[G3ARH3AD]

My 2017 GTS is at 93,000 miles, and it appears this "hose" just blew today. Coolant all over the street, and I had to get flatbedded home. I'm in Central florida, I do a ton of DIY, but just not sure I want to tackle this myself.

Also - what is the dealer and indy charge for that project in your area?

 

[engin_ear]

I don’t know if there’s any benefit in doing it proactively. It doesn’t just fail catastrophically, causing engine damage; it just starts leaking. I would buy the parts proactively, in order to get the best price on them, and to make sure they’re readily available for when it does need to be done.
That’s just my point of view.

I disagree. Mine just failed catastrophically, broke off clean. Car was fine one minute, and lost all its coolant the next, in the time it took me to wait in line to get coffee at the Dunkin drive through. Never smelled a whiff of antifreeze prior to that moment.

 

[G3ARH3AD]

I disagree. Mine just failed catastrophically, broke off clean. Car was fine one minute, and lost all its coolant the next, in the time it took me to wait in line to get coffee at the Dunkin drive through. Never smelled a whiff of antifreeze prior to that moment.

I disagree as well. I just had the old pipe in my hands and it was super brittle. No way I would choose to keep driving on that. It literally snapped in pieces when I removed it. It took very little pressure to break it. If it fails, I could be 5 minutes or 5 hours away from home. Failure is very likely to be catastrophic. The only way I would trust it is to have a fresh one with 50k or less miles on it. People have been seeing the failure at 40k miles. You can bet that I will change it again in 40k 👍🏼 ✨🚙✨

 

[engin_ear]

View attachment 230246

1 - Remove Bolts from Engine Wiring Harness, 2X, (Note. there is one on the Passenger side and one behind the Harness, towards the firewall). this will allow to lift the plastic wiring harness piece.
2 - Proceed to remove the Coolant Line from the Engine Cylinder Head and from the hose locate behind the wiring Harness.

View attachment 230246

1 - Remove Bolts from Engine Wiring Harness, 2X, (Note. there is one on the Passenger side and one behind the Harness, towards the firewall). this will allow to lift the plastic wiring harness piece.
2 - Proceed to remove the Coolant Line from the Engine Cylinder Head and from the hose locate behind the wiring Harness.

HELLLLLP!!!! I'm at the last step and cannot get the wiring harness loose. I removed one bolt on the left (passenger side) bottom of harness, but I cannot find any bolt holding it in from the back. There are a ton of wires and connectors back there and I don't want to screw anything up. Can anybody provide a clue??? Is there some sort of trick to get this out?

 

[G3ARH3AD]

Yes, Please check the videos I posted above. If you look at the rubber connector in the photo here, the bolt is about centered to that and buried straight down below and just behind it. I had to put a pad on the front radiator support and place my knees on the radiator area and get my whole body under the hood to be able to see straight down the back of the rubber connector. If you are able to PM me, we can talk on the phone or zoom.

 

[G3ARH3AD]

Pro tip - I lost an E10 socket getting that bolt out because all the wiring behind there made it difficult to extract my socket extension. Try using electrical tape or equivalent to secure the socket to your extension. Also - try to use 1/4" drive socket and extension because it is slimmer and will extract better.

 

[G3ARH3AD]

Actually - just watch the short video.

 

[G3ARH3AD]

The long video is too much.

 

[1973vw]

My guy, you're asking the real questions. Obviously another cheap plastic tube would just get brittle again eventually.

My wife just got a 2017 Macan S and it's losing coolant. I presume this hose is the issue. I've got an endoscope camera coming from Amazon to do some investigating. (If you don't have one, get one.. $30, change your life.)

If the original hose is THAT brittle to the point it practically disintegrates, why not run a rubber hose with clamps and a T-fitting? You wouldn't even need to follow the old hose's path.. or remove the old to begin with. Seems like with the breather cowling removed, you have line of sight to the front hose connections without removing the manifold.. that's all hinging on whether or not I can get to the rear hose connection, armed with an endoscope camera and 30 years of Volkswagen yoga contortion skills.

"Lastly, this might sound a bit improper on a Porsche forum, but I'll throw it out there anyway. Has anyone considered replacing the plastic tube with a regular old rubber hose and brass tee fitting? I had another non Porsche where the plastic wye cracked, so I replaced with regular rubber hoses and a brass tee fitting, and I'm sure it will outlast the rest of the plastic lines."

 

[G3ARH3AD]

My guy, you're asking the real questions. Obviously another cheap plastic tube would just get brittle again eventually.

My wife just got a 2017 Macan S and it's losing coolant. I presume this hose is the issue. I've got an endoscope camera coming from Amazon to do some investigating. (If you don't have one, get one.. $30, change your life.)

If the original hose is THAT brittle to the point it practically disintegrates, why not run a rubber hose with clamps and a T-fitting? You wouldn't even need to follow the old hose's path.. or remove the old to begin with. Seems like with the breather cowling removed, you have line of sight to the front hose connections without removing the manifold.. that's all hinging on whether or not I can get to the rear hose connection, armed with an endoscope camera and 30 years of Volkswagen yoga contortion skills.

"Lastly, this might sound a bit improper on a Porsche forum, but I'll throw it out there anyway. Has anyone considered replacing the plastic tube with a regular old rubber hose and brass tee fitting? I had another non Porsche where the plastic wye cracked, so I replaced with regular rubber hoses and a brass tee fitting, and I'm sure it will outlast the rest of the plastic lines."

