Medic-one

So last month that garage that looked at it wrote on their invoice : 

"We have pressure tested the system and found no issues, system holds pressure, we carried out a visual inspection and can find no signs of a leak, there are some dry coolant stains around the overflow pipe, but this is down to pressure release caused when the customer opened the coolant tank whilst still warm. All 3 coolant caps seem to be sealing fully."

Then last week we went to Simply Porsche and Southampton for the weekend which is a 300 mile road trip and I then took the car in to have some new rear tyres fitted.  The place fitting them couldn't do the alignment so took it to a local Porsche specialist to have that done and they found and pointed out this : 

 

So looks like there is a leak, and the waterpump needs replacing. 

They quoted me £ 400, for the pump and around £ 700, to do the job.  Does that sound about right ?

He said that's an original Porsche waterpump but he will have a look around to see if he can find a good non OEM pump if i wanted. 

Do people tend to stick with OEM ones, or are there good aftermarket pumps out there ?

Took it to a local Porsche specialist today to have to alignment done properly, much better now! 

 

29 minutes ago, bally4563 said:

They will be trying to do it with the wheel fitted , wheel off gives a lot more access 

They were indeed, wheels were still on. 

Cheers folks, I'll take it to another garage and hopefully they can sort it.

Needed some new rear tyres and went for the same ones I had (Pilot Sport 4s) which were fitted by Kwikfit (for the only reason that I found a deal online which was 10% of 2 Michelin tyres, but then had to be fitted by Kwikfit) and afterwards I asked to do to a wheel alignment and they said the front and the rear were both out and offered to sort them, they did the rear ones but said they couldn't finish it as the "inner tyre rod and track side" on the front driver side was seized and they couldn't apply heat to it, so they advised me to go somewhere else that can do it. 

Does this need to be done by a Porsche specialist or should a decent local garage be able to sort this as well ? 
 

  


To be honest I didn't notice any real problems on the drive home, but obviously want it sorted out before my euro trip next month.

Just back from a local breakfast meet, always a good selection of pork turning up : 

And now it's time to pack the car and drive over to Southampton. 

Fingers crossed for some decent weather tomorrow at Bealieu!

I have bought a little "temporary non-dash cam, cam" for on holiday next month. 

I don't fancy having an actual dash cam but for my trip to Italy & Switerland next month I wanted something that could take photo's of nice scenery whilst driving without the wife constantly having to get her phone out. 

So I've bought a new one of these 'fake' go pro camera's, I've had an older model that I use for underwater swimming/diving on holiday and have taken some great photo's with that, and this one is better so looking forward to using it in the sea. 

 
But then I thought, as it comes with loads of attachments and a remote control why not set it up behind the windscreen and just activate it on the mountains in Switzerland and then took photo's using the remote control whenever I fancy. 



It's sitting behind the mirror and it's not in the way, and whenever I don't use it it's easily removed. 

The remote control sits within reach near the steering wheel and is attached via a bit of Velcro : 

 

 
Still need to have a little play with all the settings etc, but on first go it seems to do just what I want it do, without the need of having to hardwire in a dashcam.  I just press the little red button and it takes an instant photo.

 

Bought some of this from Halfords and gave it a go... 



Before and after : 

 


Very pleased with the result.

Cheers. I'll pop to the shops tomorrow to get some polish stuff and give that a go.

Noticed this mark on my back bumper the other day.  Tried to wash it off but can actually feel a slight groove. 

What's the best way to sort this, are there any mark up pens people recommend ? And how would I find out the actual name of this tint of white colour ?

 

Went to pick up the car today. 

Garage said when he realised the coolant cap in the boot yesterday there was a tiny 1 second 'psss' like normal, but that's it (like it used to do before I got this problem) and when we opened it just before I left there there was barely any noise as it had been standing overnight.

He said he wasn't too concerned about the coolant as in his opinion it didn't look murky when he checked it, so that made me wonder if it was maybe just my picture. 

So I just checked the coolant in my V8 Jag and it's pink and see through. I then took a photo without flash, and one with flash. And on the one with flash my coolant actually looks the same murky colour, eventhough it's not. 

You can't really see it clear in the photo's, but my Jag's coolant is not murky, and definitely doesn't resemble the photo. 
When I took the photo's of the porsche coolant I had the flash on and was shining on it with my pentorch to try and see it better, so I wonder if it's more then photo/flash that's making it look murky when it's not.

 

 

So I might just leave it until it's due it's next service in a few months. 

The air vents in the front also seem to heat again as before, blowing out hot air without being on the high setting, so whatever issue there was it seems to have resolved.

I also told the garage I'm going abroad by the end of next month, so he'd done a vehicle health check as well, checking the brake pads, suspension, tyres, exhaust etc, and wrote out a report and that all came back good as well so that's reassuring. 

