Sudden Turbo Coolant Dump... Thoughts please?

Hi All, just when I got everything sorted on my Turbo and I'm thinking what a fantastic car it is... old Murphy has had the last laugh. I took the car out this afternoon to catch up with a friend at a open home he wanted to look at. I was to catch up with him at the end of out road and follow him. I had to wait about 2min for him to come by and as he did I accelerated quickly to catch up. The car had been running for about 5min, it was a 100 km/h zone, and sorry guys but the outside temp was about 29 degrees celcius. Anyway immediately after accelerating something told me to look at the dash and the coolant warning light was on. I immediately stopped, thinking hmm, restarted the car and the light was still on and by now the boot lid was producing a heap of steam. So Dad came down with with some water and we refilled the coolant... as soon as we poured it in the top it was gushing out the bottom right hand side under the engine... Any thoughts, blowen hose, etc? The total distance I drove with the coolant light on was about 500m and the engine temp never went above 80. I ended up getting towed home at about 30km/h about 2.5km away. No other warning lights were being displayed. As a side thought, I was sitting on the side of a busy rural road, boot up, in my wheelchair, head in boot, steam coming out... and the first person to stop was a nice old fella after 20min... thought it was quite amusing that no one else bothered to stop. Thanks Kiwi

Sounds like a hose has come off under load. They are push click with a clip that then pops over, they have been known to 'pop' off. A friend had this happen at Brands Hatch. Accelerating past the paddock big white plumes of smoke came out of his engine bay. Once in the pits we checked the coolant reservoir for cracks, all good. Then poured water in and it just came straight back out the bottom of the car. Did you not see any smoke from the back as the coolant hit hot engine parts? I wouldn't drive it with a dumping coolant problem though... Good luck. :thumb:

Yep there was a resonable amount of white smoke, noticed it when I parked up. It lasted about 3min or so, and the entire back right hand side of the engine and bumper looked like it'd been sprayed with water. Kiwi

It doesn't really amaze me that no one stops to help when your in a 911.I had the same problem yesterday,and all I got was smerks.

+1 for it being a hose popped off. When I recently changed a rad I must say I wasn't impressed with the push click and clip system, it just doesn't look like it could hold a lot of pressure.Then again i'm just an old fashioned Jubilee clip kind of guy!!

Thanks guys for the advice. I'm kinda feeling (or hoping) it's got to be something as simple as that. Given it seems to be from the underside right hand side of the engine is the easiest thing to do to throw it on a hoist remove the underside plastic tray and have a look. Or is it easier to attack from the top. Also if it's just a case of popped of does one just push it back on or is there more to securing it? Really just trying to get a feel if I should trailer it to my closest Porsche centre 300km away or is it something I could trust to a local garage... what would you guys do, ie would you be wanting to be sure there was no other root cause of the pipe coming off, if that is indeed the cause... Cheers Kiwi

You need to get the car in the air. We jacked his turbo up and crawled under as far as we could but still couldn't locate the pipe. You need the car properly in the air to inspect. Any local garage should be able to help on that. You just push it back together and then force the clip over the join, you'll see what I mean. Have a look at this thread to see a picture of the type of clip... http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=42060&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=pipe&start=10 :thumb:

Same thing happened to me today :sad: Full load up a hill and plumes of white smoke behind me.. I stopped before the temp went up... Although, while i was waiting for the recovery lorry, 6 people stopped and asked if they could do anything to help I was very surprised!!! (I was in the posh area of Newmarket) It must be a pipe off, cause the water comes out as quick as it goes in. oh well, another call to the warranty dept. every other week at the moment :dont know:

At least I no longer feel alone The car got carted off this morning to the local Audi/VW dealer that has done some work for me in the past and they also know my Porsche dealership... hopefully its something as simple as a pipe... but they should also be checking the pump (circulation), thermostat, and the balance of the hose connections... will let everyone know what they find... And here it is... getting carted away this morning... poor thing... Kiwi

Update... looks like it's a bit more serious... after investigation it looks to be an issue with the casing at the end of the engine (cracked)... looks like it's heading off to the dealership... not sure if I should laugh or cry... Kiwi

Hi, When they have diagnosed it properly go and get some pictures please and post them up here. Thanks Mike

Really sorry to hear that... Ditto on keeping us updated.

Sorry to hear that Kiwi. I really thought and hoped it was just gonna be a hose. Hope things work out ok for you.

not sure if I should laugh or cry... Kiwi :sad: if it's the crankcase or a head(that's not as bad) that's gone.

Sorry to hear of your trouble. It is rare for one of these engines to go. Mike - Have you seen many cases of this with the GT1 block?