dporto

Touche' ! :blush: I deserved it! It did take one more top off last night after driving home (light started to flash after driving 23 mi. - about a 1/2 mi. from home). After topping it off I took it out for another 20 mi. drive, with no light - ran great and the temp gauge sat right around 190 deg. I checked it this morning before leaving for work and it was down just a little below the "min" arrow (exactly where it was before I decided to mess with it in the first place :lightbulb: ). I topped it up to between the min & max lines, and carefully replaced the cap... :thumbup:

:thumbup: Enjoy!

No warning words - slow flash, so I think just "low coolant". Light is off now (hopefully for good). The temp gauge is sitting still right around 190 deg.(F) and the coolant level in the tank is stable between the "min & max" lines . It took me two cool down & refill to get it there . It looks like all told, I was down close to a gallon of coolant when all was said and done. :eek: Thanks to everyone who chimed in for all your help/ideas :cheers:

Also, definitely no intermix...everything (coolant and oil) is clean and tidy...just low coolant

Ok, so what I found was that I had installed the coolant cap onto the tank crooked so it wasn't sealing. Obviously, it's a little embarrassing to pull such a rookie move, but I don't think I hurt anything (besides my nerves, and my pride perhaps...What a dope!). I guess because the cap was very tight (but on properly) when I took it off, it didn't surprise me when it went back on kind of tight, and as I said earlier I didn't want to really crank on it for fear of breaking something. When threaded on at the proper angle it spins right on and seats properly - there is no damage to the threads on the tank or cap that I can see. After filling the tank back up cold, when it reached temp. the level dropped (Thermostat opening) and the light came back on (flashing - low coolant level) at which point I shut the engine down again. Filling it again when cold should fix it at this point, no?

Thanks for the quick replies. So, I just took a closer look at things. A) no signs of obvious drips/leaks near/around/under water pump. There is some coolant around the top of the reservoir/tank - as though maybe I didn't tighten the cap enough and under pressure some coolant pushed out... Is this plausible? It is a new(er) cap - not original. It was kind of tight going on and I didn't want to stress/over-tighten anything, so I may have under-tightened it...

While driving in to work this morning the red light at the top end of the temp gauge started flashing. The temp seems fine - around 190 - 200 (I think)... same as it's been since I drove it out from Illinois last week. There are no noises (squealing like a bad wp bearing or anything like that) the engine is running great... I did "top off" the coolant on Saturday - it wasn't way low, but it wasn't sitting between the "min and max" arrows. I used the Pink Porsche stuff and added probably around 8 -16 oz. 50/50 mix. I did get a little over-flow, but I figured it would find it's level when it got up to temp. I've driven it about 40 miles since the "top-off" (20 mi. to work this morning) and just started getting the light... I don't want to hurt it by driving with the light on, and I need to take it to get inspected today (that's actually why I drove it to work)Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

^Libertyville^ I think it's about a half hour from (N/E?) Naperville...

So, I received my "new" (old/used but guaranteed in working order - and it looks new compared to the corroded one in my car) ballast and a matched pair of bulbs from an ebay seller on Friday. I popped the headlamp assembly out, installed the new ballast, hit the light switch and... nothing...****! Eventually, I figured out that the edges of the connector had indeed broken/crumbled so when I installed the headlamp assembly it was pushing the connector back in the mount instead of into the socket - hence no connection. I removed the plug from the mounting point and manually plugged it into the headlamp assembly - Viola' ! Let there be light. Now that I was sure that the new ballast was good, I just had to figure out how to get the plug on the wiring harness to stay in the mounting point under the pressure of the headlamp assembly being pressed into it. Unfortunately, because of how the assembly is mounted, you can't just plug it before hand and re-insert the light...the plug HAS to be where it was designed to be - in the mount (I briefly thought about cutting the mounting point off, but decided against it). In theory, it seemed a far more daunting task than it turned out to be, as I was able to simply make a small loop of wire and "tie" the plug to the mounting point without getting in the way of the connection. Phew! Disaster averted... It worked the first time I reinstalled the light assembly and I'm happy to report that I've been out for a few rides over some bumpy roads and everything still works fine. In the mean time I've been able to find a replacement plug here http://www.autoatlanta.com/porsche-parts/hardparts.php?dir=996-99-05&section=905-00 ( part # 20 in the breakdown) $13.00 and change sure beats $450 (and a whole lot of work) for a new wiring harness. I ordered the plug just in case I need it in the future...,

Thanks folks :thumbup: I haven't stopped smiling since I drove it home!

The topic says it all: 1999 C4 6 speed manual trans. 135,000 mi. Ocean Blue Metallic (edited - I was told it was midnight blue by P.O.) Savanna Beige int. Bought it in Illinois last Thursday and drove it home to long Island Sat./Sun. Wow...I love this thing

Hmmm, thanks for the warning - not taken lightly - old plastic is a pain in the butt ;-) I did get a chance to pop the light out and back in (after using a little De-Oxit D5 on the contacts) a little while ago, to no avail... Bummer! I'm going to pick up a ballast ($60 on ebay for a working oem) along with two new matched bulbs (the one Sylvania that I bought was a slightly different temp/color than the drivers side - the two new ones are Phillips $70 for both...) and give that a shot. I generally don't like "throwing parts" at a problem like this, but short of testing the ballast, I'm not sure there's anything else I can do. FYI - the existing ballast on the passenger side is quite corroded on the outside, leading me to believe that moisture might have gotten inside and done some damage there too.

First, thanks for the quick reply! I kind of hope that's the case as I'd be really bummed if I burnt out my shiny new $100 bulb :cursing: ... I'm going to pop the light assembly back out later on this afternoon and check it out...

Is there a proceedure to test the ballast on a litronic light ? I had a bulb out on the passnger side - replaced bulb (Sylvania DS-2) worked for a day or two - I don't know exactly when it went out, but I replaced it two days ago and noticed it's out again tonight.