2002sheds

I posted about a bizarre coolant leak, and the members of this forum were kind enough to steer me to the right area and parts to repair the leak. This thread is a tutorial with pictures, based on this fairly straightforward fix.

The symptoms were small loss of coolant in my 2008 Cayenne V6 — I might need to top off the coolant every 3 or 4 thousand miles or so. Of course, having the RED warning light and double chime sounding was unnerving, but sometimes I would be ahead of it and add coolant before it got low.

All of that changed last Thursday evening. The light came on and chime sounded, but I had no extra coolant with me and I was a few miles from home, so I limped in, watching the temperature gauge like a hawk. The next morning I bought more coolant and topped off the level, thinking it was the same issue as before — a tiny leak from the coolant flange where it meets the engine block at/towards the rear of the engine on the passenger side.

After adding over half a gallon of coolant, I was very alarmed when the low coolant warning light came on only a few days later. Now I knew something had changed.

The first picture on this page is from the side of the vehicle, followed by a closer picture of the area of concern (shrouds removed from the passenger side and back), and finally the flange itself, with all of the “barf” (this coolant coagulates when exposed to air) hanging down from the leaking flange.

2002sheds

Next, here is a photo of the flange itself, still attached, followed by a pic after detaching with a Torx size 30 bit on an extension, followed by the still intact “business end”’of the flange, and finally an image of the flange after moving it to photograph the flat side. Note that the thin lip around the O ring seat crumbled with the slightest touch, proving once and for all that the part was at fault.

2002sheds

I have ordered a METAL replacement coolant flange made by URO, part number 95510623100. In my case, the O ring was nearly new and still very pliable, but I would recommend replacing it as a matter of course. I don’t remember that part number, but it will probably pop up when you do a search for the flange.

I will need to remove the hose from the existing flange to install the new one, and I will not know until tomorrow whether or not I will need to put a clamp on the hose (I probably will, even though there is not one on there now), and then it is a matter of installing the O ring (tab goes in the notch in the flange) and bolting the flange and hose back to the block. If there is an actual torque value to use, I apologize for not know it. I plan on getting the Torx screws as evenly tight as I can.

If this helps someone, that is great — I sure have received plenty of good advice through this forum !

Good Luck!
David

jlc996

Hello, I have just discovered the exact same leak on my Cayenne. My question is how did you access and removed the flange? Did you have to remove the top part of engine intake or cover? I can feel the flange and probably remove it but I want to be able to line it up properly when I reinstall.
Thank you
Joe

2002sheds

Hi JLC,
Fortunately, you will be able to get at the flange by simply removing the plastic beauty trim at the passenger side and the one closest to the windshield.

Then you will be able to just barely see the flange if you poke a flashlight down into the opening and toward the back side of the block. I was quite alarmed by the “barf” (the coolant reacts with air as a clotting kind of thing) coming out, but you will know that you are in the right place when you see it.

I think it was 2 size 25 Torx bolts that hold the flange onto the block, at which point you can kind of pull the flange (hose still attached) towards you. This will also be the the point when you will likely break the very fragile “Y” fitting that is under the space blanket-looking heat shield that is nearby. As others have pointed out, there is a VW fitting that can replace that if you do break it.

Do yourself a favor and get the metal flange. I replaced the plastic one one time and it warped, as did the original flange.

My last tip is for getting the hose clamp off. I used a Dremel to cut a slot (perpendicular to the ridges already in the jaws and near the outside edge of the jaws) in the top and bottom jaw of my pliers so the prongs of the hose clamp would not slip off.

It is not a super hard task, but there are just a few things to be aware of. Good luck !

Barry A. Waters

Damn! This thread is JUST what I was looking for. Had this happen last week and have been chasing the source since. Pulled all the engine beauty panels and both underside panels (good time to change the oil now) and could NOT find the leak. All I could determine was that the leak was external and on the right side. The flange is underneath the intake manifold and kind of hidden from above but a mirror shows it well. Yep, that's where my leak is! Folks here and in another post warned of breaking the 'Y' connector in part 955 106 061 00 (Water Hose, Complete about $185.00 right now) when flexing the hose to get the old plastic flange removed. It was mentioned that the 'Y' is available separately from other vendors. Does anyone know if this is so and who has it? A VW Part # 1J0121087D was offered but another poster sourced one and said it was too large.

Barry

2002sheds

Hi Barry,

I found the "Y" fitting online, as mentioned in other threads. Mine is somewhat generic, if I remember correctly. It just needs to be that general shape and, of course, with the correct flanges.

It definitely solved the issue in my case. Good luck!

David

Barry A. Waters

David - Thanks for creating such an informative post and w/photos to boot! Stuff like this is what makes Rennlist the valuable asset it is. Love the pliers mod info for the compression rings. That's creative thinking! When you changed the flange and the 'Y' how much coolant did you loose and did you have to use a vacuum device to refill & get the air out of the system?

Barry

2002sheds

Hi Barry,
Glad it helped!!! I found out that the “Y” fitting was cracked when I went to refill the coolant… 😬. I may have lost quite a lot of a jug… Once I had that piece replaced, I simply filled the reservoir again. I honestly didn’t even think of doing it a different way. Fortunately, the vehicle seems to be fine 5k miles later 😎


David

Barry A. Waters

Thanks David. Next up for me is to source the parts. The flange (955 106 231 00) that broke is readily identifiable and has both Porsche and aftermarket replacements available. I'm going with the URO Parts version in aluminum and the Porsche seal for it (955 106 431 00). The 'Y' connector by itself, however, seems to be a source of confusion. Both Pelican and Auto Zone (for only two examples) have the 'Y' if you search for VW Part # 1J0121087D but both deny it fits either a 2010 Cayenne Base or a 2010 VW Touareg w/VR-6 Engine. Odd... So I went back to my 2010 Cayenne Base to take some photos of the 'Y' and measure the diameters of the hose connections. Below is what one of the photos revealed. Did I luck out or what? I guess that solves the mystery for MY Cayenne at least...

2002sheds

Hi Barry,
I may have gone through nearly the same process. I definitely got it locally, so either Autozone, the VW dealer or another auto parts chain :-)

David

URO Support

Hi guys, thanks for the mentions! Thanks to these posts, our product development team is evaluating upgrading plastic VW Coolant-T 1J0121087D to aluminum. We'll update the thread as we know more.

Barry A. Waters

That's outstanding! In the interim, one thing you guys might look into for your existing plastic version of VW 1J0121087D is why most vendors carry it but none of them know it fits the 2010 Porsche Cayenne Base or the 2010 VW Touareg w/VR-6 (or at least some versions of them). I found the URO part on Pelican, Auto Zone, O'Reilly and Amazon and all of them claimed it would not fit those cars but if you dug into the review comments on the part (for the ones that had reviews) you would usually find a reviewer claiming it fit either just fine. Right now, if a person searches those sites based on what's compatible with their car they come up empty handed when, in actuality, the vendor DOES carry the part they need. Not ideal to say the least.

I ordered URO's plastic version of the 'Y' but certainly would have gone for the aluminum version if it existed so I think you guys would do well to produce it, especially if the vendors have a clear understanding of what the part actually fits.

Barry