Can I use water (in the summer) in lieu of coolant?

My coolant level was low so I added tap water. A non Porsche expert mentioned that for a Porsche you're only supposed to use a special coolant. Any truth to this or just another drunk guy at a pub showing off his wisdom to impress the surrounding girls in hopes of getting lucky?

A couple of points: In a pinch, you can add distilled water (only) to one of these cooling systems without harm. You should never use tap water; the minerals in it shorten the life of the otherwise long life coolant and cause corrosion. Second, Porsche uses a coolant that is well known to be incompatible with other products, resulting in the formation of gel in the system that clogs everything. Cleaning out one of these gelled systems is just short of a nightmare. If the system is fully drained and flushed, you can use just about any phosphate and silica free coolant; only problem is that anyone that works on these cars regularly knows about the potential for gelation, and will top up the car with the Porsche coolant, resulting in problems. If we get a car in the shop that we don’t know the history of, we will only add distilled water.

Yikes, yesterday AM I added 16 oz of tap water and have driven just over 60 miles since then. What should I do, should I take it in?

First, did the drunk guy get lucky? I've added distilled in a pinch, but not tap. I would play it safe and have it drained and replaced. The coolant is sick-expensive, too.

Ditto on getting the tap water out, but it wouldn't cause a problem immediately. You can flush with tap, but the final fill should always be distilled and coolant. FWIW I replaced ALL of my old coolant using Peak Global (silicate/phosphate free) and intend to affix a badge on the coolant tank warning it is not using OEM coolant.

I called the dealer, they said not to worry about 16 oz of water since the system holds 4 gallons (4 x 128 oz) making 16 oz 1/32 of the total volume I'll make sure I only use distilled water going forward

PS alas none of the ladies were receptive to the inebriated gentleman's query: "wanna see my place?"

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FIFY

What about Prestone which is premixed at 50/50? Could that cause a problem?

Use the Porsche approved coolant. False economy on stuff like this is foolish.

The question is why was the coolant low?

Adding only 16oz of tap isnt a big deal... next time use distilled of course!

@C4CRNA ... god question, this isn't the first time this has happened. I should buy some Porsche coolant to have on hand for these minor refills.

I went to the dealer and bought a gallon of Porsche coolant for $56, ouch! FWIW I was told this contains lubricants and other chemicals that make it special/better and not only must be used in Porsche engines but also cannot be used in other cars.

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If I recall correctly, you bought Porsche antifreeze . Once mixed with water in a 50/50 ratio, you have coolant . So....it's coolant that you add to your car's cooling system. Voila!

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+1

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Not saying anything slanderous towards you, Mister Quickie. But whomever told you that fed you a load of bull you know what. Sincerely.

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Actually, that is not a load of bull. First the caution about using the fluid in other cars is reasonable and prudent. Not all anti-freezes are miscible. For other non-Porsche cars he might own the owner of the Porsche needs to consult with the owners manual or the service department applicable for his other cars and use the anti-freeze recommended/approved for his other cars. Next the Porsche techs tell me some coolant leakage at the water pump shaft/seal is ok. There is a specific callout as to the location of the stain (the somewhat whitish residue that coolant leaves behind when it evaporates) and the size of the stain. But at no time should liquid coolant be present. By the presence of the stain it is clear some coolant can and does slip between the shaft and the seal and there is some lubrication of the seal by the coolant taking place. Even though this question wasn't raised, I think it important to cover. From the factory manual: The coolant filled in at the factory is intended for lifetime cooling and, thus, need not be changed. The coolant must not be mixed with other coolants. Only original Porsche antifreeze should be used when changing or topping up the coolant. Sincerely, Macster.

Qualifying statement to my earlier reply (thanks Macster). Certainly don't mix the wrong stuff... but there is other "right stuff" you can safely mix with Porsche's coveted "anti-freeze" safely. But to be 100% safe, yes just buy Porsche coolant If you happen to buy the wrong stuff and mix with "Porsche" coolant, you will end up with a giant expensive mess potentially. I meant more along the lines of the Porsche coolant having "special properties" that is bad to run in other cars (which is partially true but not all cars) and is only good for Porsche (<cough> vw, <cough> audi <cough> bmw)... Yay, another oil thread maybe? LOL.

I imagine there is silicone in the factory fluid. Thinking of some of the tap waters I've seen around the states like brown chlorinated swamp waters I'd think of 16oz's of FT Polk, LA water as a good reason to dump all the coolant. The water down there gags you from just turning the tap on.

Certainly do not ever ever mix incompatible coolants, and when in doubt just add or top off with distilled water (Porsche branded water of course). from http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic/182-antifreeze/ "The stuff sold by Porsche was made or at least imported by Elf in Warsaw Poland from Elf in Antwerp Belgium. It is 100% organic according to the label, ethylene glycol based, and has been sold for some years under Porsche part #000.043.203.78. More recent product batches (with same part number) now have a Porsche label, and the origin is the same address in Belgium, now from Arteco NV, so either Elf spun off that plant, or it was always just buying from there, and the private labelling agreement with Porsche was changed to drop the Elf brand name from the supply chain." "The coolant was made by Elf, a large euro chemical company. ChevronTexaco formed a joint venture with Elf to make coolant under the Arteco name. I contacted ChevronTexaco last year and they contacted Arteco and gave me names of 2 coolants you can buy at any parts place. Jeff" from http://sites.google.com/site/mikefoc...foryourboxster "Porsche claims their coolant is Lifetime, but don't believe it. It is simply a silicate and phosphate free Glycol based coolant. This should be changed every 5 years/150k mi. (whichever comes 1st) in order to provide maximum corrosion protection. It is the organic carboxylates which breakdown after this interval." from http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site_5/C...ntifreeze.html "The recommended antifreeze for our Porsche vehicles is the OAT type. Many of the famous, over-the-counter brands offer OAT coolant with an aluminum-protecting inhibitor package and contain no silicates, borates or phosphates and will be stated as such on their labels. Generally these are called “Extended Life Antifreeze Coolant”." Look familiar to this?

@logray, the first picture (dark bottle) is what I bought I was told that it was a concentrate (anti-freeze) and if I were just topping off, to interchange between antifreeze and distilled water thereby facilitating a "sort" of 50/50 coolant mix

I found out that the newest version of the Porsche coolant is marketed at your local auto parts store as Pentosin Pentafrost SF. Note that it is purple-ish in color and carries the G12+ designation. A couple of hours on the phone confirmed this. The local VW dealer sells it for $23, Porsche much more, and the local O'Reilly Autoparts has it for $11.99 for a 1.5l. Keep in mind that this coolant is backwards compatible with the previous Porsche iteration only- not any other. When in doubt, completely flush, drain and refill. I am going to completely drain and refill mine as the Porsche coolant in my car is no longer available, and since it is two generations back, I don't want to risk compatibility issues and potential gelling. My water pump replacement went fine, although I have to say, it was really difficult with a broken wrist! Small spaces in Porsches don't like fiberglass casts...

I poured it in up to the top but still not reaching the "min" line. It's almost as if there's a "bubble" around the "min line that the coolant level just can't get to. The best pic I could find is this but this is more of a side angle, I need to show this via a front angle pic but can't seem to get a good angle to take my own pic

Again, quoting from the book 996 Companion.........many failures of cooling system are down to drivers not using the appropriate coolant.......apparently ya HAFTA use their stuff!

I opened the coolant reservoir this AM and as I thought, remained filled to the rim. Yet when looking from the outside (see angle in pics) there's an area that doesn't seem to get "filled". NOTE: the second pic only highlights the coolant area of the first pic