Coolant Leaking - HELP!

Driving home and started to see some white smoke coming out from the decklid at the stop light. Smell like coolant burning (sweet smell). Then started to hear a whistling sound when the car slows down. Got home and coolant started leasking from the driver side rear next to the exhuast tip. No oil just coolant. Could this be the tank or hose? Coolant light and temp guage was fine when driving. But looks like the leak got really bad when I got home. How do I get my car to the garage with the leak for repair? HELP!

I am 99% certain you have a cracked coolant tank. Have the car flat bedded to the shop, or you can do a DIY replacement.

The leak might only occurs under hot condition of the engine (under pressure cracks open-up more). That was my situation, I was able to drive to the dealer in the early morning when it wasn't too hot without loosing any coolant. They found hairline cracks on the back of expansion tank when removed from the car... If yours is already badly cracked (still leaked even engine cool-down) than it safer to flat-bed the car to the dealer. Good-luck.

I did a search on coolant leaks and the tank is a common problem. Does it make a whistling sound when it is cracks? What is the cost to replace?

My expansion tank leak did not make any whistling, the coolant just poured out from tank under high pressure. But yours may be related to a bad cap as well (pressure vapor trying to escape from leaky cap?) making that whistling sound??? My coolant tank repair was done under extended warranty at Porsche dealer, coolant tank was ~ $250, cap was $17, coolant was $45 and finally labor was $690. So a total of around $1K. Lucky that I had extended waranty coverage at the time of failure.

Suncoast has the tank fro $99. How many hours of labour? $690 for labour...holy #$@#$

I believe there is a DYI on here somewhere to replace the tank. fyi

Its fairly simple to replace....but do yourself a favor and dremel off a bit of that coolant tank. (that plastic extension that serves no purpose on teh right side of the tank.

what whistle, I dont hear anything (says Beaver)

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On the 2002 and up the tanks are different. Make sure you get the correct one. Changing it is fairly straight forward. Here is the link for a DIY http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...on-a-my99-996/ On the '02 and up it is MUCH easier to replace if you remove the rear motor mount bolts and let the motor drop down. After removing the fuel rail which is easy you will have plenty of room to get the old tank out and the new one in. This only takes about 5 minutes to do and will save a ton of time. Read all of the posts and you will see what is required. Tony

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That was a few years back (June 2006) when I was living in San Jose CA, Stevens Creek Porsche's labor rate was like $150/hour and they charged me like 4.5 hours for this coolant tank replacement, crazy expensive. But again I was covered by the extended warranty so they ripped the Ins. Co. as much as they can. Many people here DIY and save a bunch, but I think you have to drop the engine a little bit to get the tank out...

Thanks for the help guys. I'll let you know how it goes. No DIY for me.

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FYI: Took the car in and it wasn't the coolant tank. It's the water pump and cost double to get it fixed. ****! Thanks again for the feedback.

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Dood... you are driving a Porsche..... sounds about right to me

waterpump is easy to DIY

Yeh, but paying almost double the price for parts in Canada, labour about 4hrs including coolant and flushing out the bubbles in the cooling system.

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jake, i was a lil bit low on anti-freeze & i put about half of prestone in, it said it was compatible with all makes & models, that was 2 days, today i was driving & my car lite comes on check engine & its starts missing real bad, but no oil leak under car, still has good oil pressure, i've heard of sometimes when you mix porsche coolant with another kind it can gel up, do you think that could be it or something else, i'm scared to try & start it back up, suppose to go in shop monday, do you know of anything i could check that mite help?

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by the way its a 2002 996 with 60,000 miles

I was told that the Porsche cars uses only Porsche certified coolant or distilled water. Other than that, I can't comment on the issues you have. Sorry.

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Hard to say what's going on without knowing the error code(s) logged. If you're going to attempt to diagnose this yourself you need a good OBDII code reader/data viewer. If you're not going to fix this yourself you are duplicating some of the diagnostics effort a professional will make. Since the engine is running a bit rough there's a concern on my part that running the engine any in an attempt to diagnose the cause of the symptoms puts the engine at risk of serious damage. For instance if the problem is a Variocam actuator that is going bad further running of the engine might have the engine suffer from a broken chain guide, a cam chain that skips or slips a tooth or even breaks. Any one of these several events almost certainly means the engine is perhaps beyond repair. If check engine light flashing chances are the problem is a (severe) misfire. The engine's behavior also suggests a misfire one bad enough to affect the engine's running. If it is a misfire problem, it could be due to any number of things, from bad plugs, coils, insufficent fuel supply due to a low fuel level, a failing fuel pump or a blocked filter, bad VarioCam actuator or something else mechanical. Without knowing the history of the car impossible to say and even if one did know the car's history still hard to say. Even though I was quite familiar with my 02 Boxster's history -- owning it since it was new -- when the fuel pump failed I was not 100% sure it was the pump. I did a check of the pump with a fuel pump relay jumper block -- Porsche tech loaned me his -- and fuel pump didn't run so I was more sure it was the fuel pump after this. But I still had to have the car towed to the local dealer and I still had the tech verify the fuel pump was bad before he replaced it. Didn't take but a few minutes but he did confirm the pump had battery voltage and when switched on via the relay jumper it did not run. He then removed the old pump, installed a new one, and tested the new one and it ran and once the car back together the engine fired right up and all was well again. Sincerely, Macster.

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thanks macster, not exactly what i wanted to hear, but good to know, by the way i was going next week to get the 60,000 check-up, what luck, what would you recommend if motor is shot, ebay has a scan gauge II 3 in 1 compact multifunction vehicle computer with custom display version 3:17, newest one available , wx gauge on sale for $135, do you know if this is a good one or not, do you think mixing coolants together could have caused this problem, i'd heard sometimes mixing porsche coolant with another can cause it to gel, do you know if thats true, about how much would another 3.6 cost, or should i go with something else, thx for your help, car will be picked up monday, i'll let you know whats going on with it.

How long was the mixed coolant in the engine?.... the cel light, is it steady or flashing?

I doubt the coolant is the issue, but flush it (ASAP)and replace with either porsche coolant or vw/audi G12 coolant. You prolly have a coilpack going out.

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redridge, about 2 days, drove maybe 20 miles, but today i talked to one of the indys & he asked me if i had tried to start it since i got it back home, i told him no, scared it might make it worse, well he told me to try & start it, well needless to say i was scared to, but i did & everything was alright, he said what he thought it was, that i had gotten condensation on my plugs or coil, i couldn't remember, cause at that time i was so excited that it wasn't a blown motor, i do take it for the 60,000 tune-up next week, guess i'll see if i have any more issues with it, do you think i need to go ahead & get radiator flushed or is that part of the tune-up, is there some things i could just get the indy to do, like the main stuff like plugs, oil, belts, etc..., & i could check the other things, what would you recommend, i'd heard cost is $1200 to $1600, or in that ballpark, thx

i replaced a bulb, in rear taillight, not the same as factory, well i have since changed it & i still can't get the abs & brake lights on the dash to go off, do you have to reset anything or how do i get them to go off? help.