Leaking Coolant

I recently dropped my '00 996 off at the Collection Dealership in Miami Fla. for the 15,000 mile service. What a mistake that was, after being raked for close to 500.00 I noticed my front german license plate was gone, only the frame remained. The service rep promised to replace it and make it right. I'm still waiting. On the ride home the car would not idle, it kept hunting from 500 to 2000 rpm. I inspected the engine and found the air box partially opened I reseated it and the hunting stopped. However the next morning there was a puddle of coolant on my garage floor from the left rear of the car. I called my rep back and he informed me that conincidently my coolant tank developed a crack and must be towed in. I found the cap on the coolant tank a little loose and the level was actually between the marks. My question is does this sound like they overfilled the tank or left the cap a little loose. I really do not want to go back to the dealer again (for anything) especially for a non problem. Please help. Thanks Joe C.

I would definitely stay away from that service department with what you said on your 15,000 mile service. And go figure-why in earth would one take away your german license plate? I would imagine that if they filled with fluids and all ie coolant and cap was loose-it's possible it may cause it to drip through. Before deciding to get it checked out if they say resevoir is indeed cracked you would able to see dripping underneath the reservoir if not then more then likely it's the cap but how loose was the cap? Regards. Mike

Hello Mike, I was able to turn the cap almost a half a turn before it came to a full stop. The reason I tried the cap, I noticed a white dry residue directly below the cap and on the tray surrounding it. However after a drive last night coolant starting dripping again, the level now is above the maximum.??? The level is difficult to judge, what I perceived earlier as between the marks was and still is above maximum. After a while the dripping stopped, I cleaned the spot and this morning not a drop. The level is still the same above max. Perhaps the dealer overfilled the tank? Is this normal after overfilling the reservoir? Thanks Joe C.

Don't forget that your coolant will expand considerably with heat. The volume will increase and give you a different level when hot than when cold. Also, there's an effect called "heat sink" I beleive, which means that after you shut the car off, the coolant temperature rises before it begins to fall. This could account for loss of coolant through an overflow tube. See if you can find one and after running the car fully up to temperature, shut it off and watch that overflow tube for coolant "loss." You may just be over filled at cold temperature. It it's a leak, you may have a bad cap, bad cap gasket, or loose clamp on one of the coolant lines.