skippster123

In preparation for going to the track, I checked the fluid level in the cooling system (took me a minute to realize it was INSIDE the cap. I couldn't see any fluid at all at or under the "min" level which scared me a little. I started putting anti-freeze in and got up to about 2 quarters and still no sign of filling up. I have had the car on the track numerous times at 6-7000 rpm so I wasn't shocked--yet. Not sure what to do I called a service mgr. at my local dealer. "That shouldn't happen," he said, "but add water to even to dilute the anti-freeze. It should be 50/50 ratio." Nervously, I started pouring in water. I got about 3/4 of a quart in and it suddenly came right up to the mix. "Oh crap, now what," I thought thinking I'd have to take some out knowing I'd be on the track the next day. I left it, but since then, which has been 4 days or so I smell anti-freeze. I don't see any on the ground, except once, but it was really little, not even certain it was from my car. I looked now it's below the "min." So where did it all go? I freaked out thinking my head warped or something thinking maybe it's in the oil, but I don't think so and it surely wouldn't have reacted well on the track at that been the case. The temperature gauge is normal right at whatever 175...thoughts, comments?

ChristopherG

If you aren't getting any coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant check the resivior for cracks and put a new cap on it. If the spring is getting weak the cap will let the coolant escape. Inspect everything you can for a pink or purplish crust building up on any hoses or gaskets.

Unkle

To offer any help i would say that if you are losing a little coolant on the floor then at least its coming out and not going into the engine oil, or out the exhaust, not much consolation but generally easier to fix , so better than nothing. Take the engine cover off and you will probably see tell tale signs of coolant on the engine somewhere. The additional expansion cap is under the engine cover on the right hand side. This could be leaking a little.

The coolant takes between 22ltr and 24ltr (on the tip) so adding a straight coolant or straight water won't have effected the strength of coolant mix too much from the amount you suggested.

One possible theory is that you have even less coolant in the system than you think. You topped it up and after a portion of air in the system that was trapped by your fill got back to the expansion bottle, now the purged air has moved to the expansion bottle giving the impression that you have lost more coolant. But in fact you have just flushed the air to the top of the system i.e. the expansion bottle cap area. This happen a lot on cars that have a low coolant level. The other theory is that you have an external coolant leak and that is what you can smell. Check under the radiators in the front of the car and remove the engine lid to look for signs of coolant leak, also feel your carpets, i don't know the location of the heater matrix but these can leak coolant too.

However (don't take this the wrong way) I am a little surprised you haven't checked the coolant before and didn't know how to read it especially as you track it. But we all do things differently I guess.

Hartdude

Did you notice the general vicinity of the leak? Was it toward the rear or front of the car? Right or left side?

The water pump is on the front bottom side of the motor, basically right behind the passenger seat. Also, there are large coolant pipes to the radiators that run through the tunnel.

Macster

How are you measuring the coolant temp? 175F 'seems' too low assuming the system is healthy.

If the system is losing coolant there's a leak. The coolant cap has two times (once in two different cars) accounted for a very slow loss of coolant that at one point had the level down low enough to cause the low coolant warning light to flash.

Another problem area for my Boxster was the coolant tank. It finally split and dumped coolant on the ground.

If you are concerned about coolant in the oil remove the oil filter housing and carefully pour some of this oil into a clean container and have the oil analyzed. Among other things anti-freeze compounds will be part of the analysis and if any show up, well, at least you know.

Pour the oil into a clean pan and look for any coolant/water droplets. They'll be under the oil.

The water pump can leak a bit. Not all leak though, but some can.

My tech sources tell me a bit of a leak at the water pump is ok but there is a limit to what is acceptable. A sign the pump is leaking is a white residue on the pump housing under/behind the pulley. The techs tell me there are factory issued guidelines as to what is acceptable or not acceptable. The techs did not provide details of these guidelines. (They know I'd post them unless of course they told me not to.)

What I was told that if the amount of residue, the size of its stain, falls outside of these guidelines the pump should be replaced. Also, I know from direct experience with my Boxster if the water pump has any play (with the belt removed) it is highly suspect. And another sign the pump might be going bad is if the serpentine belt has a sharp edge (inner edge is my experience) which arises from a bad water pump with too much bearing free play that allows the belt to rub on the side of the water pump pulley which it should not do.

The techs did tell me there should never been any signs of wetness though.

Sincerely,

Macster.