Hi all, long story short, I had the coolant level warning light go off the other night while going on a short drive after work. Pulled over and found the coolant filler in the trunk to be below minimum. I went straight to Autozone for some proper coolant, topped it off, and when I checked the level the
next
morning, the level was back down below the minimum.
While this has spawned a whirlwind of "oh s**t" what if scenarios, I am now wondering if my expansion tank is so low that the filler won't show "full". I have added about 1/4 gal of coolant (estimate) and had a bit of that spit our when I re-checked the level under pressure.
Any thoughts or am I over thinking this? First P-car and really dont want to overfill the coolant... Also, does anyone have a picture of their expansion tank level?
Thanks!
Overfill won't hurt anything, technically, and just spills out from the vents and reliefs near the
cap
. While that won't hurt the motor, it can still make a mess.
These cars are very sensitive to level, IMO because
Porsche
didn't provide enough "space" for expansion of the fluid. In other words, if you're mid-way when cold, going hot can cause it to overflow and come out... since the fluid expands as well. Again, this won't hurt anything, but could make a spill, that's all.
I wouldn't overthink it, but go ahead and add fluid, being mindful of the temperature/expansion when you do. Ie, when cold, just bring it to minimum. When hot, you can bring it up higher (up to max).
Also, don't worry too much about getting a mix - the capacity of the system is very large, so adding a little distilled water is fine just to bring it up to level. The amount of mix won't drastically affect the ratio in the system.
Lastly, if you're dealing with a car that has recently had the fluid flushed or refilled for any reason, you may continue to burp air out of it, especially if it wasn't refilled with a vacuum system. In that case, you may consider using mixed coolant, as you'll be doing this for a few times to get it up to capacity and air-less. The best recommendation is to use the vacuum system - some people buy the one from
Harbor Freight
and give/gift it to the shop so they can refill it properly.
Assuming you have no leakage (e.g., on the garage floor), I would just monitor...mine was also below MIN and filled. The attached is my level and the car has not been driven for 4, 5 days.
