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Antifreeze top-up question


daytona74

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Hi all, new member of the club after purchasing a 2005 987. She is beautiful and looking to purchase antifreeze top up. Where do peeps go to, to purchase and does it need to be ‘Porsche’ related?

Just want to look after it as best I can and get things right. Thank you

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Welcome.

If it were mine and assuming it's got regular Porsche coolant in it (the coolant colour will be a clue i.e. pink) then I'd buy this from a Porsche Centre.

Don't be afraid to ask for discount.

https://www.design911.co.uk/p/coolant---antifreeze-1ltr-topup-bottle---long-life-5-year-red-00004330103-00004330147-00004330515/

 

Edited by iborguk
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1 hour ago, daytona74 said:

Hi all, new member of the club after purchasing a 2005 987. She is beautiful and looking to purchase antifreeze top up. Where do peeps go to, to purchase and does it need to be ‘Porsche’ related?

Just want to look after it as best I can and get things right. Thank you

Definitely use the Porsche product, for me. Not crazy money.

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I would imagine that such a small top up would be fine with de-ionised water.  
 

perhaps treat yourself to a tester.  Figure out if what’s in there is in range and top up with water for now.  Then monitor and see if you need to investigate a leak.  

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27 minutes ago, McDonald said:

Definitely use the Porsche product, for me. Not crazy money.

There's nothing particularly special about coolant. As long as it's the right spec and the same type as what's already in there sling it in! 

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1 hour ago, edc said:

There's nothing particularly special about coolant. As long as it's the right spec and the same type as what's already in there sling it in! 

Agree, I use this from Halfords, you can stick your reg. number in and it will point you to the correct coolant.

Comma G40 Antifreeze and Coolant Conc 2L | Halfords UK

 

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The alarm bell can be the reason for it needing a top up.  The front coolant pipe joints corrode and then start to leak.  Not an easy or cheap thing to fix unfortunately. 

As for what you use, these car hold 18 to 22 litres of coolant depending on which engine (the S had an extra rad in the front), so a 50:50 mixture covers you down to -36°C and a 33:66 mix down to -20°C, so adding a litre of water (deionised preferably) to a 50:50 mix is not going to give you a problem unless it has been done lots of times already because there is a leak....  Something like the Comma listed above is fine, or any decent brand OAT (orange) tye anti-freeze will be fine.  In this case the Porsche stuff is a fair price.

Edited by ½cwt
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11 hours ago, Topbox said:

Agree, I use this from Halfords, you can stick your reg. number in and it will point you to the correct coolant.

Comma G40 Antifreeze and Coolant Conc 2L | Halfords UK

 

Interestingly for my 986S the compatible one is the G30 as it covers Porsches between 1996 and 2009. The G40 is from 2010 onwards so wonder what changed then? 

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2 hours ago, fizz said:

Interestingly for my 986S the compatible one is the G30 as it covers Porsches between 1996 and 2009. The G40 is from 2010 onwards so wonder what changed then? 

Something not worth losing sleep over I'm sure...

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6 hours ago, fizz said:

Interestingly for my 986S the compatible one is the G30 as it covers Porsches between 1996 and 2009. The G40 is from 2010 onwards so wonder what changed then? 

Indeed I used the G30 in my 986 👍

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First of all, if you are just above the min then nothing to worry about.

My 2005 987 was below MIN (which I just noticed since the purchase back in Apr but no cooling / temp issues) and filled with Valvoline / Zerex G40 which seems to be the go-to, pink coolant here in the US (and easily available on Amazon).  Just FYI, although mine was well below MIN, I only had to use about half-quart to bring the level just above MIN (where the letter MIN is).

 

20231029_140408.jpg

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19 hours ago, Hoster987 said:

First of all, if you are just above the min then nothing to worry about.

My 2005 987 was below MIN (which I just noticed since the purchase back in Apr but no cooling / temp issues) and filled with Valvoline / Zerex G40 which seems to be the go-to, pink coolant here in the US (and easily available on Amazon).  Just FYI, although mine was well below MIN, I only had to use about half-quart to bring the level just above MIN (where the letter MIN is).

 

20231029_140408.jpg

Boxsters don’t use consume coolant and are generally filled upto just below max when refilled by a garage. If it’s got to the min level then there’s a leak and something to worry about. Yours is clearly leaking somewhere to get below min, so I’d fill it up to max while I investigated the leak. Top trouble spots are water pump, from crossover pipes and expansion tank. Leaving it that low when you have a leak is risky.

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On 11/11/2023 at 4:59 AM, Nobbie said:

Boxsters don’t use consume coolant and are generally filled upto just below max when refilled by a garage. If it’s got to the min level then there’s a leak and something to worry about. Yours is clearly leaking somewhere to get below min, so I’d fill it up to max while I investigated the leak. Top trouble spots are water pump, from crossover pipes and expansion tank. Leaving it that low when you have a leak is risky.

Thanks for the advice.  As I acquired the vehicle back in April, this was the first time I actually noticed the coolant leval (as i was doing a few other things like oil / tranny fluid changes, new exhaust tips, CDR24 fix, etc.).  The previous owner repalced the thermostat / water pump 12 year ago (but only 14000 miles in 12 years), and I suspect those guys may have "under filled" as I have not seen any leaks but will monitor for sure due to its age.

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22 hours ago, Menoporsche said:

Possibly also corrosion at the bottom of the rads from rotting leaves. Though they usually get the condensers first. 

A great point...I did try to blow out all junks, leaves with a leaf blower which worked well but will need to check.  I have been thinking about removing the front bumper to further clean out junks (and maybe install a grill).  Thanks!

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