EDIT: Long story short: My waterpump died.

Saturday evening I was driving my 996 back from dinner. All of the sudden,
it looked like someone had dropped a smoke grenade on the road. I didn't know it was me at first, but it was.

The smoke was clearly the white nasty smoke that comes from coolant burning/boiling. No loss of power, no sudden changes in performance at all. I was about a block from my house so I limped it back.

By the time I hit the driveway, the low coolant light was on, and the temp was reading about 200 degrees.

I shut it down, and popped the engine cover. Coolant everywhere, and too much smoke / not enough light to work, so I retired for the night.

Fired it up today to drive it up onto some ramps to look for the damage. No hoses seem to be loose or cracked, nothing looks damaged, and it runs fine (at least at idle in my driveway). No clear indication of any leaks, so I let it run for 5 minutes. The temp went up to 200 pretty quickly, so I shut it down, but still couldn't find anywhere that was leaking.

Earlier in the day, en route to the restaurant, I noticed the heater wasn't blowing hot air. I should have parked it then. In my experience, that always indicates low coolant, but since I didn't have the idiot light, I sort of put it out of mind.

My guess is that maybe it was low on coolant, and turning on the heat (first time on this winter) sent some of what was left through the core, lowering the level enough to not sufficiently cool the engine. Then the engine heated up, and the coolant started boiling and vented somehow. Do these cars have a coolant blowoff somewhere? I couldn't pinpoint one.

So now I obviously need to refill it, and see if anything goes wrong. Any tips on where to get the right coolant quickly, without having to order online? Is there something wrong with this car that I'm missing? I just can't imagine what the deal is. Given the amount of leaking/smoke, I would assume a major hose was cracked or shorn off, but nothing that I can see looks that way. Just got the car 3 weeks ago, so pardon my lack of p-car specific knowledge.

 

Could be as simple as your radiator cap as that is a known issue.. Suggest you figure out what is wrong before you drive it... Porsche engines are not cheap... make sure you fill with Porsche coolant.

 

Okay, updated to add: I tried to refill it, and a literal geyser of water/coolant poured out of the lower hose on the driver's side of the vehicle, as shown below:



The hose itself looks fine, it looks like the water is coming out from between the block and where that hose meets it. That doesn't seem good...

FWIW, the coolant drain valve thing (the little metal tab you flip up) was in the up position when I opened the hood. Not sure why, I didn't even know what it was until today.

Put it back on stands and ran some more water through it. Pulled that hose, it is fine, no leaks there. As best as I can tell, the leak is emanating from between what I assume is the water pump, and the pump pulley wheel. I'm guess the water pump just crapped out. Any way to diagnose this for sure? I'd like to get it right before paying for a new pump, or possibly sending it to someone for work.

 

Remove the belt, see if there is play in the pump pulley.

However, if fluid is gushing from behind the pulley, chances are it's toast.

Go with a Porsche pump, don't go cheap.

Inspect the fins in the pump you pull out, if they are broken off you need to find the pieces.

 

Since early 996 suffered from water pump failures, why go with OEM? Is there any better solution?

 

No there is not a better solution. In fact, the aftermarket units which are all less expensive typically have several faults.

Leak soon after installation
Shaft separation
Metal impeller blades which can destroy an engine case if the shaft separates or begins to oscillate abnormally

A world renknown M96 engine builder at flat 6 innovations ONLY uses Porsche OEM pumps with the original plastic impeller blades. They are superior quality to all of the aftermarket parts.

 

Just curious. What is the mileage on your P-car? We have the same model year. Mine just hit 50K. And, I would like to know about when to expect the inevitable.

 

I have 78k.

But when I pulled my stock H20 pump it was still fine.

 

What was the final diagnosis? I am undergoing the same thing in my 99' and to be quite frank, these forums cause me so much undesired stress and concern. I am hoping that mine is just the water pump but I worry that there can be other damages from having the water pump go out like a blown head gasket or cracked head. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

I had the same issue with white smoke and coolant loss. My mechanic found a hairline crack by a freeze plug on the 1-3 cylinder head...

 

What was the cost of repairs if you don't mind me asking?

 

I bought a used head (eBay) w supposedly less miles than my car, 60k as opposed to my 70k for $750. When I get the car back I'll let you know the labor...

 

My water pump failed a couple of days ago. At the dealer now. Over $1.1k to replace since it entails a lot of labor. OUCH! It is a '07 with 35k miles on it and my daily driver.

 

Okay. Don't be the person who questions, questions and then disappears. What was the issue? I assume water pump but ... ? Okay I went back and saw you edited an earlier post. No, no no. No one who is following your thread is rereading your old posts. His water pump was the problem and now, not so much.