Coolant Low, 718 Cayman S
Discussion
When queueing facing downhill, my coolant low warning light came on. Shortly after, when parked on the flat, with the engine still hot, the system was clearly still pressurised and coolant was visible at the bottom of the filler tube. The warning light did not come back on. Oil and coolant temperatures remained normal.
I thought that I should top up the coolant. I found the user manual difficult to understand.
http://www.porscheownersmanuals.com/2017-718-cayma...
I presumed that the Max mark on the filler tube to be the level to fill to when cold. This took 1.25 litres. Further driving resulted in coolant overflowing down the overflow pipe with a bad smell around the right hand side rear outside of the car. In fact I have found that any level of coolant in the filler tube above just visible at the base results in overflow. There is no Min marking on the tube. The warning light has not recurred.
My OPC reassured me that I had nothing to worry about, that there had been no coolant issues with 718s, and it was difficult to get the coolant level right.
Does anyone know how to correctly judge the coolant level in a 718?
Also, if the system is closed, why should I expect to top up the coolant with 2k miles on the clock? It is not something that I have had to even think about with any other modern car.
I would appreciate your thoughts.
I thought that I should top up the coolant. I found the user manual difficult to understand.
http://www.porscheownersmanuals.com/2017-718-cayma...
I presumed that the Max mark on the filler tube to be the level to fill to when cold. This took 1.25 litres. Further driving resulted in coolant overflowing down the overflow pipe with a bad smell around the right hand side rear outside of the car. In fact I have found that any level of coolant in the filler tube above just visible at the base results in overflow. There is no Min marking on the tube. The warning light has not recurred.
My OPC reassured me that I had nothing to worry about, that there had been no coolant issues with 718s, and it was difficult to get the coolant level right.
Does anyone know how to correctly judge the coolant level in a 718?
Also, if the system is closed, why should I expect to top up the coolant with 2k miles on the clock? It is not something that I have had to even think about with any other modern car.
I would appreciate your thoughts.
I had a sporadic coolant low warning message on my 718 BS. Turned out to be a wiring/sensor problem which got replaced after a couple of visits to the OPC when they couldn’t find any leaks. It’s been fine since.
They did warn me not to overfill it when I was having the problem as I noticed that the coolant level in the reservoir when cold was fine and the level when when the car was warmed up appeared low, though there obviously wasn’t a leak. Be interested to hear what the end result is for you, good luck.
They did warn me not to overfill it when I was having the problem as I noticed that the coolant level in the reservoir when cold was fine and the level when when the car was warmed up appeared low, though there obviously wasn’t a leak. Be interested to hear what the end result is for you, good luck.
A year has passed and I thought that I should update on progress.
The OPC visually examined and pressure tested my coolant system to find no coolant leaks or abnormality.
I was told that the coolant level had been adjusted to be correct and that most likely the system had been overfilled resulting in syphoning down the overflow tube and genuine coolant low warnings.
I had my doubts that this could be correct, as the red coolant low warning self cancels after a few miles. How could that be if the coolant remained low?
I have in fact made a coolant dipstick to check that the level has remained as adjusted by the OPC and it has. There is no reliable indicator of the coolant level in the 718.
Unfortunately, the coolant low warning has been a recurrent irritation and I have waited for the two year service to arrive to plan a remedy with the OPC.
One year ago I was told that the engine would need to be 'dropped' to remove and replace the coolant reservoir tank and its integral sensor. I have not felt at all keen on this being done. This month I have been told that there may be a modification to the coolant reservoir to solve the problem, which I suspect means exactly the same thing.
I have noticed that when the engine is hot, I can hear much fluid gurgling and whooshing from behind my head and wonder if this is normal, or perhaps a symptom of the problem. My coolant is certainly not low.
The OPC visually examined and pressure tested my coolant system to find no coolant leaks or abnormality.
I was told that the coolant level had been adjusted to be correct and that most likely the system had been overfilled resulting in syphoning down the overflow tube and genuine coolant low warnings.
