[dethbrd]

I fixed my cracked coolant line myself. Just some observations from a mechanic that never finished his engineering degree..... I don't know why anyone in their right mind would design a v engine coolant steam vent/return line that was made of plastic nor can i understand why they routed it past the hottest parts of the engine around the long way?!?!?? all they had to do was make it out of steel, and make a rubber connector hose following the upper radiator hose. Its clearly made to fail, and generate revenue. Its sad that a company that can do so many great things allows these practices at this price point.

Anyway, All I did was buy a new pipe. Carefully cut the 2 fittings off, put them back in the heads with 1/4" heater hose attached. Then I ran those 2 hoses to a brass 5/16" t, pointed the t straight towards the radiator under the throttle body. Next i hooked another piece of 1/4" heater hose to that. I routed it along the upper radiator hose and right to the bypass valve on the driver's air filter cover. I carefully cut that quick connect fitting from its junk plastic line, and reused it on my new hose. Done, simple, short, sweet, and will outlast my use of this car I'm sure. I probably should have also replaced that 3rd fitting, but I was initially going to do it like the others here and reconnect it at the back of the intake... until I saw the hose runs past the converters, and the air injection tubes, and down the frame rail right above the turbo...geeeez porsche cmon. So I did it my way, and then I fished out and removed all the plastic pieces that remained under intake and removed all the rest of the line except for the steel piece in the back on driver's side. Done in a couple of hours.

 

[dethbrd]

Oh and both of my old fittings fell apart on removal with the oring and half the fitting being stuck in the head. I would not recommend reusing the old ones. At the very least, buy a new generic line off ebay or alibaba for 20-50 bucks to be safe(r). I have seen them as cheap as 19$. I also saw that the cayenne had an oil cooled alternator at one point and the fitting looked awfully similar, might be worth a shot to find an aftermarket one of those just to check the size.

 

[Santirx]

This is nice. Did you take photos of your new hose?

 

[dethbrd]

I took some pics, not great. I'm not anywhere near your level of production sadly. I've watched several of your videos, great work. I didn't want to post here without someone's approval or asking me to. Didn't want to thread jack

 

[dethbrd]

 

[dethbrd]

Here's the hose before installing it

 

[Santirx]

Looks good!

 

[dtrykow]

Follow up on my appointment. The hose was crispy but not leaking. They replaced it anyway. The leak was from the thermostat O-ring. All warranty work.
Dave T.

 

[Longo2016MacanS]

I was just thinking if this should be a proactive preventative maintenance, my 16s got this fixed under extended warranty in 2021 at 50k miles. Will plan to do this DIY in 2026 regardless of the miles..

So, it sounds like this was considered a pipe then ,and not a hose?
Most extended warranties will exclude hoses...was this the case?
What extended warranty was used?

 

[Zmonsta]

My 2016 Porsche VSP platinum plan covered this pipe replacement. It is not considered as a coolant hose, bc even the policies fine print mentioned Coolant hoses are excluded. I too was originally worried when this pipe went.

So, it sounds like this was considered a pipe then ,and not a hose?
Most extended warranties will exclude hoses...was this the case?
What extended warranty was used?

 

[Longo2016MacanS]

Thanks Zmonsta! That is very reassuring for those of us with extended warranties.
Did your Porsche VSP platinum plan happen to be administered by SafeGuard?
Thanks again.
Steve

 

[Zmonsta]

Yes, SafeGuard! I was trying to remember the underwriter name earlier, and just couldn’t recall it.. could only think of Fidelity, which for sure was not it..

Thanks Zmonsta! That is very reassuring for those of us with extended warranties.
Did your Porsche VSP platinum plan happen to be administered by SafeGuard?
Thanks again.
Steve

 

[Longo2016MacanS]

Thanks! That is helpful to know for those on the fence about SafeGuard.
They were extremely easy to deal with for my Porsche SA on a TCC claim I made recently.
Much appreciated!

 

[FRUNKenstein]

I fixed my cracked coolant line myself. Just some observations from a mechanic that never finished his engineering degree..... I don't know why anyone in their right mind would design a v engine coolant steam vent/return line that was made of plastic nor can i understand why they routed it past the hottest parts of the engine around the long way?!?!?? all they had to do was make it out of steel, and make a rubber connector hose following the upper radiator hose. Its clearly made to fail, and generate revenue. Its sad that a company that can do so many great things allows these practices at this price point.

