3rd Radiator Install Instructions

[Loren]

View this tutorial

3rd Radiator Install Instructions

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Note: Part numbers sometimes change without notice. Always double check with your supplier that you have the latest part numbers. A third (center) radiator is standard on the Porsche GT3, Boxster S and all Carrera's or Boxster's with Tiptronic transmission. As well, the third radiator is now standard on all X51 Carrera Power Kit (engine power upgrade). Although the Tiptronic radiators are plumbed differently it is obvious that Porsche did this to increase the cooling capacity of these

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• Author
  Loren
• Category
  Carrera (996) - Mods
• Submitted
  11/16/2005 09:40 AM
• Updated
  02/28/2010 06:20 PM

 

[jslindst]

Loren,

Just picked up the 3rd Radiator Kit from Road and Race. Thanks to your thorough instructions I'm looking forward to doing it myself. Just have a question regarding replacing the thermostat, where is it located? I'm guessing its on the driver's side of the water pump inlet housing at the lower rear part of the engine. Any info you could provide regarding it location and tips on flushing the cooling system would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

Edited January 16, 2006 by jslindst

[Loren]

Loren,

Just picked up the 3rd Radiator Kit from Road and Race. Thanks to your thorough instructions I'm looking forward to doing it myself. Just have a question regarding replacing the thermostat, where is it located? I'm guessing its on the driver's side of the water pump inlet housing at the lower rear part of the engine. Any info you could provide regarding it location and tips on flushing the cooling system would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

Jeff,

I didn't change my coolant or thermostat. I caught the coolant, filtered it and then put it back in.

Flushing and refilling the cooling system on these cars is a real pain. Once the whole system is filled with air instead of coolant the air is almost impossible to get out. Porsche recommends and I've seen other shops use a vacuum draw method where they create a vacuum on the system and draw the new coolant in. That seems to be the only way to get an air free system after draining all the coolant. If you are just doing the 3rd radiator and the coolant color looks good then I would just do what I did. Refill only the small portion that will be lost in the hose changes and the additional capacity of the 3rd radiator - then use the built in bleed valve.

If you really want to change the thermostat it can likely be done the same way - without draining all the coolant. If I were going to flush/change all the coolant then I would try to find a coolant vacuum system to borrow or a shop that will do it for you. Just my 2 cents...

[jslindst]

Thanks Loren. My car is a 2000 996 with 40K on it. Just figured it would be good preventive maintenance to change out the thermostat while I was already spilling coolant all over my garage. Do you know the location of the thermostat?

Thanks,

Jeff

[Loren]

1. Undo spring-band clamps. Clamp shut coolant hoses and undo spring-band clamp with pliers type MUBEA 60-190.

2. Drain coolant. Undo drain plug at water guide housing and collect coolant. Undo four hexagon-head- bolts and remove housing with coolant regulator. Replace seal for drain plug. Tightening torque: 10 + 5 Nm (7.5 + 3.5 ftlb.)

3. + 4. Remove or install coolant regulator Push special tool 9627 (assembly aid) downward against the spring resistance and simultaneously twist coolant regulator out of the housing guide (or into the housing guide when installing).

Install housing with coolant regulator. Replace housing seal and install housing with coolant regulator. Tightening torque of the housing screws 10 Nm (7.5 ftlb.).

[jslindst]

Thanks Loren.

[Bluemaxx]

Loren,

What a great article!! That you very much. This will defiitely come in handy when I attempt to put in my 3rd Radiator soon. Thanks again! :D

[hkchunglee]

Where can I get the 3rd radiator kit from the US?

[Alan C.]

Where can I get the 3rd radiator kit from the US?

Have you tried Sunset in Oregon?

[lrapoport]

This was a good article and a great help. I have a MY02 and I had to add a couple of extra steps. To ge the bumper cover off, I had to remove the headlights. In order to get access to the hoses, I have to remove the mounts from the radiators to the brackets, remove the brackets and rear air guides. Once doing this, access to the hoses is easy. On a MY02 Carrera, you also have to replace the center air guide that fits in the bumper with one from a tiptronic. I did some measurements and if you just cut the factory insert, the inner duct won't fit properly. Last, the radiator assembly should be put together in a different order:

1. Attached air guide to radiator.

2. Attache brackets to radiator and air guide.

3. Bolt brackets together.

It is far more difficult to get the air guide in otherwise and you risk damaging the radiator fins and the tabs on the air guide. Working leasurely, the entire install took about 4 hours.

Edited May 21, 2006 by 02 Carrera

[brucem]

Big thanks to Loren to providing this info! the only area I am having issues is with the drivers side hose. Getting it to wrap around and exactly where it goes back. I can't seem to get the kink out of it :(

[Loren]

Big thanks to Loren to providing this info! the only area I am having issues is with the drivers side hose. Getting it to wrap around and exactly where it goes back. I can't seem to get the kink out of it :(

Make sure you have the correct hoses for each side. When you do they just fit very well.

[brucem]

Big thanks to Loren to providing this info! the only area I am having issues is with the drivers side hose. Getting it to wrap around and exactly where it goes back. I can't seem to get the kink out of it :(

Make sure you have the correct hoses for each side. When you do they just fit very well.

well the passenger one fits just fine, and the drivers side hose (with the real long hose) is just strange where the line feeds through. I have some coversion work on the front of my car so I may be a little different and thing fit tighter sometimes...

[Loren]

It should fit near the chassis bodywork so unless that has changed it should just follow the chassis (as I recall).

