Leaking 996 TT coolant question

[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!

[nosnow4pc]

You really need to root around and find the leak. There is pressed on coolant fitting on the engine side of the car that fails, thecoolant tank in the engine area is also prone to cracks and the radiator cap sometimes also causes coolant loss. You may want to search 6speed.com or rennlist.com as there seems to be more activity on the 996 & 997 Turbos.

[nosnow4pc]

Ooops, just reread the original post. You probably need to remove the bumper to determine which radiator or hose is leaking. The benefit to the center rad is that it probably doesn't have the a/c condensor to deal with.

As for the shop not committing without seeing the car. I think that is pretty standard that they would want to diagnose before giving a quote to fix the problem.