yeldogt

One of the ongoing concerns with my 06 S has been the persistent faint smell of coolant. I often get this smell as I exit the truck on a hot day when both the engine and cooling fans are still running. I smell it in the hot air.

The dealer has performed numerous pressure tests (at least one was overnight) - replaced the failing water pump -- as well as a few seals that he said were often problems but looked to be OK on mine. They even went back in and cleaned off any residual coolant from the services. They also pointed out that the car is not using coolant between my recent services.

This past week I met with the Porsche zone manager regarding a couple of other unresolved items and I mentioned the coolant pipe failure issues with the Cayenne as a possible reason for the smell. He mentioned that mine was an 06 and that the upgraded pipes occurred in the 06 Cayenne. Just to be sure since mine is an early build 06 he asked the service manager to checked my vin. -- He said mine had the upgraded pipes??

Now, I don't want to doubt anybody - and the service manager at the dealer has really tried to fix this car but I have not read anything that mentions the pipe upgrade until the 08 model.

The big thread on the first page does not mention what years are involved - any help from the factory guys - Thanks.

Clutch-n-Throttle

My advise is to change them out NOW! If you let any coolant leak from the pipes or where ever its coming from, you can end up with a much more expensive repair. My coolant pipes burst in April. I replaced them without any problems. Three weeks later I developed a torque converter pump seal leak. Leaked tranny fluid. Repair for the seal was $1300. I remember a Porsche tech on this forum, I believe his name is Porsche56, writing that it is not uncommon for the Cayennes to develop the torque converter seal leak after a coolant pipe failure. Coolant gets into the bell housing and messes up the seal. I will post some pictures of my repair.

yeldogt

I think you missed the point of my post -- I am trying to ascertain if I have the plastic pipes or the metal ones

CarreraCup03

All Cayennes 2003-2006 have plastic pipes from the factory. Some have been replaced with metal, but none came with the metal ones from the factory.

Cole

Have you ever seen a torque converter seal in person? I've rebuilt several auto trans and replaced many torque converters, including VAG ones.





You have much better odds of winning the lottery than antifreeze reaching a seal in a torque converter. It would have to navigate a maze of spinning mechanical parts and defy gravity to reach the seal.

Secondly.....IT's A SEAL!!! Designed to withstand the temps and pressure inside the torque converter, and transmission fluid. A little antifreeze (which does not eat through rubber hoses) is going to have zero effect on a similar rubber seal.

VAG had problems with these seals rotting away in all sorts of their products of this vintage. Just about every Audi and VW of this vintage h had issues with TC seals.

Clutch-n-Throttle

I'm just reporting what I saw, what I was told by my Indy mech and what I have read on this forum.

Here is a quote form porsche52 date Nov 2009:

"Ohhh BTW, I just did a Rear Main Seal on a 04 pig the other day. Oil leak at bellhousing. Kinda looked like ATF, torque converter pump seal is fairly common these days. R&R trany, found coolant crustys all over back of engine behind flexplate, very nasty looking. Found RMS to have been taken out by residual left overs from a coolant pipe failure about 8,000 miles prior. It is very common to see the torque converter pump seal fail soon after coolant pipes, but I have never seen a RMS failure on a Cayenne. And guess what.... it uses the same PTFE RMS as the 996/997 & 986/987 cars!! Granted the new seals have been very good, but I still had a little chuckle."

Here are a few pics of my CS




You can see on the flywheel that there is some corrosion. There was some dried red fluid and crusties(as porsche52 described) on the torque converter itself(I did not get a picture).

Clutch-n-Throttle

Oops. My bad. Here you go

Plastic or Metal

PTEC

Yup, there were no first gen Cayenne's that came out of Leipzig with metal pipes. If you smell it, they're probably leaking. A sure fire way to look is with a fiberoptic borescope. If you have a 'scope you can get a clear look at the pipes by snaking the scope down into the valley on the right side of the throttle body.

Cole

Just thought I would post back.

I originally thought we were talking about the seal IN the torque converter. Which is a very common failure item in VAG cars. Now I see that it is the pump seal.

Wonder what part of the coolant pipe failure really gets these seals to go bad so quickly?

Must be the way the antifreeze dries to a crusty texture and then eats up the seal?

akim47

sorry, can you repost? can't see the thread. im interested to the answer to this as looking into an 06 cayenneS

Clutch-n-Throttle

Oops. It doesn't redirect to the proper link.

Its the sixth sticky thread on this forum labeled:

Admin: Plastic or Aluminum coolant pipes, how to tell without intake removal: