Coolcommingout of left Exhaust pipe

I had a spirited 3 hour drive Friday from the coast to Rants Pss Oregon yesterday--65-100 degrees had fun in the corners, but never pushed the engine that hard. When I check into the motel someone told me I had coolant coming out of my Exhaust pipe on the left side. I checked the temp and it was only slightly above 180 NO white smoke and the car starts good and seems to run fine The next day I added coolant and drove the 30 miles to Medford--It never got hot, but seemed to go thru the 50/50 coolant I was so looking forward to my second autocross this weekend. my first was last month, but knowing how expensive putting a new or used motor in it I think I'm going to have it towed back home to my mechanic. I joined AAA premium yesterday for $119 and it give me one 200 mile tow and up to 3 100 mile tows. I started a new chemo recently and have been feeling like crap---never thought it would be the car that held me up. I drove 25 miles to Medford yesterday after adding more coolant. I never got hot but seemed to go thru the coolant. NO white smoke and the car seems to run fine

Have yo checked for intermix?

^+1 Check the oil dipstick to see if the oil looks clear. If there's no coolant leak and coolant is disappearing, either it's burnt or it went into the crankcase.

Is it coming out of your left exhaust pipe, or burning off on your left exhaust pipe? Could be something as simple as a duff coolant reservoir cap causing coolant to leak onto the exhaust. Which is exactly what happened to me - replaced the cap and all was fine.

Yup check the simple things first, cracked tank (very common) and cap for signs of leakage. Then maybe check around thermostat housing and water pump. Hopefully it's one of the easy fixes and you're happily motoring again soon!

Thanks--I/m not very mechanically inclined__ n MY dip stick and OIL FILLER cap show NO Signs OF Water ..the coolant just drips out of the exhaust after I shut it off--don't know if its coming out as I'm driving--the cap seems fine--I had a hard time getting it off. What is intermix and how do I check that?-- IM going to top it off and head out to the autocross track-about 12 miles-I was the only Porsche last month, but I'm sure there are a few out there a lot more knowledgeable then me--Like everybody--lol-- thanks everybody---sure would be nice if I could race tomorrow--but I don't want to take any chances--was pretty slow last month--but my time did improve with each lap

If your oil looks free from coolant it is probably a leaking tank or cap as others have said. However, I would refrain from doing any Autocrossing until it is solved.

went to the autocross track and nothing came out of my exhaust when I got there--no white smoke see nothing leaking out of the cap or any leaks in the tank--going to check tomarrow to see how mmmmmmmmmuch fluid I went thru and the way back----put more in it this time---my eys are bd and I couldn't see the upper level mark---but filled it to the lower level. nothing dripping when I got back to the motel latter. WAs feeling to o sick to hang out at the track very long---but there was another Porsche taking practice laps a Boxter My buddy leases rhe shop to the mechanics qn==their dy off. but he called them t home and I was advised not to race or try to drive home I'm going to have AAA tow the car home from the autocross tomorrow and get a ride home from my friend saw no drip age out of the exhaust today--the tank oor the cap

99/100 it is your coolant tank leaking. Coolant tank leak will come down to the exhaust and will leak from the tip.

check around your water pump. That's my guess. Mine leaked an egg cup full when I stopped and switched off. From around the bearing of the water pump. At 78000 miles. That is very near to the left exhaust.

Best of luck....probably the tank or cap. I had a cracked tank after replacing the cap, then the non-OEM tank that I installed cracked again in about 8 months, bought an OEM tank and replaced it in March, all is good now. Here's some more details of the first failure: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ant-issue.html Best of luck with your health issues! Hopefully both you and your car will be in better health soon!

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FWIW when my pump went out it was more like the car was peeing from more or less the center of the car and in a bit, not on the side by the exhaust. Not that this couldn't happen at speed, but I'm willing to bet if it was leaking that much it would be pretty noticeable. Guessing it's on the tank or something, and that the leak stopped due to there being less fluid to leak. =) For instance my 98 Jeep Cherokee has a leak right below the coolant tank. Runs file, maybe slightly hot, but put any coolant in and within a day or two it's gone. On my long list of things that need attention.

Cracked cylinder... This will hardly ever give intermix, as it occurs above the flame ring, and only allows coolant to escape into the chamber thats effected, then leak into the exhaust from open intake valves.. It may not always leak from the exhaust, as the engine has to stop at a point where the exhaust valves from the afflicted cylinder are open. I've disassembled two engines in a row that had two cracked cylinders each, one on each bank of the engine. Neither of these had intermix, both ran 'ok" and had no other symptoms. Its become the most common of modes of failure that we see, obviously due to time in service for the cylinder materials. Small crack on bank 2 Huge crack on bank 1 Close up of bank 1 crack.

[Image-only post; no author-written text. Original image references:] https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlist.com-vbulletin/500x321/69535367_187fbdac20c5744dd41acac4c0c63aa1d37258b6.jpg

to the OP. You have 99.9999% a simple cracked coolant overflow tank or leaky cap. At rest, the coolant won't leak. Under high pressure in spirited driving - you will get the leak. It's not an expensive fix. Please ignore the doom sayers for now.

^^^ +996

I hope for a good case for the OP too but he did say "I had coolant coming out of my Exhaust pipe on the left side. " The diagnosis can only be as accurate as the description of the symptoms. Agree though it's easy to mistake coolant dripping on the outside of the exhaust as coming out of the exhaust. I think we lost the OP anyway.

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You are assuming that the OP has mistakenly identified his problem and that the coolant is not really coming from the exhaust. Seems a little arrogant to assume the OP doesn't know what he is talking about and to advise him to ignore the only real diagnosis of the problem stated. As Ahsai stated, the diagnosis is only as good as the information provided. Ahsai, FYI, the OP is the one with cancer and usually cycles back around after a while.

I had the car towed to the shop sunday. IT seemed to me that when I stopped there would be a 8-16 ounce pool on the ground from dripping out of the exhaust Ben feeling to crappy to eat or even sleep more then one hour at a time, but just woke up from a 6 hour nap and I think I was able to sleep about 4 hours at a time the night before, just had 1/2 bowl of mushroom soup, but it just felt like it was going to come back up. when I wen to talk to the shop yesterday the receptionist told me they couldn't get a chance for sure to look at it until Friday. I went to grade school with my mechanic--dint really know him as he was younger, but his family ran a horse ranch we you could pay to ride---hay b rides and stuff. We had my 8th grade graduation party there. It turns out you guys were right, my bill was $628 and I Need a new coolant reservoir and cap---waiting a couple days for parts my friend who leases him the building and that hat recommended him to me told me he had worked at ont of the largest Porsche dealerships in southern cl fr 29 years--10 od which he was shop manager. $2.99.67 of the bill was for parts. NIce to have a mechanic as knowledgeable and have some connections with.Another autocross next month up there and a Porsche driving school I would like to attend. Thanks everybody for chiming in!!!--felling like im going to faint so going to lay back down

Coolant leaking out of the tailpipe is a lot different than coolant leaking externally from the muffler area. If it's coming from inside the exhaust, then more than likely my hypothesis is correct... If the outside of the muffler is wet, then most likely it is the coolant tank or etc that others have stated.

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FIFY

The way the stock exhaust tips are constructed allows liquid dripping onto the back side to appear as though it is leaking FROM the tip - I noticed the assembly when I was transferring my stock tips to my Fisters. This makes it possible that a fluid dripping from the exhaust tip did not originate from the tailpipe. While this seems like a stretch, the location of the coolant tank in the 996 makes this somewhat less fantastic, though I suspect it doesn't happen all that often...

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How was he wrong? He properly diagnosed the information he was given. We only have a few valuable technical resources on this board. If you give them crap for being who they are then they probably aren't going to take as much time to share their information. Our firm can't let our top engineer in front of half of our customers without supervision. But every time there is a major issue that nobody else can figure out, everybody wants him to be the one working on it. He's one of the best networking minds in the country. The extreme personality it takes to be that good at a technical subject matter is not the one looking to win friends and influence people.

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He suggested that the leak was due to a cracked block. That's how he was wrong. No, he didn't. He offered a perfectly valid hypothesis, based on a whole crapload of firsthand experience, that the issue was most likely a cracked block. Thankfully for OP, he was wrong. Jake has many times in the past made it clear that the cars he sees are the ones that are f****d up. I bet that Jake doesn't see a lot of "oh, hey, good news! It was just a bad radiator cap" cases come off the transports. If OP's car had made it to Jake's place, my money would be on Jake's diagnosis. Gonzo's suggestion that perhaps not going full-bore Debbie Downer on OP, who already has plenty of crap going on, was clearly made with good intentions - just like Jake's theory about what was behind the coolant leak. Jake's skin is thicker than Hurdi's accent...while it's great that you're looking out for him, Jake can hold his own and will happily tell anyone who needs it to go to a nice dinner and a movie before f**king themselves...

