Changing the coolant.

My 996 has 30K miles on it and the coolant looks a little cloudy. As a preventative measure, I want to change it. Does anyone have a "how to" on a flush and fill?

Damn u salazar! Sorry couldn't resist, funny line from charlies angles. In any event I was told by Loren "the man", that there is really no need to change the anitfreeze as it is lifetime. I considered this as well as I usually do such things especially as I was added my gt3 radiator etc. but he advised against it as there is no need evidently. At this point now though, I am somewhat speculative as my car did lower it's temps. but does not quite mimick the temp Loren's runs. I think it might be because it is hotter out here though, who knows? Tool Pants?

This would be a good subject for the new tech board. <a href="http://www.renntech.org/index.php?s=107d3a26bf1a1312cbc58308bcd129cc" target="_blank">tech</a> I know how to do it on a Boxstir, and it should be the same on a 996. I would like to see your coolant in person to see what you say is cloudy. Lifetime coolant is 5 years or 100k miles. Last year I contacted the US partner that makes the Porsche branded coolant. <a href="http://www.babblers.org/board/archive.pl?read=22497" target="_blank">Cool</a>

Good coolant can look like this (or a little more green depending on the lighting) <img src="http://web.dsldesigns.com/~ljcook/radiator/images/17.jpg" alt=" - " /> There is a procedure for changing the coolant, but it is only recommended for contaminated (i.e. oil or other substance). It is fairly involved since you have to remove the underbody (belly pan) and also remove hoses to fully drain. Then to refill it requires a pressure filler (or you will need to spend a lot of time bleeding the system). You actually pull a vacuum on the system and then draw the coolant through.

Sean: The team I race with was named Salazar after the movie. You are the first person who has EVER made the connection to the movie.

It is about $250-300 job at a dealer, add around $50 for hoses if needed. Three times here, I can almost always show what it looks like new! If you have it done, make sure the mechanics do not leave the screw part of the clamp below the hose where it is easy to get at. Had the effing low screw gently scrape the driveway and it pulled the hose off clean. I sort of thought it would help protect the hose that way, live and learn. Road&Track (C&D?) did a short technical story on newer coolants not so long ago, I am sure I can dig it up if anyone wants. I believe the conclusion was very durable, not lifetime. Helps the marketing department pretend down the maintenance costs.

Neat. Yeah me and my friends often say that phrase to each other whether drunk or not Good tip on that screw thing. My fluid also looked like Lorens but still seems to run a bit hotter than his car.

My 1992 LS400 with about 90K miles still has the original factory installed coolant. I fully expect my 01 C4 to follow suite.

It was Car and Driver. The article is mostly about which stuff to put in older cars, but is very interesting in a slightly scary way. Use the search word "coolant" and it will bring up two Pat Bedard articles with Dr. David Turcotte of Zerex from June and July last year. The only comment there on the stuff Porsche specifies is 100,000 miles and 6 years service life. So the hose designer guy in Stuttgart is into me for 269,000 miles of the stuff. SPR--could you just get it bled maybe? Only takes a little vapor at the sending unit and readings go up a lot.

How can you bleed the system ... any idea!?

Loren, Are you sure you didn't pee in that bucket there :-) On a serious but related note, a few months back, the little light at the right of the temp guage started flashing although the guage stayed in the middle and wasn't rising. I read the handbook and it said to check coolant level. Sure enough it required about 4 pints of water. Now my question is, if the coolant is for life, is there an explanation for the coolant level to require topping up every now and then (assuming there is no leaks or head gasket blown....heaven forbid). And if so should one top up with water or some other coolant? Cheers Loren.

Here is the long explanation from the service manual on the flashing coolant light. "Four functions of the coolant warning light: 1. Engine coolant level too low -- light flashes slowly (0.5 Hz) 2. Engine compartment temperature too high -- light flashes slowly (0.5 Hz) (engine compartment blower might be faulty) 3. Engine coolant temperature too high -- light is lit; pointer on the right 4. Temperature sensor at water outlet faulty -- light flashes rapidly (1 Hz) ; pointer on the right Note: The temperature warning in point three is indicated if the conditions "engine coolant temperature too high" and "engine coolant level too low" are present simultaneously." You should have to add a little water (about 1 pint) to the coolant tank maybe once a year (in my experience). Much more than that would make me start looking for leaks. Know problems are leaking tanks, and caps both covered under TSB warranty. I have also seen a couple of hose clamps leak and Porsche now uses spring-screw hose clamps to replace those. And... the worse possible problem would be coolant in the oil (or oil in the coolant). This is not likely without other signs like lots of smoke.

Thanks for the explanation Loren. I think my problem is that I have never bothered to check the coolant level in the 3 years of having the car and it probably needed a little top up. I assumed the Porsche service would check the coolant and also I had already read somewhere it was for life. So I never bothered to check it. It was only the light flashing (slowly) that woke me up to the situation. I just checked it again this morning. The level is fine. I topped it up some three months back now so I don't think there is a leak.