So my dealer told me today that right side front radiator is punctured or cracked. Looks like I may have "beached" the car too far on the curb while parking and that pushed up one of the trim screws into the radiator assembly. So now I am leaking coolant.
They want $1K. $600 in labor.
How hard is it to remove front bumper and replace the radiator? Anyone done it? Is it snap out and then in kind of deal, or is there a lot of disassembly?
I was just in a minor accident last month (only going 5mph) and it cracked my radiator and air condenser. Because it was such a minor accident, I wanted to repair it myself. I took the front bumper off in an hour using the instructions on this site. After looking at the radiator and not seeing cracks or anything, I decided that there might be more damage than I expected, and it would be worth it to go to a body shop for repairs using my insurance. I could have done it myself, but it will take time depending on your shop skills. The bumper removal/installation can be a pain, but it is straight forward. Some screws took me quite a while to work with, but that is because I was doing it without jacks stands or wheels off. As for the radiator portion....I cannot say how hard it would be, but it looked like a few hours worth of work.
Ditto, I couple of weeks ago I removed the front bumper to get to the horns and install a third radiator. I strongly recommend jacking up the front of the car. It is pretty straightforward but is takes its time. Like Green Bean said "its depending your skills" and a set of basic tools and torx drivers. I'd rate it 3 out of five, five being the hardest.
How about refilling the coolant without introducing air into the system? Don't you need some sort of pressure bleeding system for that?
I filled up the reservoir, warmed up the engine until the thermostat opened up, revved the engine to 2500 rpm for a couple of minutes, stopped the engine, opened the reservoir, released the air, filled it up again... lather, rinse, repeat... it took me three full cycles to get it right. I swallowed an extra 3 liters plus the coolant that came out when I disconected the plugs, so I know there cannot be much air in there. I has been running great ever since.
Even when Porsche bleeds the system, air can still get in. I just experienced this with my accident that I mentioned above. After I picked up my car from the body shop, my "Low Coolant" light came on. I figured there was an issue with their work, so I took the car back to the shop. They said that they always do their best to get the air out, but they never know. As a result, they stated that the low coolant really might be low once the air has worked itself out. All they did was add more coolant due to air still being in the system, and the light went off. Consequently, I believe you can add the coolant yourself, warm it up, drive it, and let the air work itself out. Then you can check the levels later and add the necessary coolant.
