anti freeze smell

[Skeeter1]

Need your help.

I am new to Porsche cars, bought my first last year - 01' Carrera 4 w/32,000 miles.

Car runs great but have the smell of anti-freeze issue. I took the car in for a pressure check of the cooling system - no issue. After that I took the posted advice on this site.

I checked the oil for the whitish foam - none

Just turned the car on 'cold' - removed cap and looked for the .020 bubbles - saw none.

I checked the anti freeze cap and saw the model # ended in the number '0', have received the replacement ending in 01, the area below the cap is dry now, I did notice slight pooling of antifreeze below the cap of the anti freeze tank prior to replacing the cap. This seems to have eliminated a majority of the smell now and the anti freeze tank is totally dry.

The mechanic said it could possibly be the head gasket but wasn't for sure, that we should keep an eye on it. My concern is why there is any smell when car is started?

Please advise.

Dave

[rb101]

I've never heard of anyone having a failed head gasket on the water cooled engines. What does happen is a crack forms in the head that allows oil and water to mix. Just do a search on Rennlist.

[EBS_Don]

Actually, they can fail. Just had a '99 996 3.4 engine here with a bad head gasket and no other issues. Some of these tough to diagnose motors losing coolant can be traced to blown or cracked head gaskets. But there are several potential issues here!

[Skeeter1]

Two other pieces of information:

There is no loss of anti freeze.

There is no leaking of any fluids from the car.

Best,

Dave

[BYprodriver]

You should have someone start the car cold & hot while you catch the liquid that comes out the tailpipe & see if it smells like coolant. If it does I'm Guessing small head crack.

[jwetering]

Skeeter - the coolant tank turns yellow and fails, they all do it. No need to worry.

The cracks start out really small, and only weep when the car is hot. That's when you smell it I bet, after a drive. When things are cool enough to investigate, the cracks close up and leave little to no evidence. At first anyway.

Eventually you will see a drip or two coming from the drivers side tail pipe area. That's because the tanks is just above it there. That doesn't mean the coolant is coming from inside the engine.

Do not panic, but your self a new tank and a new cap for $200 and if you have experience, bust out your tools. You may have to drop the engine a little to wrestle the old tank out and the new tank in. It's not a job for the beginner mechanic, frankly it's a loathsome job, but there are good DIY threads on Renntech and on Rennlist. I think I even wrote one or two.

The point though is....this is probably not a big deal. It's probably just your coolant tank. I've had two 996, both of the tanks failed.

[putput6]

Coolant leaks I've seen on 996s

Coolant tank
Coolant cap
Coolant hoses
Oil separator
Radiators
Waterpump
Coolant flanges on the block
Have seen cylinder heads crack too

[Skeeter1]

Appreciate everyone's advice, I will try your recommendations. Seems like the new cap has made a tremendous difference.

Skeeter

[madz510]

well that makes perfect sense why if it was leaking from the pressure cap, nothing showed up on the pressure check. If your tank is bad, it would have shown up. I think you should be fine now

[Skeeter1]

It's been about 5 months now, still no smell. The solution was the Anti Freeze cap! Appreciate everyones advice.