Car is Overheating!

[bukxpat]

i just bought my 2001 porsce boxster s had 41 almost 42k miles and i barely had it for a week. currently has 42,090 miles

i was driving home last night and then the battery light turned on then my car temperature jumped all the way up. it keeps overheating and when you just turn the key all the way but not turn on the car. on the right of where the mileage is i think its the oil level but its in between the line is that right or is it supposed to be past the top line?

what is causing my car to overheat i think its the thermostat. but i dont know how to get to the engine can some1 help me!!

thanks

[bukxpat]

also the powersteering seems to not work now either. is there a serpentine belt that is driving all this? i dont know anything about porsches please help!!

[rsfeller]

This is not unique to Porsche but of any symptom of any car in the world! I'm going to guess you are not a strong DIY'r so you'll have to flat bed the car to an independent Porsche shop.

You simply have a broken serp belt which (guess what) powers the water pump (cooling), alternator (battery light) and power steering pump!

[bukxpat]

This is not unique to Porsche but of any symptom of any car in the world! I'm going to guess you are not a strong DIY'r so you'll have to flat bed the car to an independent Porsche shop.

You simply have a broken serp belt which (guess what) powers the water pump (cooling), alternator (battery light) and power steering pump!

thanks for the help thats what i was guessing because i had that on my lexus is300 it was all powered by the serpentine belt. do you think my water pump and thermostat is going to be bad??

[bukxpat]

is there a thread in here or can you tell me how to get to the engine bay so i can replace the belt

[rsfeller]

is there a thread in here or can you tell me how to get to the engine bay so i can replace the belt

No you are connecting dots where there are no dots. Although there is minor chance something seized and caused the belt to break it most likely broke due to fatigue. A sized waterpump could in fact do this but it would have shown other signs (most likely) prior to the break. As far as the serp belt break doing damage, again highly unlikely and definitely not the way you think. thermostat = impossible.

You only concern is how far you drove after it went "hot" as drinking while hot is a good way to ruin an engine and more specifically heads and head gaskets. If you reacted in less then a minute you are fine. If you drove home 10 minutes before the battery light came on and the battery went dead you may have issues yet to be seen.

Sounds like a $200 fix from a private shop that knows Boxsters. don't take it some place dumb they will not know how to even open the engine bay.

You must have bad luck to lose two serp belts unless you are neglecting your maintenance/mileage. I don't think I've broken one in 20 years or 20 cars!

[rsfeller]

is there a thread in here or can you tell me how to get to the engine bay so i can replace the belt

Yes, it's called the search function. As a newbie here I'll warn you that you should research a bit before you ask. Most concerns you are going to have are very common and been covered 1001 times. Google first! Ask 2nd!

[azzar0]

is there a thread in here or can you tell me how to get to the engine bay so i can replace the belt

Very simple procedure, should take no more than 30 minutes. I've done it in 5 minutes.

This link will tell you how to replace the actual belt. To get to the belt you have to remove the carpet behind the seats (remove 4 screws on top of the carpet), then remove the engine cover. Once you have it open, follow the instructions here:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=7061

Good Luck!

[grover]

is there a thread in here or can you tell me how to get to the engine bay so i can replace the belt

Very simple procedure, should take no more than 30 minutes. I've done it in 5 minutes.

This link will tell you how to replace the actual belt. To get to the belt you have to remove the carpet behind the seats (remove 4 screws on top of the carpet), then remove the engine cover. Once you have it open, follow the instructions here:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=7061

Good Luck!

Depending what options you have, you may have to prop up the top and take the subwoofer/tray and rear carpet out in order to be able to get the carpet behind the seats off. It's time consuming but fairly easy, though, and completely tooless- the instructions will be in your owner's manual. Once you get the carpet out of the way, it's obvious how to remove the cover plate. (Remember: german car, metric sockets!) Once you get it all off, it looks like this:

Edited August 7, 2008 by grover

[juniinc]

check the fluid level while at it

[khooper]

It could be a combination of things. It could be that you either might not have enough coolant/antifreeze in the radiator, you have a problem with the radiator itself, or you could need a new thermostat. Take it to a reputable repair shop and get it checked out

Edited August 7, 2008 by Loren
removed commercial signature

[rsfeller]

It could be a combination of things. It could be that you either might not have enough coolant/antifreeze in the radiator, you have a problem with the radiator itself, or you could need a new thermostat. Take it to a reputable repair shop and get it checked out.

Your way off with all the symptoms pointing to the belt. To many system failures to be anything but the belt.

[bukxpat]

It could be a combination of things. It could be that you either might not have enough coolant/antifreeze in the radiator, you have a problem with the radiator itself, or you could need a new thermostat. Take it to a reputable repair shop and get it checked out.

Your way off with all the symptoms pointing to the belt. To many system failures to be anything but the belt.

thanks for all the help,

i found out the problem, the tension pully fell off :( so i had to put it back on and changed the belt because the belt that was on it was pretty tight so im guessing it was unscrewing the tension pully at the same time, i have to go replace the battery now thou

[rsfeller]

If the pulley came off it was for a reason other then a tight belt. It was either put on wrong or defective. When they fail they need replaced. If it truly a tension pulley (and not an idler pulley) then the spring loading that holds the tension may be damaged or worn too which will cause a belt to jump.