Anyway, All I did was buy a new pipe. Carefully cut the 2 fittings off, put them back in the heads with 1/4" heater hose attached. Then I ran those 2 hoses to a brass 5/16" t, pointed the t straight towards the radiator under the throttle body. Next i hooked another piece of 1/4" heater hose to that. I routed it along the upper radiator hose and right to the bypass valve on the driver's air filter cover. I carefully cut that quick connect fitting from its junk plastic line, and reused it on my new hose. Done, simple, short, sweet, and will outlast my use of this car I'm sure. I probably should have also replaced that 3rd fitting, but I was initially going to do it like the others here and reconnect it at the back of the intake... until I saw the hose runs past the converters, and the air injection tubes, and down the frame rail right above the turbo...geeeez porsche cmon. So I did it my way, and then I fished out and removed all the plastic pieces that remained under intake and removed all the rest of the line except for the steel piece in the back on driver's side. Done in a couple of hours.

So, I had the dreaded coolant leak a few days ago. I went to Porsche Kansas City and bought the new coolant tube/vent line. Part number is 946-106-026-60. Retail price $112.57, minus a $16.80 PCA discount, so $95.77. One of the few parts they seem to keep in stock - the parts lady said they go through a lot of them.
Anyway, I showed my mechanic your posts and he basically did the same thing. It looks like he used a different connection to the valve on the driver’s side air filter housing. He charged me $285, which included the 1/4” fuel line, brass T-fitting and hose clamps. I have been driving it for 4 days and it runs perfectly. So, no need to pull the intake manifold and use the old, fragile,
poorly designed vent line. Porsche is a very fine company, but many aftermarket companies have proven that for things such as this, there is a better way. I am shocked that no aftermarket company has come up with a simplified part for this repair as they would sell probably thousands every year.

 

[Santirx]

So, I had the dreaded coolant leak a few days ago. I went to Porsche Kansas City and bought the new coolant tube/vent line. Part number is 946-106-026-60. Retail price $112.57, minus a $16.80 PCA discount, so $95.77. One of the few parts they seem to keep in stock - the parts lady said they go through a lot of them.
Anyway, I showed my mechanic your posts and he basically did the same thing. It looks like he used a different connection to the valve on the driver’s side air filter housing. He charged me $285, which included the 1/4” fuel line, brass T-fitting and hose clamps. I have been driving it for 4 days and it runs perfectly. So, no need to pull the intake manifold and use the old, fragile,
poorly designed vent line. Porsche is a very fine company, but many aftermarket companies have proven that for things such as this, there is a better way. I am shocked that no aftermarket company has come up with a simplified part for this repair as they would sell probably thousands every year.

So, this mean that you didn’t have to remove the intake plenum or anything else? Your mechanic went around it and connected everything with hoses…. Clever.

 

[FRUNKenstein]

So, this mean that you didn’t have to remove the intake plenum or anything else? Your mechanic went around it and connected everything with hoses…. Clever.

Yes, that's what he did. But, it was dethbrd's idea, so we can't take credit for that. Apparently, according to dethbrd's post, he followed that hard line that Part Number 946-106-026-60 connects to at the firewall, and it runs a tortured route past the hottest parts of the engine to connect to that valve attached to the driver's side air filter housing. So, dethbrd's modification just runs the line from the front of the engine directly over to that valve on the driver's side air filter housing. As I said, it's working just fine for my 2017 GTS. I'll report back if it causes a problem.

 

[Santirx]

Thanks. I thought that plastic tubing connected from somewhere on the rear of the engine to somewhere on the front… so, what you are saying is that a tubing comes out of that bleed valve (attached to the air filter housing), goes to the rear of the engine, and from there, it is routed through the center of the engine to the front of the engine where is connected?

 

[FRUNKenstein]

Thanks. I thought that plastic tubing connected from somewhere on the rear of the engine to somewhere on the front… so, what you are saying is that a tubing comes out of that vent valve (attached to the air filter housing), goes to the rear of the engine, and from there, it is routed through the center of the engine to the front of the engine where is connected?

If I understand @dethbrd 's post #181 in this thread, that's correct. I personally didn't follow the line from the back of the engine to the valve on the air filter housing. Maybe @dethbrd will chime in.

 

[dethbrd]

Yes, thats correct.

 

[Santirx]

Thanks for the clarification. It was not as evident for me by just reading @dethbrd post, peharps I read it too fast or made assumptions with the photo. But when I saw @FRUNKenstein photos and saw the connection to the bleed valve, I said “hmmm wait a minute”… hence why I’m asking the questions.

Gentlemen, this is a good find and a good solution. Quicker too, if you don’t have to remove the intake plenum and all the rest of that crap. This saves hours of work.

After 140K miles, my OEM tubing seems to be holding. Two weeks ago I had to remove the coolant to change the pump and thermostat, and pulled full vacuum in the system to refill with coolant. Held the vacuum for 5 minutes to check for infiltrations and it held it very well. So, my tubing is still fine. But I may do this preventively because I feel is a not a matter of if, is a matter of when.

Thanks!