Clunking sound, white smoke, overheated engine and coolant
 

Hi,

The title sums up the issues. About a week ago, I heard a "clunk clunk" sound on my 2002, 51k boxster S. I took it to the shop and, since they could not replicate the sound, they said to drive it some more and to bring it back if I heard it again.

Next time I drove the car... it did not make the sound. Instead, the AC/heater would not work, then a screeching sound (like a belt) came up, followed by white smoke. I noticed that the car was overheating so I turned it off and had it towed to the repair shop. On the flatbed of the towing truck you could see a bit of coolant dripping.

The shop has not looked at the car yet and I would like to know if anyone here has seen something similar in the past. Thank you for your input...I will keep you posted once I hear back from the shop.

Regards,

IK

Your water pump seized up. Simple repair. Hopefully the car did not get too hot and warp anything. That is what I think happened. Make sure it is replaced with the oem porsche part. :cheers:

Jay

Thanks..any idea of what to look for in case the car got too hot?
 

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I hope the repair is simple indeed! While I did not drive the car long after I noticed that it was overheating...the gauge was on the red zone. Do you know if there is anything I should look for to see if there was lasting damage to the engine as a result of the heat?

Regards

IK

White Smoke came out of the tail pipes ? If so possibly you blew a head gasket or warped a head. Hopefully the pump just let go and spit out coolant.

Good chance you cracked a head

Thankfully no cracked head
 

As Jaay predicted, it was the water pump. The repair shop said that everything else was fine and that there was no need to test the head gasket. Should I follow that advise?

Here is the breakdown of the repairs:

Water pump replacement:
Labor 605
Material: Water pump $380; Multi-rib belt $80

Thermostat replacement:
thermostat with gasket $100 plus $200 for the labor.

Regards,

IK

Inspect the old pump impeller to see if any vanes came off, if they did they can lodge in the coolant manifold & cause overheating. Running the engine hot can crack the head. If it is already back together just watch for intermix or any coolant loss.

Wow. Over $600 labor to replace a water pump.

I have two cars here now that have this issue. One has a cracked cylinder, the other a cracked head- both recently had a water pump failure.

If your water pump failed and it was replaced, thats only 1/2 the replacement job. The debris removal from the broken impeller is CRUCIAL as it can circulate through the engine and cooling system. When this happens if debris blocks a cooling capillary inside one of the cylinder heads, the area will gain a hot pot and will crack. This occurs without any symptoms, no overheating and no temp elevation on the gauge.

Was the cooling system cleaned extensively?

These engines NEVER blow head gaskets (never seen a single one) and the heads WILL CRACK before a gasket blows!

The guy lives in DC. A dealership will be charging close to $200/hour. An indy shop will be over $110/hour. Don't know how many total hours of labor were involved, though.

Sounds like he went to a dealership.

No, it was an indy shop. 120 per hour, but they claimed it took them 5. I wish I could do this type of stuff myself...but Im pretty hopeless about this type of repairs. Was 5 hrs for the water pump too much? How much should it have taken them?

Cheers,

IK

the polyrib belt replacement is certainly super easy - i'm not mechanically inclined but had no problem doing it myself.

i have not replaced the water pump or thermostat myself. i'm not sure if i will do it or take it somewhere to be done, but pedro has a good writeup on how to do it - as well as how to do a lot of other projects.

i will say that through this forum as well as pedro and mike focke's site i have gained enough knowledge and confidence to tackle some other jobs - namely replacing the alternator, spark plugs and doing my own oil changes. my last oil change i went to a local dealership and "rented" their lift for $11. was a lot nicer than having to lay on my back in the driveway.

the quote for the thermostat is pretty much what i have been given ($359.97 parts & labor).

http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site_3/Replace_Water_Pump.html

Hi, in addition to changing the water pump, they flushed the coolant with BG Cooling System Cleaner. How do you remove the debris from the broken impeller?

You paid too much--I recently had mine done for just under 900.00--included everything you had done plus hoses and collant flush. How could they charge you 200 labor for thermostat when they were already in there doing the water pump?

ouch unbelievable