2008 V6 Coolant Seep / Leak from

mhariush · mhariush's Garage

I have a 2008 V6 that is seeping/leaking coolant from the back left side (passenger) of the engine. I have been monitoring it for a bit and even had it at Porsche for another issue and they didn't mention anything about it at the time.

The leak has gotten worse and I smell coolant whenever the car is running so think I need to figure out where this is coming from.

Any thoughts as to where this leak could be originating?

To me it looks like it is coming from behind the connect of that pipe/hose. What is that and how serious could this be? How hard/easy of a fix is this? It's pretty tight back there and an odd angle. The Camera is just really wide.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

I suspect it is your coolant recovery tank leaking. This is a common issue. The seam on the tank fails. The fluid runs down the fender liner and comes out just inside the wheel well from the engine compartment (or elsewhere on that side of the engine. I replaced mine today. It had been leaking for months and finally got so bad that I fixed it. It took a couple hours. The I used the Behr tank that cost just under 90 dollars. I reused my old tank cap and saved enough antifreeze that I just picked up a gallon of premixed Prestone at WalMart to top it off (about $12). There is a write up here: https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Porsche-Cayenne/54-WATER-Coolant_Expansion_Tank_Replacement/54-WATER-Coolant_Expansion_Tank_Replacement.htm

There are also several you-tube videos on this.

I did not use a fancy pump like they did in the write up above (to empty/fill it). I just disconnected the coolant line last and put a finger over the tank connection and then sat propped aginst the wall so that no more leaked out. Then after installing the new tank, filled it from that one.