'02 cab loosing coolant out pipes

I have a 2002 996 C2 Cabriolet. It had a water pump installed 2000 miles ago. Now I'm loosing water out both pipes at startup and about a cup to two cups of coolant every trip out for an hour or two drive. The car cackles quite a bit until it is warmed up then settles down and quiets down. It also has K&N cold air intake and Fabspeed muffler bypass installed. The car runs great, but daughter called and said take to nearest dealer immediately on display. I'm in Seattle and car is in Bowling Green, KY. I fly home Friday. Any tips or suggestions before hauling off to the shop. Not scared to pull the motor, but time is an issue. The engine has 104K on it. No IMS signs as of yet, but I don't idle around either. I've also read the head gaskets are pretty bullet proof.

My guess is either a cracked head, cylinder or slipped sleeve. If you can pull the motor, you may have a look and be able to disassemble it and have the failed component repaired. A dealer will most likely want to replace the motor.

Was thinking cracked head, but would be really odd to crack both heads at the same time. That's what has me baffled.

I would start with what was changed last (and parts touching it) the water pump and hoses....... yea, dont drive it till ya know, overheating would be a problem and if its a crack somewhere that can be fixed, driving it more will make more trouble. I hope its just a leak in the system somewhere simple.............. and WTF are you in Seattle for... did you bring this rain!!! Its been sunny for 3 months!

Why was the water pump replaced? Did the car overheat before that? If so it's possible that a problem occured as a result of overheating, like a warped head, compromised head gasket or something related. It's also possible the pump was misdiagnosed as being bad and replacement did not correct a previous problem. Good luck with the fix

The water pump shaft seal failed. I would imagine because the car sat on a used car lot for six months; then I get it and start driving a little hard on a high mileage engine. It never overheated. Steamed pretty good driving down the road when seal gave out. Stopped and had hauled to the shop at 2am in the morning coming back from a late night at the lake. It was definately a H2O pump shaft seal, but there could have been more.

My daughter said temp was 185 when she called Sunday and 185 when she got it into the garage at home.

Is your CEL functioning? Usually coolant into the combustion chamber will trigger it. Small leak will light CEL, big leak will cause it to flash indicating car should not be driven.

Spoke with Motor Meister. Says most likely heads. Very common with this engine. $795ea head repair, $5995 rbld, $3995 for the 3.8L upgrade and removal/installation for free if ship or drive car there(shipping a must). They putt in steel liners to get rid of nickasil liners and inspect but not replace IMS brg($595 to replace). I can buy a 997 3.8L reman for 10k from Porsche dealer with no core. Opinions on which route to take appreciated.

Quotes source post: 7378723

Please do a search here on Motor Meister, please... You may want to rethink using them

Cel was not coming on until Sunday, but was getting low coolant alarm after short period of driving. Figured head gasket or cracked head when I was home last month. With the cackling when started clearing up after warm, was pretty sure gasket or head. Now it says take to dealer asap(or something close), I figure whatever was leaking a very little is now leaking a lot. My brother(23 year old Army guy) borrowed it 2 weeks ago for a date in Nashville and I fear he wrung it out even though I told him what was going on and to be gentle until I could have it checked out. I knew better, but he just got back from Afghan, so wanted him to have a great night out...oops. For Ivangene...I showed up the last day it rained for four months last May...I just held the rain off as long as I could =)

phone diagnostics = poor take it to a good shop, if you are still iin Seattle I can drive you over to my indy ----- or call me

Thanks Ivangene, but the car is in the home of the Corvette(Bowling Green, KY)...lol...I fly back there Friday and will diagnose over the weekend(check fluids, compression check/leak down, and bore scope). Might just drive down to Sunset after work and talk with them. After reading post on here and Pelican, I will not use MotorMeister! The porsche dealer reman seems the way to go with no core, and I can put the 3.6 on the stand and check it out as I have time(very little). No wonder 996 cabriolets are so cheap compared to 993's. I asked around before buying, but didn't do enough research...I work for a German company so it was an emotional/economic buy, not well thought out. My first "I just got divorced after 15yr gift" has bit me in the *** with a vengence.

If you work for a German car company, nothing should surprise you, lol. I'm sure I don't have to explain.

My point is that although you seem fairly AOK with swapping in a new motor, the old one might (might) just have a bad coolant tank. Here's hoping for the best!

What comes out of the pipes at startup may have nothing to do with the general coolant loss. Proper diagnosis before suicide is often prudent.

What does come out of the pipes at startup is critical. It's not just moisture and it's obvious there is one of the cylinders at least with moisture in it. You can hear it when the motor starts and idles. When warm and the excess moisture has cleared she is quiet and purrs like a kitten. It didn't do this before and it had nothing more than a little condensation coming out at startup. There is no antifreeze leaking on the ground when the engine is off or hot and running. I had started to notice one pipe with a little spitting, now I see both pipes spitting a little coolant out. I'm an electrical engineer, electronics tech, multi-craft industrial technician(robotics and industrial machining), certified machinist, master electrician and electrical contractor. I'm not a master mechanic, but have worked on cars as a hobby since a little kid. I've built engines, rebuilt 12 wrecked cars and two wrecked bikes. I'm just not knoweledgable about 996 engines or Porsche for that matter, but getting educated real fast. I hate to pay someone what I can do myself, but as I get older, I've learned to pick my battles and sometimes it's more financially feasable for me to let someone else do the work while I make much more money doing what I know best. My car is in Kentucky and I'm in Seattle at least until July. I'm trying to get a jump on the game so when I get home I have a good idea where to start checking. My time at home is very limited. I have all the basic tools and a lot of specialty tools. I plan on compression testing, leak down testing and bore scoping first thing. If it's the heads, gonna pull them off and have them magna fluxed locally, then if ok, motor is getting replaced, if cracked, repairing, rebuilding and reinstalling. I have a tig, but will let a friend do, as that is more his specialty.

It's a long shot but the AOS can crack internally and coolant can lead directly to the intake and be your problem. I just changed mine that had cracked externally, but there is no reason it couln't crack internal. Would explain water out of both sides.

First logical thing I've heard. Not familiar with the AOS, but I would assume it's the Air Oil Seperator. My service manual is at home in KY, but I will definately check that out this weekend. I can't wait to get home and asses the damage. I went to the Porsche dealer in Oregon today. When called had a 3.8 with no core for 10K. When got there, sale was over and cheapest was 9K plus 5.5K core. Not bad considering it was a 3.8L x51, but quite a bit more than the 7500 i saw for a 3.8 originally at this dealer several months ago on a post. Wish I could get Porsche to wave the core for making a motor that craps out so easily or so frequently on street cars. Such is life.