I've been on vacation since the middle of last week, so I just now got around to making a second attempt at removing the hose(s). I used a bit of PB Blaster and some screwdriver lovin'... and finally got the hose off. I fitted the new hoses and snapped the retaining clips into place. I then added distilled water to the expansion tank. It took about 1.25 gallons to fill it up to the max line.

I attempted to burp air out of the system by squeezing the two main hoses, but no bubbles appeared in the expansion tank. I then turned the car on (with the cap still removed) and waited till the temps got to about 185 deg. As expected, water drained out of the open expansion tank as temps rose. I thought that the thermostat opened and started circulating liquid through the radiators (found out later that I was wrong), so I proceeded to put the cap back on and go for a drive around my community, with my distilled water jug in the passenger seat.

The coolant temp readings were fine: needle just about sitting on the zero in "180." After about five minutes of driving, the coolant temps dropped quickly and drastically (down to 140 or lower), which indicated to me that the thermostat had finally opened (for real, this time) and cool water from the expansion tank was being sucked into the system, displacing the air. After a few more minutes of driving, with the coolant temp needle now just a bit cooler than before: almost directly between the eight and the zero in "180," I received the "check coolant level" message on my dash. I pulled into a parking lot shortly thereafter (coolant temp needle still staying rock-solid) and shut off the motor.

I carefully removed the cap on the expansion tank, relieving the pressure in the system, and found that the level in the expansion tank was just a bit below the "min" line, but not even close to fully dry. I added the necessary amount of water to bring it up to "max," then went on my way for about a half hour of driving in very hot conditions, never once receiving another alert on my dash. After getting back home and turning the car off in my garage, I removed the cap once again and found the coolant level to be right around the "min" line. I topped it off once again, and it's been running solid ever since. I will check on the level before and after another spirited drive tomorrow morning, topping things off as necessary, and that should be about the end of it.

I checked the hose that ripped, and it appears to be in fine condition other than the obvious tear. I would recommend that you just go ahead and do this as preventative maintenance in order to preempt the problem, as it can be quite inconvenient if you're not close to home when shiiet hits the fan.

My hoses came complete with o-rings, but did not include new retaining clips. I reused the old clips, which I do not foresee causing any issues.

 

Have you checked out this thread :

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ark-werks.html

what do you think about the bolt or welded solution? Does this have anything to do with the specific problem you had...or could it have been prevented with the fixes mentioned in the thread?

 

Sunir,
Those are two separate problems in no way connected to one another. The OP here had one of his hoses split open and that is a result of the rubber in the hose getting weak over time due to age and the high heat environment of the engine bay. The hoses, there are 3 of them, are easy to change out and very cheap. I paid right at $25 each for the large hoses and $16 for the small one at the Porsche dealer. About $65 for all three. Its a good preventative fix and very easy to do especially if you do a coolant flush at some point. The other problem you mention is the one where the metal fittings that some of the coolant hoses attach to actually come out of the casting when the glue they are attached with breaks down with age. This is a much more involved fix since the engine generally has to come out. Hope that helps.....

 

Sunir, drive over to ASG and you can see my car with the engine out and all the pieces that have to come off the engine to get to the coolant pipes. It's a lot of work. Luckily I am having other work done at the same time so it is more cost effective than just pulling the engine for this repair. BTW, you can also see the 997.2 GT2 intercoolers and mod done to make them fit.

 

Bringing this one back from the dead as it just happened to me on my passenger side line and ruined my Saturday night. Someone posted earlier about using the 997 coolant lines for a replacement. Does everyone agree with this? Do they fit nicely and seal well or are there mods required for fitment? I'm just going to replace all three so I hopefully don't have to deal with this crap again!

 

You can not get the 996 hoses anymore. They have been superceded with 997 part numbers. Same product..

 

Sweet, thanks for the info!