Keep in mind more RL'ers correctly identified the problem when provided with the same info.

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Seems like it was stated pretty clearly to me. Lol. I know that's the truth. But my response would be the same if somebody got a great deal on a car in March and then demanded KC to apologize for stating prices are higher in the spring. I will rush to the defense of anyone that gets crap for offering well intentioned information or advice. Do I think it will change any opinions? Nope. But at least is shows a little appreciation for their contributions.

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Slakker went to bat for me and now he's known to carry one in his car. Just ask Kakash, he'll tell ya. Ha!

OP, glad to hear the happy ending and good luck with the treatment!

I'll remember this one.

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Slakker...its just another example of Jake pouncing on an opportunity to make all 996 owners quiver every time they turn the key. I get that all he sees is carnage, but like I said, several posters correctly identified the real problem. Its interesting to note that the coolant tank and cap are common failures which is likely why so many of the posters quickly identified the problem from first hand experience, given the same information. Its just more of the same and considering what the OP is already going through, extremely unfortunate. With pictures no less...

The OP certainly has bigger problems than his Porsche engine to face, no doubt. When someone tells me that coolant is coming FROM a tailpipe, and its an M96 engine, the first thing I do jump to is a cracked cylinder. Why? Because we assume the worst and hope for the best. I wish I could remember a time that a car came here that only needed a coolant tank, overflow valve, or cap. I wish a car could come here and live the same day, or even the same week, or even the same month. That doesn't happen, and it does lead to bias; because, every single thing we see is either worst case, or has been screwed up by someone else. We don't even have time to do IMS Retrofit work anymore. I'm glad that I was wrong.

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Most of that isn't relevant. We always see cases where someone makes an incorrect diagnoses, but unless it is absurd compared to the symptoms they don't get called on it. I get your point and yes Jake was wrong here, but did it really need to be called out when we could all clearly see it already? Jake is human and allowed to make mistakes and it's not like he was trying to sell anything in the process. He simply stated what he believed based on the evidence at hand. On the flip side, how many times has the group diagnosed something only for Jake to jump in, provide a different answer, and it ultimately turned out he was correct? I've lost count. Honestly I expected Martin to jump in with a "see he doesn't know everything!!!!" reply. I'm a bit disappointed that it was you that went down that path...

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Sorry to disappoint you gnat, but I have been down this path many times. You are a supporter, and I get that. However, I see things differently. Its not that Jake was wrong. No one is perfect. I just have an issue with the doom and gloom that Jake presents about these cars. What happened in this thread is a simple example of that. And now the self promotion starts. Its incredibly predictable, and for the OP, unfortunate.

Ok, I love horses and everything but this one is dead. All sides have made their points, time to move on. And we all feel for the OP but he didn't ask for our sympathy, just our advice. I do wish him strength and recovery though.

No offence taken from anybody here.. I've lost a lot of motors in my life due to head gasquets going out---the guy that 1st saw all the fluid coming out of my exhaust told me it looked like a head gasquet--no other leaks on the gound--only from my exhaust not knowing much I didint see how leaks could get back into my exhaust I was scared I would see my oil milky, but that never happened and the car never got hot-- I feel very lucky

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Looks like I wasn't alone :-) So glad to hear that we were both wrong!

My mother was diagnosed with melanoma twice in her 20 and 30-'s, then lung cancer in her 50's. She's rides her bike at 60 years old, and did 52km yesterday. Dont ever give up the fight man. Fukc Cancer. Fawk it right good.

What's an egg cup?

That's one of those f**ked-up units of measure you get when your country is half-Metric, half Imperial. Brought to you by the same geniuses who persist in weighing things in units of stone. If it was good enough for a caveman, dammit... This may be the reason why the British space program is slightly less advanced than a 5th grader with a set of Lego Mindstorms.

Unfortunately, you can't ask Google what the volume of an egg cup is - it says "one egg, you tw*t."