I had my doubts that this could be correct, as the red coolant low warning self cancels after a few miles. How could that be if the coolant remained low?
I have in fact made a coolant dipstick to check that the level has remained as adjusted by the OPC and it has. There is no reliable indicator of the coolant level in the 718.
Unfortunately, the coolant low warning has been a recurrent irritation and I have waited for the two year service to arrive to plan a remedy with the OPC.
One year ago I was told that the engine would need to be 'dropped' to remove and replace the coolant reservoir tank and its integral sensor. I have not felt at all keen on this being done. This month I have been told that there may be a modification to the coolant reservoir to solve the problem, which I suspect means exactly the same thing.
I have noticed that when the engine is hot, I can hear much fluid gurgling and whooshing from behind my head and wonder if this is normal, or perhaps a symptom of the problem. My coolant is certainly not low.
OO02ERO said:
A year has passed and I thought that I should update on progress.
The OPC visually examined and pressure tested my coolant system to find no coolant leaks or abnormality.
I was told that the coolant level had been adjusted to be correct and that most likely the system had been overfilled resulting in syphoning down the overflow tube and genuine coolant low warnings.
I had my doubts that this could be correct, as the red coolant low warning self cancels after a few miles. How could that be if the coolant remained low?
I have in fact made a coolant dipstick to check that the level has remained as adjusted by the OPC and it has. There is no reliable indicator of the coolant level in the 718.
Unfortunately, the coolant low warning has been a recurrent irritation and I have waited for the two year service to arrive to plan a remedy with the OPC.
One year ago I was told that the engine would need to be 'dropped' to remove and replace the coolant reservoir tank and its integral sensor. I have not felt at all keen on this being done. This month I have been told that there may be a modification to the coolant reservoir to solve the problem, which I suspect means exactly the same thing.
I have noticed that when the engine is hot, I can hear much fluid gurgling and whooshing from behind my head and wonder if this is normal, or perhaps a symptom of the problem. My coolant is certainly not low.
This is very interesting. Last week the exact same thing happened to my 2018 718 Cayman S. I was out on a Saturday morning drive on some roads up to Bakewell in the Peaks and had the red coolant warning flash up on the dashboard and the somewhat alarming instruction to stop driving immediately. Typically I was on a twisty country lane at the time so it was not possible to pull over stratightaway but I noticed that afetr a couple of miles the warning disappeared so I kept an eye on the water temperature and pulled over at the next available fuel station to allow the car to cool down for a few minutes before checking the coolant level. After a few minutes I carefully opened the cap and noticed a load of coolant drip down from underneath the car which I assumed was just coolant passing through the overflow as the pressure was released from the system. The level in the header tank however looked ok so I allowed a few more minutes and started the car up again, without any warning showing up on the dash so I cut short my trip and headed back home again keeping an eye on the water temp which stayed at a rock solid 90 degrees. When I got home I called the OPC and told them what had happened and to summarise, I was told not to drive the car until a technician had looked at it so Porsche Assistance was called and the AA came out to me and did a pressure test on the system and confirmed there were no apparent leaks. The following week I took the car over to the OPC for a full check and again they confirmed no apparent issues and nothing flagged on the diags and it was ok to drive.The OPC visually examined and pressure tested my coolant system to find no coolant leaks or abnormality.
I was told that the coolant level had been adjusted to be correct and that most likely the system had been overfilled resulting in syphoning down the overflow tube and genuine coolant low warnings.
I had my doubts that this could be correct, as the red coolant low warning self cancels after a few miles. How could that be if the coolant remained low?
I have in fact made a coolant dipstick to check that the level has remained as adjusted by the OPC and it has. There is no reliable indicator of the coolant level in the 718.
Unfortunately, the coolant low warning has been a recurrent irritation and I have waited for the two year service to arrive to plan a remedy with the OPC.
One year ago I was told that the engine would need to be 'dropped' to remove and replace the coolant reservoir tank and its integral sensor. I have not felt at all keen on this being done. This month I have been told that there may be a modification to the coolant reservoir to solve the problem, which I suspect means exactly the same thing.
