HELP! Low Coolant Light Flashing - Car Overheats!!

Hey everyone, I found this great sight via Google. I have a 1999 Porsche 911. I have full coolant with no leaks, and my Coolant Temp gauge has a red light slowly blinking as soon as I start the car (my understanding is this indicates low coolant) and the car is overheating. I need to find out why and how to fix.......here's the deal: A few days ago I parked my car at a store, got out and saw a pool of coolant on the ground coming from the rear-passenger side of the car. I drove a couple miles home and on the way the red light on the right end of of the coolant temp gauge started blinking slowly. There was a huge pool of coolant when I parked my car at my house with a trail leading from all the way down the street. I looked under the car and saw a coolant hose in front of the oil pan on the passenger side-to-middle portion of the rear underside of the car that looked like it had almost come off the pipe it was connected to....it was still connected, but barely, and that's where all the coolant was dripping from. I opened the hose clamp and slid the hose back to its original position further up the pipe. The car has stopped leaking coolant. I filled the car with coolant, and the blinking red light on the gauge stopped for about 5-10 seconds but then came back on. I haven't lost a drop of coolant...the coolant resevoir is full, but the blinking red "low coolant" indicator on the coolant temp dash gauge comes on the moment I start the car. I drove the car 8 miles and the car coolant temp gauge got close to the hash mark after the 180* mark. The car has never ran that hot before, and coolant was spilling out of the overflow onto the exhaust and making a mess. The car can drive about 6-8 miles before it gets to this temperature and starts spilling coolant out of the reservoir. My friend says this is probably due to the fact that the car wasn't "burped" to allow air to escape the pressurized cooling system when I filled the car back up after losing almost all my coolant. He says I need to jack up the rear of the car about 1-2 feet off the ground and open drain valves on the front radiators and fill the coolant back up while the car is running to allow air to escape the cooling system. Does this make sense, and would this explain both issues.....the low coolant light as soon as I start the car with full coolant levels and the car overheating? ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCE SOMETHING SIMILAR? Could this be a stuck thermostat? What are your thoughts?? Thanks!

Quotes source post: 6889515

Well - you could just have it flatbedded to your trusted Indy or dealer??? Could be your water pump and/or thermostat - both are diy-able. I probably wouldn't drive it until you fixed it though. You don't want to intentionally overheat these things. I suggest you post a photo of your car in order to garner interest from the rest of the forum

your friend wasn't off the mark about "burping" the coolant system when refilling. These cars do take a LOT of coolant...check your manual but I think it is about 26 liters when empty. The light flashes when you are down even a little bit from full but if you think it is full and you have burped the system a few times to get any airlocks out and it still overheats then definately have it checked out because like marlon said, you don;t want to intentionally overheat these babies!

I know that it is common to put a light vacuum on the system when refilling. My local shop does this on a regular basis.

In order to properly purge the 996 coolant system you must use the workshop manual (or AllData...same thing) procedure which involves applying a vacuum to the reservoir to the extent that all (or most) of the rubber water hoses are "collapsed"... It is much easier if you have the "factory suggested" valve manifold were you can apply vacuum then close the vacuum valve and open the coolant valve and "suck" the water into the system... However, we use a home made rig that also worked... A hand vacuum pump such as you bleed brakes with.... will not work (we tried it)... You must use a higher volume pump or a compressed air "venturi" pump to accomplish this... You'd wear the pump or your hand out before drawing sufficent vacuum...!!!! Porsche should have installed "bleeder ports" in the top of the 2 radiators to facilitate the bleeding process but they didn't and so you're stuck with this procedure. Believe me, doing it this way solves the "belching water" problem immediately...!!! No more overheateing, etc....No more flashing red light...!!!

Someone suggested there is a metal loop that can be opened up to allow air to escape while the car is running....does anyone know where this loop is and if this is effective for releasing air from the system? Another guy did this and said it took about 100 miles of driving with this loop open to get the overheating to stop and low coolant light to go off. I imagine the 100 miles were not done in one shot with the overheating