Cooling issues - help with diagnosis - with video
 

Car is 2002 986 2.7 5spd. Drove around town yesterday, smelled coolant and dismissed as odor from another car. Later that day drove car 25 miles on highway, parked car, no signs of issues. On way home smelled coolant when got off highway. Noticed a cricketing sound like a pulley or belt, not loud but present and matched the engine RPMs somewhat. Temp read around 200F which I think is a tad higher than normal.

Got home, strong coolant odor, steam coming out of passenger side engine duct, then coolant drained onto ground.

Checked car this AM. Coolant reservoir below the min but could see some in tank. Opening cap broke a vacuum as when I looked under car was dripping from middle of car.

Took a video and it appears to me that it so coming from the water pump. Here is the video: https://vid.me/p8k In the video it appears the hose is bulged as well.

Any ideas would be great, want to get car fixed right the first time and not get ripped off. Richard39

Water pumps leak when they're dying: Pelican Technical Article: Boxster Water Pump & Boxster Thermostat Replacement - 986 / 987

How are you getting your temperatures?? What makes you think it was 200?

Suppose it doesn't really matter, I would start by getting the car up on jackstands and really inspecting all the cooling components to figure out where the leak is. Most likely: water pump, cracked/split hose based on the steam coming from the passenger vent

My bet is water pump.


run the car briefly with the serpentine belt on and off and see if the sound goes away.
good to listen with the cover behind the seats off.

take the serpentine belt off -- see if the water pump pulley has some wobble in it.

look for crust around the bottom of the pump/pulley back side.


Mike

It seems pretty obvious that its coming from the water pump.

Could be the hose split as well so its worth a closer look before odering parts. The water pump is a known issue with the 986 and seems to be a 3-5 year replacement cycle.

Open the panel behind the seats, under the carpet and remove the belt and jiggle the pump pulley. If you can its the pump/bearing/seal leaking.

You could also use one of those car stethoscopes and listen to see if there is a grinding noise.

I bought one from HF for $3 and its amazing what you can hear going on. You could tell immediately if a bearing is shot because of the sound it makes. Its quite obvious.

I used that to eliminate my own water pump from replacement as it sounded nice and smooth, definitely no issues. Now I have a spare on hand.

You can also use a flathead screwdriver, putting the blade on the part to be listened to and putting the handle part up to/into your ear as best you can. Anything rigid really - certainly not as good as a mech stethoscope but close enough for a quick listen