I have noticed that when the engine is hot, I can hear much fluid gurgling and whooshing from behind my head and wonder if this is normal, or perhaps a symptom of the problem. My coolant is certainly not low.
Having resarched this on the internet it does seem that there are a few 718 owners who have experienced similar symptoms including yourself and I have even read about a possible recall on models to change defective header tanks. Since taking my car in I have not seen the warning pop up again but I will report back on here if it does happen again.
Edited by elpichichi on Monday 8th April 18:23
There is a technical service bulletin out for this, which I believe is for cars built in late 2017. My car would display the warning after turning off the ignition then getting back in the car eg petrol station. The coolant level was normal and temperature was in range. I mostly use sport mode as that seems to keep the temp at 90, normal mode sees it rise to 109. My car made several visits to the OPC before Stuttgart advised them what to do to cure it which meant dropping the engine. Make sure you take lots of photos of the trim at the rear etc before you take it in. Several pieces of my trim were damaged and not replaced properly which took several attempts and complaints to rectify.
Edited by Blink982 on Sunday 7th April 22:21
Blink982 said:
There is a technical service bulletin out for this, which I believe is for cars built in late 2017. My car would display the warning after turning off the ignition then getting back in the car eg petrol station. The coolant level was normal and temperature was in range. I mostly use sport mode as that seems to keep the temp at 90, normal mode sees it rise to 109. My car made several visits to the OPC before Stuttgart advised them what to do to cure it which meant dropping the engine. Make sure you take lots of photos of the trim at the rear etc before you take it in. Several pieces of my trim were damaged and not replaced properly which took several attempts and complaints to rectify.
My reluctance to get the problem fixed has mostly been because of concern about collateral damage being done to the vehicle. I will take your good advice Blink982. If visible trim is damaged however, I wonder what happens to the parts we cannot see!Edited by Blink982 on Sunday 7th April 22:21
Schmed said:
Many thanks for this link Schmed. I wonder what proportion of owners visit forums and how many owners out there have been affected. Hopefully OPCs are getting experienced at fixing the problem efficiently.
Do 718 owners notice fluid sloshing noises from inside their cars when the engine is hot? I do and wonder if it is related to the fault.
I hate sounding Cynical but it seems like Porsche AG engineers still could not figure out how to cool down their cars. The cooling problems around since 986 and 996 introduction. I've not heard these issues on 981, assumed they were already fixed but looks like they are coming back on 718.
As far as I know the problem wasn't actually a problem with cooling the engine per se. The TSB relates to a faulty part that was fitted to certain 718 models built during a period at the latter end of 2017. I've no idea what the part was (sensor probably but it must be inaccessable as the engine has to come out) but there were no high temperatures or problems with the car, simply a warning message. It has been isolated to this part which I presume was a faulty batch.
OO02ERO said:
Blink982 said:
There is a technical service bulletin out for this, which I believe is for cars built in late 2017. My car would display the warning after turning off the ignition then getting back in the car eg petrol station. The coolant level was normal and temperature was in range. I mostly use sport mode as that seems to keep the temp at 90, normal mode sees it rise to 109. My car made several visits to the OPC before Stuttgart advised them what to do to cure it which meant dropping the engine. Make sure you take lots of photos of the trim at the rear etc before you take it in. Several pieces of my trim were damaged and not replaced properly which took several attempts and complaints to rectify.
My reluctance to get the problem fixed has mostly been because of concern about collateral damage being done to the vehicle. I will take your good advice Blink982. If visible trim is damaged however, I wonder what happens to the parts we cannot see!Edited by Blink982 on Sunday 7th April 22:21
As anticipated, there is trim damage along edges where it has been levered off. I have massaged the damaged areas flat again with a plastic wedge so they look acceptable. I am not sure that I want to return to the OPC for them to replace the parts, but have taken photos of before and after. Who knows what further damage could occur in the cramped car park.
My car was first registered in May 17. I have only read about a handful of other cases. There must surely be many more.
Gassing Station | Boxster/Cayman | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff