Anyone Done A Coolant Flush And Refill On A 997

[mattau]

I recently saw a coolant drain and fill on a 996 Turbo. I was alarmed and puzzled by the amount that was drained from the drain plug (seems like a lot more than 10 litre) than the amount that was put back in (around 10 litre). It was refilled using a SnapOn version of the UView Airlift.

Since the 2005 and 2006 cars are hitting the 4-5 yrs mark, have anyone done a coolant flush on a 997 yet? If so, can you just drain from the drain plug or do you have to remove the underbody panels and disconnect some of the hoses as well to properly drain all the old coolant out? And if you just drain from the drain plug, did you get most of the 32 litre out according to the specs in the owner's manual? And more importantly, did you put close to what you drained out back into the system?

Anyone has a link to a DIY guide?

[PAULSPEED]

I had a new radiator intalled. The mechanic puts some thing on that sucks alot

of the air out and colapses the hoses. He then fills it up. He said that it is

difficult to get it filled.

Paul

[NelsonMX]

I have and use a UView Airlift Tool. I have used it on my Cayenne but not so far my 997S as it is still relatively new. It worked like a charm for the Cayenne and should work equally well on the 911. Have a look at: http://www.uview.com/ProductPage.php?Category=Cooling+System+Service+Tools

[harmonyroadporsche]

I've most recently replaced the coolant on a 996 and the 997 procedure should be similar. I have been able to get about 80% of the old coolant out. The other 20% hides in the front radiators and would require more disassembly of the front end so the cost benefit of trying to get the last 20% out isn't really justifiable. You really need a lift to remove the coolant since you need to disconnect 6 hoses under the engine as well as 2 hoses in each front wheel well. Doing it in the driveway on jack-stands would be painful.

The general procedure is;

- Remove the radiator reservoir cap

- Pull up the small metal clip on the release valve behind the radiator reservoir cap

- Jack up the car and remove the coolant drain plug

- Once the flow of coolant from the drain plug has slowed to a trickle you can attack the hoses

- Remove both rubber hoses that connect to the coolant drain housing

- The remove the shield under the car that covers the transmission, this should expose the two small hoses to the heater core and the two large hoses to the front radiators

- Disconnect all four of these hoses

- Disconnect the two hoses in the front driver and passenger side wheel wells

- At this point you've removed the majority of the coolant (If you only use the drain plug and don't touch th hoses you'll be lucky to get 50% of the old coolant out)

- Reconnect all 10 hoses and reinstall the drain plug with a new metal seal

- Using an Airlift or equivalent coolant fill tool you will evacuate the air from the system

- Prepare a large container of mixed coolant that contains the volume of coolant required in your car and use the coolant fill tool to suck the coolant into the cooling system

You'll probably end up with at least 4L of coolant when you're done. Save it for top ups.

I hope this helps.

J

Edited May 9, 2010 by harmonyroadporsche

[ALLSPEED]

Can't push the rest of the coolant out with compressed air through the end of the hose?

Edited May 9, 2010 by ALLSPEED