Water Pump failure @ 68k

Well this weekend I was on my back to FL from TX where I was out there for some upgrade training. About an hour outside of Dallas and 3 hours into my trip my low coolant light illuminates. As I look for the next exit, my buddy traveling with me pulls up aside me and says I'm smoking. We pull over to a gas station and without hesitation coolant dumps out from under. While looking around for the issue hoping it's a coolant hose popped off, I found the worse. While underneath looking around the area that has the most residual fluid I have my buddy pour water into the reservoir. As he does it starts to exit around the pulley of the water pump . I must say that I was extremely lucky that I was traveling with a pal, that had a 2500 HD pickup, and was going back to the same base as myself. Picked up a Uhaul trailer and continued our trip. On the way back I was able to order the pump and will be in tomorrow. How much fluid does the Cayman S carry? I was also able to do some research on the long trip back and found that this issue is very common. My CS has 68,xxx miles on it. I plan on replacing the pump in my garage tomorrow after work. Will a mityvac work with purging the system of air? Or is there another way to do it without the proper bleeder?

Sorry about your pump. but a couple of things jumped out at me while reading your post. 1. With these car's propensity for cooling system failures, especially with your buddy reporting smoke, I'd of pulled over the first safe place you saw. 2. You poured cool water into a hot (overheated?) block? The 987 cooling system has a large capacity - over 6 gal. The Porche coolant is "permanent". Not good to mix with non-Porche stuff. Also, since you probably used non-distilled water, you should probably drain and replace all the coolant.

I pulled over as soon as I possibly could, and it showed no sign of over heating just low coolant. The smoke was from the coolant dripping on the exhaust . It was only trickling out until i turned off the vehicle which in turn stopped the pump from moving fluid and emptied the system. The block was cooled before performing any maintenance and observation. I was also planning on replacing all the coolant since it has 68k miles on it anyways.

That sounds good. Probably the slow leak just tripped the low coolant threshold. When you said the pump leak was visible only after adding water to the reservoir, I wondered how much coolant was actually lost. It would seem to imply that the block was at least partially empty. BTW, Porche antifreeze is pretty expensive stuff (it says "Porsche" on the label!) - expecially when you need it in a hurry. I bought a gallon (just to have) from Suncoast 2 yrs ago and it was about @25 + shipping. I seem to remember dealers charging over $40. There are some posts on ways of bleeding out air pockets. Might even be an article. I remember one member just kept running it for a while, letting it cool. and topping it up. He did this for a couple days unit it stabilized. My water pump only lasted about 9K miles. But it didn't leak - just squealed at idle.

Oh I'm sure it's expensive, but I didn't buy the vehicle planning on to get by cheap. I read somewhere that the Boxsters are equipped with a bleeder, is this the same with the Cayman? Guess I'll find out when I get home. But yeah there was no over heating, my eyes were glued to the gauge as I was pulling over. It's ashame that these vehicles have such issues at low mileage. Maybe not for 68k like myself, but for the owners with 30k and under.

Yep, mine just went at 45K miles... Like you I was lucky and got it pulled over and shut down before anything major happened. Can't help with the question on bleeder valve. Mine has an extended warranty so the dealership did the work.

Thebucky84, Glad you travelling travelling in company. I'm on my third water pump in 27K, slow leaks both times. There is a bleeder under the engine cover on the top of the coolant tank. Without a vacuum bleeder you'll have to do the fill, run, check, fill a few times to get the air out with the bleeder lever up. There are two large coolant hoses ahead of the engine that can be pulled to get most of the coolant out. I keep a pre-mixed gallon of Porsche coolant in the car to ward off evil spirits. Most of the time it works. Rob VN

Pulling the pump as we speak and to verify, coolant is $40 from the dealer lol. Trying to figure out how to get the belt off now. Thanks for the tips guys, I'll keep those in mind.

Got the cover behind the seat off to get to the belt. Now figuring out which one is the tensioner lol

Installed the pump and started it up to circulate the fluid. Upon starting up the dash read "Failure Indicator" with the Hot Range red lamp illuminated on the Temp Gauge. I let it idle for just a few minutes and drove it down my road and back (short road). It shows no temp reading (on below side of 100*). I have the bleeder valve opened by the coolant reservoir and the coolant level is still not going down. As of right now I am letting everything cool down. Any clue as of what is going on??

Just to chim in here! When you install the pump and lower her down to refill the coolant, this is what I would recommend: First refill till she fills up. Start the car and let it run for 15 seconds and shut off! Keep the heater running on high heat! Refill again and run again for thirty seconds and shut off again. Keep doing this a few times till it seems like it will not take anymore coolant. Remember that you dont drive anywhere first just try to burp her plenty of times to avoid the warning and also not to overheat the engine! Then look for the bleeder valve and open it and then repeat the procedure a few more times! Then drive just around a block and recheck! Confirm a temp gauge reading, close bleeder and then take her on a good highway run and recheck again! Just my opinion and procedures do vary

I'll deff try that. Will the "Failure Indicator" display go away once properly bled as well as showing a temp reading?

