Coolant Problem

Hi guys. I've just recently gone pass the 40,000 mile mark, and I had Jiffy Lube change my oil. Granted it's Jiffy Lube, but I've changed the oil myself before, and it's not that hard, and I told them how to do it. About 50 miles after the oil change, I saw the "check coolant" message come on for the first time ever. I know that some people might mistake the oil cap and coolant cap, but I specifically removed the oil cap for them. Do you think that Jiffy Lube screwed something up with my coolant? Or is it something normal that occurs after you pass the 40,000 mile mark? And what kind of coolant should I get? And would it be available at places like Autozone? Thanks.

I just changed my oil last week and had the coolant message come up at about 50 miles after as well. Crazy. I'm at 54k miles though

When the car has cooled for a few hours, check the coolant level. After 40K miles it's quite possible the coolant will be low. When I checked my car at less than 1000 miles, I was surprised to find it below the MIN level at the filler neck. It was probably underfilled a bit from the factory. I topped it off and 14000 miles later, it hasn't moved yet. As for the coolant itself, I would get it from the local dealer or a VW shop. I think it ran me $25 for the gallon from the Porsche dealer.

I'm a little lower on the miles than you guys, but I just had my CS in cuz the "coolant level low" warning came on. I was bringing it up to speed on the highway the last two times I drove it and got the warning message. The warning cleared before I could pull over. It's been about 800 miles since my last oil change, and about 3 and a half months. (I know, I know, she's a bit of a garage queen, I've been on travel) Anywho, I checked my coolant level and the level was at/ just below the min. Added about 12 oz of coolant/ water mix, putting it just below the max line. Next day, drive it to work, and noticed a small puddle under the car, definitely coolant. Checked the level, around the min mark. Long story short, dealer just called me, said no leak, the spot was from overflow. Says the warning may have been triggered by an air bubble and the puddle was from when I put coolant in it. Shop time was 75 bucks. Better than a full on coolant dump and a tow. I guess I'm gonna trust the computer from now on, seeing as I have no clue how accurate the fill lines are.

Since it's hard for me to get to the dealer during normal business hours, is there anything I can get from stores like Autozone that might be appropriate?

Too many horror stories on quick lube shops. My niece lost an engine to one. She was lucky and go a rebuilt engine.

Bought a 2007 Boxster S with 7K mi from Carmax in Irvine a couple of weeks ago. My wife was driving a few days later and when the "add coolant" warning came on she shut it down, waited a few minutes and then drove it 12 mi home and parked it. The warning did not re-appear when she drove it home. I was a little worried and a little ticked off because Carmax claims to service all fluids on cars they sell. Anyway, after talking to the local Carmax service department and researching on the web I bought a gallon of Porsche coolant at the local Porsche store and added 2 qts of coolant/water to bring it back to the max level. It has stayed at max for the past four days of daily driving so I think this may have been a gradual loss since March 2007 when the car was first delivered to the dealer. Of course I'll keep looking at the level each day until I'm sure it isn't losing any more coolant. And no, you can't get coolant at the local auto parts store. There is a generic equivalent for Porsche coolant that I have found online but I needed the stuff right away so I paid $40 plus tax for a gallon of the real thing.

There are a couple of interesting subjects being discussed in this thread. 1. Oil change at Jiffy Lube? No way! Not even for my aged mini-van. DIY or trusted independent mechanic. 2. Porsche coolant. What makes it unique?

Well, after having done the oil changes myself, I know that it really isn't that difficult. It's really nothing different than any other oil change. My only concern is whether Jiffy lube added oil where the coolant is. This is a plausible mistake, because the oil and coolant caps are next to each other. Knowing that this mistake could happen, I opened the oil cap for them. Hopefully they were smart enough realize that there's a reason why I opened the oil cap for them. So what I am worried about is, if they accidentally added oil where the coolant is. And then subsequently sucked out the accidentally added oil/coolant mixture, leading to the "low coolant message." Am I being crazy? Or is it just normal run off of coolant from the car over 40,000 miles?

I've had my 2009 Cayman for about six weeks. I've not had the low coolant light on, but I did notice some gurgling type noises from time to time when parked at a stoplight. The noises seemed to come from around the driver's and passenger's footwells. I thought there was possibly some air in the cooling system, checked it and found it to be a good quart low. Just used the per-mixed 50/50 Prestone I had on the shelf for the water-pumpers. (Not a problem with a Corvair!)

Shawn, A little coolant loss new seems fairly common even though Porsche uses a vacuum fill process to minize trapped air. With the way the plumbing runs a little air seems inevitable. You might want to make sure the blue radiator cap under the engine cover is on tight also. I know that Prestone states that their long-life coolant is compatible with every thing but Porsche doesn't recommend mixing with theirs. No idea what the difference is but given the cost of the car the price of a gallon is cheap if there was some incompatibility. If it was the older plain glycol stuff than it's my understanding that it can gunk up at least with some of the older G12 coolants that Audi, VW and I believe Porsche used to use. Not sure if a quart of 50/50 would do that, however.

That's right, check the coolant cap in the engine bay. For whatever reason, some of them will be loose and spray coolant all over the place. Here is a photo of my engine bay the first time it's been opened since leaving dealer prep. Look at all the dried coolant spots on the right hand side!