 minutes away)

Thanks Again!

[Boxtaboy]

Originally Posted by rick3000

So something is obviously wrong.
How could it be the coolant cap alone causing this?
Also, should I get the car towed? (the dealer is about 30 minutes away)

Thanks Again!

I think the earlier caps released pressure faster than the newer ones, or something like that. Regardless, this was a known problem, and hence the update to the 01 cap, and more recently, the 02 cap.

I think you'll be ok driving to the dealer. Just bring like a gallon of distilled water with you in the car, just in case.

[juan986]

My car had a coolant leak in the middle of the car in the passenger side, the leak wasnt that big but it ended up being the water pump.