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Check the drains!

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Recently, I decided to check the drains on my recently acquired 2009 GTS. No specific reason except that there seemed to be a lot of comments about them on the interweb. Well - both the front drains behind the wheel arch liners were well blocked. Once the blockages were removed, I probably got about a litre of water out plus a fair amount of 'aromatic' debris!

There was also a large build up of compacted dirt behind the lower rear of the arch liner particularly on the nearside. Once cleaned out I could see that there was no rust there, but that build up cannot have been helping.

Lots of lovely service history with the car, but clearing the drains or cleaning the sills behind the side skirts were not mentioned on any of the invoices. So it looks as though they have never been done before, OR they were done but not charged for.

These will be part of my annual check in future, and I recommend that you also make sure that it is done.

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It does make you wonder why dealers don't specifically include this in a service, and not just Porsche. It seems to be a problem with other makes - we had a Passat where blocked drains caused a number of issues, and there was well over a gallon of water trapped in the area immediately infant of the screen where the battery is, and that was main dealer serviced annually, and had been shortly before.

I shall be doing the KN's drains shortly, and will do them regularly like the Boxster's
 
Where exactly are the ends of the drains, do you need to take the wheels and or or the arch liners off to access them or can you do it with wheels on full lock one way or the other? What did you use to clean them out with?
 
I am by no means an expert - I have done it once! With the 295 section tyres on the GTS, I do not think that there would be enough space to do it with the wheel on. The drains were much higher than I was expecting.

There is a sort of rubber grommet/valve thingy that fits into a hole (approx. 1.5") that was clearly blocked and I just pulled it out - gently! Cue rubbish and water. Used fingers to clear out as much as I could and then flushed water down from the wiper/scuttle area until it ran clear. Then checked again with fingers for any smashed badgers and things. Replacing rubber valve thingy was a bit fiddly, but by the time that I did the other side it was easier.

I think that you would need to remove the liner so that you could make a proper job of cleaning the accumulated cr*p out of the wheel arch particularly at the lower rear. I find that that sort of job is much easier if you give yourself plenty of room to use a hose to flush out the last remnants. The downside is that the liner has got a lot of attachment points and some of them are quite cunningly tucked away. Still, in my opinion, it is a job well worth doing (or having done!).

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Have problem with suspension ride height on my cayenne turbo s 2009
drivers side stays high and keep getting warning chassis system, chassis system faulty,
Any one had similar fault point me in right direction




 
A follow up to my original post. Last week I had the opportunity to check the drains at the rear. They are there, I am guessing, to allow the run off of any water in the sun-roof gulleys. I would imagine that anybody with the panoramic roof would have the same. They are right at the back behind the wheel arch in front of the rear panel. Again, they are a lot higher than I was expecting, but can be seen from underneath without removing anything. No problems - not blocked and very dry! But worth checking - there are a lot of electrical boxes near to the tubing!

Ian - I cannot help with your suspension issue - sorry!

sandbar
 
I saw the post heading and thought I would chip in.
The 981 Boxster I bought in February this year suffered from blocked roof drains at the back of the roof, behind the rear wings just behind the B-post.
The first lady owner of 4 years from new, living in a leafy suburb and presumably never kept the car in a garage never cleared the drains.
They eventually blocked up with leaf debris.
Clearing the drains is not a service check point.
These blocked drains did not come to light until the second owner (of three months) found the inside of the screen misting up having only had the car for a few weeks.
To cut a long story short, the nearside drain prevented any water from draining to ground level, instead the water drained into the cabin and played havoc with the body ecu which is positioned under the carpet beneath the passenger seat. The OPC fixed all the faults but the second owner then rejected the car on some secondary issues.
I then bought the car but did not find out about the above until I had owned the car for a week, due to the power of internet forums, but that's another story.
The point is, the checking of these drains are not on the service schedule, it is up to the owner to check & clear if need be (or may be point out at the next service to have them cleared).
The "tea-strainer" top-hat filters at the top of my drain tubes have now been removed.
It seems ludicrous that the drains are not on a service check-list, especially as the results of block drains can cause so much damage, at least in the Boxster's case.
 
BoxsterLL11 said:
The "tea-strainer" top-hat filters at the top of my drain tubes have now been removed.


Ouch!! I had better check that those do not exist on my car, although the amount of filth and squalor that I got out of the bottom of the drain tubes would indicate that they do not.

I totally agree that they should be on service check-list. To be fair, Porsche are not the only ones with the problem. I believe that BMW went through a phase of putting all the electronic gubbins in the redundant spare wheel well. That may have been OK during the warranty period, but it did not work out very well long term.

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Just a postscript to all the above, I was reading in another place (Rennlist) that there has apparently been advice from Porsche to remove the rubber grommet/valvy things at the exit to the drains and not replace them. I have no idea whether or not the advice came from Porsche AG, Porsche NA or just a local dealer. Just makes it a lot easier for the water to get out and away.

After what I found last year, it was something that I had thought about doing. Coming up for that time of year - again.

It also apparently applies to the drain from the A/C system!

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And a further reminder for those who were interested in this subject.

I recently checked the drains again, a year after the first time, and once again there was a collection of debris stopping the free flow of water.

So this really does need regular checking!

I have now done what was suggested in the above post and removed the rubber 'grommet' things which were what was stopping the flow.

Before anybody asks, the car does spend its life outside, but is not parked under trees or near large bushes.

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