[brucem]

It should fit near the chassis bodywork so unless that has changed it should just follow the chassis (as I recall).

thanks Loren. The part where my hose has a 'kink" is where it tuns back to go towards the body.

:drive: thank you

[lrapoport]

Bruce,

I don't know if you figured it out, but the driver's side center radiator hose wraps around the driver's side lower radiator hose and then comes in toward the body. It has the low loop section to help get air out of the system and then loops in to clear properly in the body. If someone took a picture of this it would have been very helpful. I thought about it after I put my car back together, so I didn't have an opportunity to take the pic. Maybe Loren has a pic someplace he can add to the thread.

[brucem]

Bruce,

I don't know if you figured it out, but the driver's side center radiator hose wraps around the driver's side lower radiator hose and then comes in toward the body. It has the low loop section to help get air out of the system and then loops in to clear properly in the body. If someone took a picture of this it would have been very helpful. I thought about it after I put my car back together, so I didn't have an opportunity to take the pic. Maybe Loren has a pic someplace he can add to the thread.

thanks for the reply! much appreciation! i will snap a pic of mine and see if I got it right :drive:

[vlc]

Thanks Loren, forgot to check my question regarding removal of bumper to locate horns, will give it a try now. Once again many thanks.

Vince

[viper501]

Well, I took the plunge and ordered the kit from Carnewal. Loren's instructions are great as long as you read them *carefully*. Please note that the passenger side is the LOWER hose and the DRIVER IS THE UPPER HOSE. Don't make my mistake and waste a lot of time trying to figure out how to position the driver's side hose on the lower part of the radiator. I've taken a few extra pictures to show how I believe the driver's side hose should be positioned. I'll add them to this post later.

Despite having cleaned out my radiators before, they were disgusting again. As you can see from the photos, there was a lot of junk in the front of them as well as jammed between the condensors and the radiators. I spent a good deal of time with my compressor blowing a couple pounds of sand out of them.

Also, I had to position the ducting on the 3d radiator prior to bolting the radiator together. My duct wasn't maked in any way to show which way was supposed to go up. It took a few minutes but became apparent that the duct should be positioned so that it comes out several inches from the bumper support. The duct pictured in Loren's install isn't quite the same as mine. Hopefully, I haven't got the wrong duct. We'll see when I put the bumper back on how things match up.

Was sort of surprised that thier is no ducting on the rear of the radiator. I suppose that there is enough open space behind to allow the hot air to escape but it still seems that there would / should be some sort of ducting back there.

[Galun]

I am a bit confused to when I should add the coolant.

"Re-attach the radiators. Carefully re-position the radiators and replace the 2 bolts and nut that holds the assembly in place. Take care to line it up as it was previously. Reattach air conditioner condensers and tighten the 2 torx screws that hold them in place. Test for leaks. Start the engine and run for at least 5 minutes while checking for leaks. If everything is tight and leak free proceed with the rest of the re-assembly"

This is the instruction before the reassembly of air scoops and bumper cover etc. Should I add coolant back into the system before I start the engine? I assume I should add back the same amount of coolant that had came out before restarting the engine?

"Add coolant, check for leaks (again), and bleed system... Add a mixture of antifreeze and water using the HMZ coolant.

Be careful not to overfill (it will get pushed out on the floor). Lift the bleed valve. Start the engine and allow it to get to full operating temperature (I also ran the air conditioning to force circulation). The coolant warning light will likely start to flash. Shut the engine off and WAIT until the engine and coolant has cooled enough to remove the coolant tank cap. Then add coolant to the tank and repeat the process. You made need to do this 2-3 times. When the coolant level fails to fall then the system is bled and you can close the bleeder valve."

So, after reassembly, I go through the bleeding process? So basically I open up the bleed valve, start the engine, wait for the warning light to come on, shut off the engine, add some coolant, then repeat process until the collant warning light does not come on (or coolant level doesn't fall). Did I understand this correctly?

Thanks!

[Loren]

Add all the coolant that you can back in before you start the engine.

Run it a little until the coolant is no longer visible in the tank - then shut it off - let it cool and add more coolant.

Do this until it stabilizes between the full and low marks.

[Galun]

I should do this filling exercise when I test for leaks, before I put the bumper back on?

Reading the instructions, it almost seems like filling the coolant two times - once when everything is connected with the bumper still off to check for leaks, but I do not use the bleed valve here; once when the bumper is back on and then I do the bleed valve. Is this correct?

[Loren]

Yes, you will be topping up the coolant tank for a few days as the system bleeds out the air.

[blinkwatt]

Couple of quick questions

I noticed that automatic/tiptronic Boxsters(possibly 996s as well) have the center radiator just like GT3s do. I also noticed that they don't have way of air cooling them down due to the lack of the center air vent in the bumper.

Is the plumbing on the center radiator on the automatics the same as the GT3 radiator mod?

If I were to mount the radiator kit to a base 99' 986 w/o the center air vent it should be 0.k. correct? The only disadvantage would be that I'm not cooling it as efficiently(but still cooling it better then if I didn't have it) as I would if I had a 996 or GT3 bumper correct?

Thanks.

Edited September 14, 2007 by blinkwatt

[Loren]

Not quite...

There are 3 ways (that I know of that it can be plumbed).

1. As a normal Tiptronic cooler - in this case the hoses cool the Tip transmission.

2. As a normal GT3 where the hoses cool the GT3 manual transmission.

3. The mod way (as above) - where it adds additional cooling capacity for the engine.

If you put a bumper on with upper vents (like a GT3 Cup car bumper or GT2 bumper) then the radiator get tilted the other direction and the ducts need to change too.