Coolant Leak

I pulled into my driveway today and saw what I believe to be coolant leaking from just above the drivers side exhaust tip. I have heard that this is a fairly common problem. Any ideas as to the cost to replace/repair the tank?

Cost me $600 here in the SF Bay area. I believe the coolant bottle is cheap but the labor is not.

Just had mine done. Roughly $600. My dealer paid for the parts out of goodwill (about $200) and I paid the labor (about $350-400). Oddly enough it is NOT covered under the extended warranty.

I just had mine replaced last week, and most of it was covered by my extended warranty. It didn't cover the bleeding and some labour, so I had to pay just over $120.

I had the same issue and it was just the coolant cap! the caps are known to be defective... make sure you replace the cap first and see if the leak goes away before they make you replace the whole bottle and new coolant! cheers Pete

Paul....can you define "most" that was covered. Did the dealer cover some out of goodwill? Dealer told me this is NOT an item that is covered under the extended warranty

I'll have to check the invoice when I get home to see if there were any details on it. I think the only think not covered was the labour to bleed (or flush) the coolant. I have a very premium extended warranty (that I paid WAY too much for) that covers almost everything. Funny thing is, this was already replaced two years ago under the original warranty. I think they used a newer version this time.

My extended warranty covered it as well. It's a cracked coolant overflow tank. It cracks easily becasue it's plastic and sits too close to the exhaust, which cracks it with the heat generated. It will probably always crack every 3-5 years...

I had mine replaced by a local Porsche mechanic (non dealer, non warranty) and although it's been a few months I seem to recall the price being something around $220 for parts and labor. It doesn't look too difficult to replace yourself if you have an hour or two to spare.

Does the coolant tank and cap problem apply to 2000 MY cars? I have never had any coolant leak problem before but just this morning I see a pool of coolant under my left exhaust. The coolant expansion tank shows the level at MIN, but I've never looked at it before so I don't know where it was at before. I reached up at the coolant hoses and didn't feel any wetness anywhere.....how do I check for broken coolant tank/cap? (my warranty is over...) I recently moved the exhaust clamps on my car so they won't hit my legs when I am working under the car, but now they are slightly less than an inch away from the coolant hoses there.....I assumed this should be ok since the hoses carry hot liquids and the inch of air should shield the hoses from the exhaust heat. Am I fooling myself? The hoses still look fine though.

Yes... I know a guy that has a 2000 and he has had four of them. You need to have it pressure tested.

Any DIY info on that? I assume we will need to get an adapter for the cap in order to apply pressure?

I have a '00 and it developed an expansion tank leak at 32K miles. I purchased the tank from Sunset Porsche in Oregon and paid approx $145 plus shipping. I think Sunset may have the best deal on Porsche parts right now...15% over dealer cost. Check their ad in Excellence. I plan on changing the tank my self using this DIY info found on renntech.org. You may have to register to access the DIY pages. Here's the link. http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...expansion+tank

Oh yeah I think I've already rehearsed that DIY page, Loren is da man! But I'd like to think it's not a crack/leak at all. I'll be lifting the car up tonight and looking underneath. The DIY info I was asking for was the pressure testing. I have a mityvac, is that the right tool? How should I get/make an adapter to attach the pump to the expansion tank?

Here is the discussion then: https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...t=coolant+leak

OK this is very odd, when I got home yesterday, the coolant wasn't dripping but I could see 2 drops on the heat shield right above the exhaust, where the coolant had been dripping from. I wiped them off so I can tell if it continues to drip. The coolant level was at the MAX line, I assumed due to heat expansion. This morning, the heat shield was still dry, and the amazing thing is, the coolant bottle still shows MAX! It had been at MIN yesterday afternoon! Is there some voodoo magic involved in maintaining the level of the coolant?