996 overheating..?

[yeti]

Stuck in London traffic as always after collecting the car, when I got home I noticed the red section of the temperature gauge was flashing at me (small red square), although the temperature was only an indicated 85deg or so. Was the car warning me it was begining to get hot or do I have a cooling issue? No steam or anything...

Car is a 1998 996 C4 if that makes a difference.

[daveyb662]

I believe that means coolant is low.

[Arenki]

Does on a 997. Top it up, check under car. could have a leak.

[yeti]

daveyb662 said:

I believe that means coolant is low.

Thanks!

Any specific coolant required or just general stuff from the garage?

[MrC986]

To be safe, I would get the Porsche approved coolant & apparently you can pour it straight in from the container. Before you use the proper stuff, you should top the header tank up & try work out where the leak is otherwise you will waste your money. They tend to leak from the front rads if they are corroded or from the pipe joins on the system underneath at the front - it will require a ramp to look for the leak probably as you may need to remove the trays though any long term leak will leave a mark

[LordHaveMurci]

Could Also be a cracked header tank, mine was.

[yeti]

If I have a leak rather than just needing a top-up, I'd be pretty annoyed, the car has been at Chelsea Carrera for 2 weeks and I would have hoped they'd noticed it as it spent a long time on the ramp!!

I take it some coolant loss over time is normal, like with any other car?

[fioran0]

What was it in getting done?
If it was anything that may have opened up the cooling system it could simply have been topped up to appropriate level and then burped while you were driving resulting in the warning light.

Take a look to check there's nothing obvious incl around filler cap and expansion tank and that it's actually low and not a faulty sensor then buy coolant from Porsche, top up and see.
If your tanks down enough for the light to be on then it will take a decent amount of fluid. Don't fill with water and dilute the coolant for the sake of £20 or whatever.

[996TT_STEVO]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Ditto... my money is on Fan... there is a Temp probe in the Engine bay, if fan doesn't operate, then engine temps around probe get toasty.