I'm just gonna keep an eye on it for now and hopefully no more issue's.  Thanks everyone for the replies, information and suggestions.

They quoted £ 335, for a coolant flush and change, does that sound about right? 

7 minutes ago, iborguk said:

Yes I'd want a flush and coolant change if it were mine and the coolant was that colour.

Could that colour be from mixing 2 different types of coolant ? Obviously I topped it up with my coolant (Xtream G40) but I don't know what type of coolant was already in there from the previous owner.

14 minutes ago, Paul P said:

The coolant looked pretty "murky" to me - I would ask them for their opinion - but it didn't look right.

Also - are they looking into the only hot when set to Hi thing?

 

I'm not sure if they looked into it again as I did mention to them when I drove the car over there on Monday that problem kind of seemed to have resolved, I was getting warm/hot air again from the vents at the higher temperatures, not just on the high setting.

I'll send them a picture of my coolant and BBB's coolant pictured above now and see if they can flush/change it.

So just had a phone call from my Indie who talked me through everything they've checked and done, but as I'm not mechanically minded (at all 😳) I didn't fully understand it all but when I pick it up tomorrow I can always ask some more questions. 

So he said they done a pressure test on it (using 'very high pressure') and that came all back normal. He said there was a little bit of coolant build up around the manifold but they couldn't find any leaks.  
They checked all the crossover pipes and they were fine, and he said they just done some work on a 911 on which they weren't fine, and you could really see the difference.

They've bled the system, gone for a testdrive and all seems to be normal. So they can't really find any issue's he said. 

When I asked about the coolant on the floor after unscrewing the cap in the boot (which then made a lot of noise) he said it's likely that I did overfill it and that some coolant then came out from the overflow pipe onto the floor when the system depressurised.  

I forgot to ask if they actually changed the coolant, which I don't think they have but then I brought it to them to have it pressure checked and I didn't actually ask for it at the time.  What do you guys reckon, should I still have the coolant changed or should I just leave it as everything appears in order.  It was last changed at the 60.000 service and I'm sitting at 68.000 now.  

Maybe it was a partial vacuum as CWT suggested in a post above. 

 

28 minutes ago, And.rs1800 said:

Any progress medic one?

Dropped the car off this afternoon as it booked in for inspection tomorrow morning so hope to know more by then. 

How long is the coolant system pressured for ? Is it only after driving or like constant ? 

Not driven the car for 6 days. Parked up in the garage, had a look underneath it, nothing on the floor.  Open the coolant cap in the boot, a lot of hissing sounds (but level still looking ok, in the middle between min and max) but when I pulled out of the garage there was coolant on the floor : 

 

 


And that wasn't there before I opened the cap in the boot...  Just suprised it did that after being parked up for 6 days. 

It's going in after the weekend to have the coolant system flushed etc, but does look like it's leaking from somewhere now, but only when the pressure is realised... Very odd...

3 hours ago, gillbe said:

After the run with no heat from blower, are the rubber pipes to the radiators in front wheel wells hot?  They should be, that at least would narrow the problem area down

I've not checked that, but it's going in for some investigations on Monday so hopefully will know more then.

I bought a cheap sticker instead of the magnetic one for my last trip home and just took it off (with hair dryer and nail polish remover took like 2 minutes) after returning to England.

 

On 5/9/2022 at 5:29 PM, Philc said:

I’d recommend getting an elm327 bluetooth obd adapter for less than a fiver from ebay, and the free torque app, you can get live coolant temp readings, might help diagnosis with your coolant issues.

Good idea, just ordered one 👍

It's booked in for next week with a local indie to have everything coolant related checked. 🤞

Went for an early morning blast with some friends to a local car show, and had the heater on with the vents pointing towards my hands, when suddenly the air stopped being hot, and was just luke warm. 

Tried it again at the end of the morning on the way home, and it's no longer blowing out hot air like it used to, apart from when you turn it up all the way to HIGH, then it is hot, but any temp below that, which previously was still rather hot, is now just luke warm.  

Am I right in saying this could be a waterpump issue ? and if so is that something a garage would be able to check easily ?

Another day, another car show....

Went to a local little breakfast meet and am now in love with this red 911 Targa i saw...

It started spitting so I put my roof back up, but fortunately it stopped after like 5 seconds. Very enjoyable morning here in Rochford (Southend area).

6 minutes ago, iborguk said:

@BBB

@Medic-one I'd vote get the coolant system flushed and start with a baseline of coolant you know is good. 

Before committing to that I'd also suggest get your coolant pipes inspected, your car is at an age where if they are original they may need replacing (like mine did). 

How much was that job if I may ask? 

Sounds like the way forwards I guess, I don't want any coolant issues when driving to Italy by the end of next month... 

Well spotted.

Wonder what could cause that...