[speedyvespa]

Hello all,

I got my 2001 TT (unmodified, 21K miles) out of winter storage and almost immediately it gave me a low coolant warning. This is the first time I've had one, I bought the car almost a year ago and used it through to November up here in Minnesota. Previously, it had been down in Arizona.

I topped it up with distilled water, as I have heard of VWs doing the same thing when exposed to a cold climate for the first time, and no leakages existed. However I got the warning again and the level had gone down to exactly where it was previously.

I parked it overnight on a clean floor and found what looks almost certain to be coolant by the driver's side wheel. Feeling around, I found it dripping off the bottom off a hose, so I think this is our problem.

I wrote to a local Porsche specialist asking for a quote to replace that side rad, assuming that's the problem and not just a leaking o-ring. Their response was a bit strange I thought, and wondered what you guys think.

They said that, assuming it's one of the side radiators (surely it could only be one side, i.e. the side it's dripping on?) that I was looking at about $1300 parts and labor. He mentioned that there is also a center radiator as well and it would be slightly cheaper to replace if it was leaking - but if it was, would it leak at the same place? They then said that they haven't seen a lot of issues with radiators leaking 996 TTs, so they would have to take a look at it and see what is bad before going ahead. I've read around forums and it seems to me that this isn't an uncommon problem?

There's something a bit offputting about that response and I'm not sure if it's just poor communication or me.

Thoughts? TIA!