Minor Coolant Loss

[Noor]

Folks,

My 00 C4 with 13K Miles on a new engine and a total of 33K miles is experiencing a very minor Coolant Loss (I think). Initially when i bought the car with a new Engine, the Coolant according to the dealer was a bit more then it should be and hence I saw some coolant around the cap area. They performed a pressure test on the cap and it did not leak, but did observe that the cap is a old style cap.

Over the course of 11 months and 13K miles of driving, I have also noticed that the Coolant level over all has somewhat decreased from the max level to now just a little below min level.

I have not topped it off a single time. Also I notice that the coolant level varies during the course of driving. Warm car will show a close to max coolant level and cold car will show a <min level.

My concern is, Do I have a leak, busted Gas kits or is this all normal?

Car is under full warranty. Before I take it in, want to hear from you guys.

Thanks

Noor.

[wwest]

Sounds perfectly normal to me.

Expect to add as much as a pint each year due to evaporative effects of a heated fluid.

[Loren]

If it has the old cap (part number ends in 00) it should be replaced - whether you see a leak or not.

[Noor]

Loren,

Thanks for the reply. Is there a TSB on this? or something I need to pay from my pocket or will the Certified Warranty covers it?

Noor.

[Loren]

Should be warranty (mine was). I don't think there was a TSB on this but to my understanding Porsche changed the part number and 00 version was to be removed from the shelves (as in "do not use"). The correct part number is 996 106 447 01 (it was about $14).

[Guest]

Is it possible that coolant is getting into the oil system? There have been some reports of that on various forums for the 996 series.

[Noor]

Went to Carlon Porsche today and they said its all Normal. Fluid fluctuates between min and max depending on the temp of the car.

So I am not going to pull my hair on this. Next major service I will have them look into it in details. Worst case, I will get a new Engine! All under the Warranty:-)

Thanks for replies.

Noor.

[bnewport]

I had this problem on my car and nothing showed up when I brought the car to the garage, visual checks, pressure tests, etc. It looked ok but it was definitely leaking. We found the leak in the end by putting a black light fluid in the coolant chamber after topping it up and then the next time it dropped, I went around the car with UV goggles and a black lite and there it was, the radiator hoses on the left driver radiator had 'yellow' all over them. These were then replaced (470 bucks US) and no problems since. My extended warranty didn't cover this because they are plastic parts.

I'd recommend the same procedure fo your car if you want this sorted quickly. You can buy a black lite kit in any checkers etc. The porsche dealer recommended this procedure and didn't specify only use brand X so it should be fine.

Billy

Folks,

My 00 C4 with 13K Miles on a new engine and a total of 33K miles is experiencing a very minor Coolant Loss (I think). Initially when i bought the car with a new Engine, the Coolant according to the dealer was a bit more then it should be and hence I saw some coolant around the cap area. They performed a pressure test on the cap and it did not leak, but did observe that the cap is a old style cap.

Over the course of 11 months and 13K miles of driving, I have also noticed that the Coolant level over all has somewhat decreased from the max level to now just  a little below min level.

I have not topped it off a single time. Also I notice that the coolant level varies during the course of driving. Warm car will show a close to max coolant level and cold car will show a <min level.

My concern is, Do I have a leak, busted Gas kits or is this all normal?

Car is under full warranty. Before I take it in, want to hear from you guys.

Thanks

Noor.

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