An air pocket would throw off your coolant level and temp reading, so yes it's likely that once bleed through the system should indicate the normal temperature, although it's strange it's not showing anything at all. Check you've not knocked any wires while you were playing around down there.

Still can't get the system to bleed, I may have lost too much to bleed it without the tool. My temp gauge still isn't reading and the coolant hot indicator is still blinking with the "Failure Indicator" on. I am still at a loss here...

thebucky84, On the off chance that the bleeder isn't working you might carefully let the car run with the radiator cap off. You can also look at the Pelican Parts website for bleeding instructions. Good luck. Rob

What concerns me is why the temp gauge isn't even giving me a reading. It was working just fine when my water pump failed since my eyes were glued to it. Replaced the pump and now it doesn't even budge. Maybe it's a coincidence that they both went out? The bleeder was working when I first started adding fluid. Because it was dumped on the road I was not able to determine how much I lost, so determining how much needs to go back in is beyond me. I'm running out of ideas here. Right now the rear is on jack stands and have had the heater on while starting for a few seconds at a time. Caps on, caps off, bleeder open, bleeder closed. This is getting frustrating now.

Part of the issue may be that the thermostat is not open allowing a large pocket of air to not be accessable. Check these steps to bleed: Pelican Technical Article: Boxster Coolant Replacement / Boxster Coolant Flush - 986 / 987

Well I was talkin to a few guys at my shop today and we were considering that the thermostat might be the issue. Not sure why it would go out with the pump, but it is usually changed with the pump. Not sure why I didn't do that, guess I was trying to get away with only what needed. Maybe I need to let the car run a bit longer to allow it to open. Is the temp sensor on the outlet side of the stat housing? That could cause the sensor not to read.

check this link on engine sensors Pelican Technical Article: Boxster Engine Sensor Replacement - 986 / 987

Well I just ordered a thermostat (since I should have done that in the first place) and the temperature sensor/sender. It came to my conclusion that it's the sensor/sender since my fans don't kick on when they should along with the gauge not moving. I had the car running for a bit today after work and felt around the housing where the sensor sits. It was hot to the touch so there should have been a reading on the gauge. Hopefully by replacing these components my issues will be resolved.

Installed the sensor and thermostat today, cleared the code and runs great! I guess all I had to do was clear the code and the "Indicator Failure" went away and my coolant temperature gauge starting working. So happy to have the car back on the road!!

Well this is awkward... Exactly one year ago here I am again with a water pump failure, just my luck. Happened this past Friday coming back from Tampa, always on a long trip... Heard an awful noise followed by the dreaded "Low Coolant" lamp, not again. Again a bad day got lucky, was less than one mile from a rest stop. Although warm the wife and I enjoyed the convenience of restrooms, vending machines, a thousands of love bugs.. Without hesitation I had the pump on order before calling for help. Buddy came down picked us up followed by a trip back down to the rest stop with our TBSS and trailer, long day. Pump came in today and installed it once again in my garage, much easier the second time around. Took about 2 hours to do, majority of the time removing and replacing panels. Completed the install, topped her off, observed, and approved. Runs and sounds like nothing happened. I wish these cars would loose the appetite for water pumps. It aches me to admit this, but while we were sitting at the rest stop for 3 hours I couldn't resist checking out the 2014 Cadillac ATS. Who knows what'll happen, I'll probably forget about it once I start driving the CS again. Just thought I'd report another water pump failure. Mileage was at 83,xxx.. What can I say I love to drive it!

If you bought the pump from a Porsche dealer, I'd investigate a warranty claim. The part should be waranteed for a year, at least.

Is there an improved aftermarket pump that can be put in as preventative maintenance? I know with my Contour SVT, water pumps were an issue due to their plastic impellers, and someone was making a metal impeller version that everyone was switching to.

Can't remember what company I went with last year but I ordered a Gates one this time around. I've heard positive feedback and it has a metal impellar as well.

Do you have a link? I have 76k miles on mine and Im sure Im due sometime soon. I would rather have a better than stock one.. Thanks in advance

The one I bought was the Gates pump, listed at the top. It isn't stated but the impeller is metal and comes with the required gaskets. I love my FD to death and I haven't even experienced a drive in it yet! It is currently my project that I have been building from the ground up. I got it as a shell with no drive train but with full interior. Been having a lot of fun fabricating the custom setup I am going with. The car is truly a work of art much like the Cayman. Guess that's why I am very attracted and own both haha.

The Gates pump is made in China, hopefully they do a better job than the Germans. I bought one as a spare.

I hope so too. I was thinking of purchasing a second pump to keep in the car after this second occurrence.