Cayenne turbo using coolant!

[chrispiec]

Hi guys,

Hope you can help or advise! My cayenne has recently started to use coolant! A tiny amount though so doubt it is the pipes. Replaced the water pump recently as it was bad. I am using maybe 500ml of coolant every 2 weeks or so. No water marks under car and no emulsified oil. Expansion tank looks ok also! I was wondering if anyone has had a bad expansion tank cap! I cleaned all around the cap last week and checked it today and there are water marks around where the cap screws on!

What do you guys think?

[RacerX5]

With the old style American car coolant caps, you could test the cap itself. Most coolant system testers, (Stant, Snap-on, etc) come with double ended adapters so you could pressure test a cap. To my knowledge, there is no such tester available for a cap like what's on the Cayenne, unless the dealers have some sort of special tool. I would replace the cap as a start, keeping in mind that these cars are certainly prone to coolant leaks in other areas. I'd watch this very carefully until you sort this out.

You could try to pressure test the rest of the system, and see if you can find the leak. UV dye can be added to help this process.

[chrispiec]

Yeah I have read a lot of horror stories relating to the cooling system. But coolant pipe failure seem to cause sudden coolant loss! I will my local garage to pressure test the system. Had a porous water pump replaced in November time. So it's not that. Expansion seems ok! No cracks etc.

[JFP in PA]

With the old style American car coolant caps, you could test the cap itself. Most coolant system testers, (Stant, Snap-on, etc) come with double ended adapters so you could pressure test a cap. To my knowledge, there is no such tester available for a cap like what's on the Cayenne, unless the dealers have some sort of special tool. I would replace the cap as a start, keeping in mind that these cars are certainly prone to coolant leaks in other areas. I'd watch this very carefully until you sort this out.

You could try to pressure test the rest of the system, and see if you can find the leak. UV dye can be added to help this process.

Stant makes such an adaptor, but it is listed as for VW. He definitely needs to pressure test the system.

[RacerX5]

With the old style American car coolant caps, you could test the cap itself. Most coolant system testers, (Stant, Snap-on, etc) come with double ended adapters so you could pressure test a cap. To my knowledge, there is no such tester available for a cap like what's on the Cayenne, unless the dealers have some sort of special tool. I would replace the cap as a start, keeping in mind that these cars are certainly prone to coolant leaks in other areas. I'd watch this very carefully until you sort this out.

You could try to pressure test the rest of the system, and see if you can find the leak. UV dye can be added to help this process.

Stant makes such an adaptor, but it is listed as for VW. He definitely needs to pressure test the system.

So just to confirm, you're saying Stant makes an adapter to test the cap? There are plenty of alternatives for adapters to test the system.

[JFP in PA]

With the old style American car coolant caps, you could test the cap itself. Most coolant system testers, (Stant, Snap-on, etc) come with double ended adapters so you could pressure test a cap. To my knowledge, there is no such tester available for a cap like what's on the Cayenne, unless the dealers have some sort of special tool. I would replace the cap as a start, keeping in mind that these cars are certainly prone to coolant leaks in other areas. I'd watch this very carefully until you sort this out.

You could try to pressure test the rest of the system, and see if you can find the leak. UV dye can be added to help this process.

Stant makes such an adaptor, but it is listed as for VW. He definitely needs to pressure test the system.

So just to confirm, you're saying Stant makes an adapter to test the cap? There are plenty of alternatives for adapters to test the system.

Yes, but it was listed in their system as for a VW/Audi (now corrected), which makes sense as the two vehicle's share a lot of components. We found out about it because we had one and noticed it fit and worked perfectly.

Pressure Tester Adapter Type: Radiator cap 12037

Make:PORSCHE

Model:CAYENNE

Submodel:S

Beginning Year:2003

Ending Year:2004

Engine Type:V8

Liter:4.5

CC:4511

Engine Size:4.5L/4511cc

Engine Family:Porsche V8

Adapter Material (Application):Aluminum

Adapter Finish (Application):Black anodized/Zinc plated

[RacerX5]

>JFP Good to know.....Thanks for the clarification. I have to go look in the garage, I may even have one of those.

[JFP in PA]

>JFP Good to know.....Thanks for the clarification. I have to go look in the garage, I may even have one of those.

They also have the other side (12036) which is the system test adaptor:

Both of these were listed for years as covering mid sized Audi and many VW models, but they both work on the Cayenne.