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Boxster 4.0 GTS coolant use

Chris_James

Chris_James

PCGB Honorary Member
Member
Has anyone experienced needing to top up a large amount of coolant in a 4.0 engine. I recently had the low coolant light come on and ended up adding nearly 2 ltrs of coolant after 6k miles which seems excessive to me as I have never had to top up any of my previous Boxsters or Cayman between services.

I queried this with Porsche who have checked it and found no visible leaks around the engine, water pump, thermostat etc, and radiators all OK. They say they normally top up most cars at service and this is not unusual, but I have over 1yr to my first service so it does not feel right to me.

Anyone had a similar experience with the new 4.0 engine?

 
2 litres of coolant sounds a bit excessive to me as well Chris. Maybe you can get the dealer to replace the coolant caps just in case that’s where the problem lies? Other than checking for obvious leaks, did they actually carry out a pressure test on the system?

It’s a new engine and so the body of knowledge is still somewhat limited ATM. I’d be checking the coolant level on a regular basis now (weekly?) just to monitor what’s happening.

Jeff

 
Sounds very excessive to me Chris never topped up any of our water cooled cars except one very early Boxster turned out to be the cap needed upgrading.

Only thing I can think of it was low from brand new.

Best keep a check on it.

 
When my first GTS4.0 was in for an additional oil change / swap winter wheels & tyres for summer, the technician reported a small coolant leak, which she showed me on a video. They kept the car and pressured the system but were unable to reproduce the fault that she'd originally found. I bought some coolant just in case, but never had to add any and the leak never reoccurred.

 
What sort of milage and usage does the car have.

Mine was new in June last year, it’s done 6000 miles general milage and a spirited track day at Oulton park without any noticeable loss.

 
By any chance was the car subject to the con rod/ engine replacement last year?

I drove my OPCs GTS 4.0 in November and had the same warning come up twice on the test drive. On returning, a technician took it away, burped it and added a shed load of coolant. The car had had a full engine replacement due to the con rod issue.

Dan

 
Thanks for the ideas. My car was not one of the re-calls for the con-rod issue. Has done 6k road miles. I will closely monitor as when the level is correct there is a "float" that pops up in the re-fill space, so easy to see if it now goes down again quickly.

I also found when at the Porsche Centre that older Porsche branded top up anatifreeze that I used in my old GT3 is NOT SUITABLE for the 4.0 engine. I had taken some with me but decided not to use it until they had checked the car.

If I had used it they said the whole system would have needed draining/flushing!! So make sure you get the latest specification!! I am not clear what the difference is or why the effect of using it is so serious, but food for thought.

 
Dan,

I still find this unusual and have booked the car in later in Feb for them to carry out a pressure test of the system as the car was warm and not left with them when they did the initial check for leaks. I will post an update after.

 
Chris_James said:
I will closely monitor as when the level is correct there is a "float" that pops up in the re-fill space, so easy to see if it now goes down again quickly.
Click to expand...

Experience of three Caymans` albeit not a 982 shows that ... the float always sits at the minimum mark with very little volume (~10mls) required to `pop` it up [;)]. I see this as a function of the system design whereby there is a second header tank between the boot item and the engine (picture from a 981)

 
I got the coolant low message twice last week. Temps are sat at ~-2-3 degrees C. Yet nothing when I drove the car during the day. Spoke to my OPC service guy and he says it's nothing to worry about and he's not aware of any coolant issues with the 4.0. The 4 cylinders do have issues with the water pump leaking coolant into the vacuum system causing no world of issues. Looks like it's a common issue on the 4.0s reading through other forum posts.

So in total I added 1ltr of coolant/water mix and the float bobbed then settled back to min so that will do. I did notice that the rear screen above the coolant cap defrosted quicker than the oil cap side so there may be a little warm vapour escaping from the filler which also may be a cause of the windows misting up occasionally. Just for reference, can those who have recently picked in a new 4.0 GTS or GT4 take a photo of the part number on the inside of their coolant cap please? Just want to see if mine, with a 981 part number, has been superseded. Please don't open the cap if the engine is warm!!!!

Dan

 
Hi Dan

I've got a brand new Cayman gts 4.0 demonstrator at the moment and the coolant cap code reads

981.106.044.06.

It looks as if they are a carry over from the 981s as you suggested.

Les

 
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