I think it's unlikely you'll gain sufficient access without removing the intake manifold. The rubber hose and clamp solution sounds like a viable plan if you can reuse the fittings from the old pipe. If you go that path, please post pictures of your creation.

 

[1973vw]

I think it's unlikely you'll gain sufficient access without removing the intake manifold. The rubber hose and clamp solution sounds like a viable plan if you can reuse the fittings from the old pipe. If you go that path, please post pictures of your creation.

(I'm still waiting on my new endoscope that should be here tomorrow. It'll be an upgrade from the USB scope for my phone. I can't recommend them enough for these tedious jobs with blind nuts and bolts that we've gotta get to.)

So far, I'm only seeing a wet spot on the driver's side connector. I'll be doing a little more visual recon with the new cam to make sure I don't have a leaky water pump also.

With disconnecting the odd hose and connector, I'm 200% confident that I have an angle on the front two hose. It may take some ginger persuasion with extended needle nose pliers to seat the new ones in. As far as the 3rd rear most connection of the hose, it just looks like a nipple that feeds into a rubber hose. Is that correct? If so, I just need a step ladder to get to that. Looks like it'd be a matter of cutting the old nipple off, removing it, and inserting the new nipple attached to the new rubber hose.

I've already ordered the replacement tube to use the ends. It looks like I could route most of the hose & T-fitting right along either side of the intake manifold with no issue. There's plenty of options when you're not using a rigid tube.

It's not ideal, but I wouldn't miss a drop of sleep knowing the bulk of the old crackly line is under there.

If I determine that this is where my leak is, I will happily document everything I do for the sake of future Macan owners that are in this boat and don't want to tear the top of their engine off to replace an inferior part with another inferior part.

Is there anything I'm missing?

 

[Teddis]

I cannot belive that with all of the Amazing suppliers that we have on this board, @Jon@Flat6Motorsports , @RADHAUS , etc, someone has not designed a better replacement. I am pretty **** sure everyone on here would order one and place it in the trunk.....for that day it breaks....and gets towed.

"Oh dealer, please replace with the piece in the back.....thanks !" LOL
I would buy in a heartbeat !!!

 

[1973vw]

I'm with you. Generally, I trust the wisdom of German engineers, but someone phoned the design of this part in from the moon. Driving classic VWs every day for over half my life, I've learned to keep a toolbox full of random parts and materials to never be stranded.

This seems a super easy fix if I'm leaving the old tube minus the ends in place. Minimal hoses and connectors to label and paint mark. There's plenty of room to mount the new flexible rubber hose far enough away from the heads that you're not unnecessarily heating your coolant.

 

[Teddis]

I really hope someone posts "Under development" LOL

 

[oqjnLu@>@W]

silicone coolant hoses... How about one in silicone for this location?!? With so many Macans on the road they'd surely sell a bunch!

 

[Teddis]

silicone coolant hoses... How about one in silicone for this location?!? With so many Macans on the road they'd surely sell a bunch!

Would Silicon maybe have potential to fold ? Block ?

 

[oqjnLu@>@W]

fold - as in kink?

If it was a molded hose it doesn't seem as though that would be an issue.


I just searched around and have not yet found a site that lists this particular complicated pipe as available in silicone...

 

[rebaza]

quick question tho! what are the torque specs for bolts/screws needed to assemble everything back?? thanks a bunch

Great question. Would love to know as well. I changed my coolant T three weeks ago and the coolant is draining again. I hear a hissing sound from the left side of the T, wondering if the bolt is too loose. I am running out of coolant every three-four days.

I thought of replacing the water pump, thermostat, and serpentine belt as part of this "project".

 

[1973vw]

Alright. I replaced my line yesterday with my minimally invasive procedure. It was tedious, my back is sore, but instead of being out of $1200, I'm out maybe $150. The whole thing took maybe an hour under the hood and most of that was fidgeting with the rear most hose clamp.

Whether you choose to use my pioneering method or to make a day out of removing and unplugging the top half of your engine, I'd say using the ends from a new replacement part with a 1/4 rubber hose is far superior than the POS stock replacement tube (it must be made of recycled Windex bottles.)

I didn't unplug anything. Whatever the part I listed as 1 is held in by 3 T25 screws. You can set it aside to gain clear access to the rear portion of the coolant tube. If you're limber enough, you can climb up and see the rubber hose clamp on the rear side of the wiring harness. In my case, the tube was kinda cooked into the rubber hose, I cut the tube short enough to pull it and the rubber hose out enough to remove it. (The other nuclear option would be to just cut the rubber hose and put a new one on.)

2 is just your exhaust pressure sensor, I unbolted it for a little more access to the driver's side

3 the throttle body and accordion tube. You'll need a new gasket and some lube. With the throttle body aside, you have clear access to the front section of the vent tube. You can even pull most of the old vent tube out. I was able to remove 90% of mine. It was quite brittle.


I used about 2.5ft of 1/4 hose, 1 T-fitting, 6 clamps, the ends from a new vent tube, 1 new throttle body gasket and lube, some sealant.


I cut the hose to length as I was fitting it into the engine to ensure minimal slack to avoid the hose kinking later one. A side note, if you use the rubber hose method, there's no need to route it back under the wiring harness. You've got plenty of room to choose another path that's far away from heat. If for any reason you had to fix or revise it.. it would take 15-20 mins instead of 8 hours.

 

[1973vw]

You can take your time and cut the plastic tube off the fittings. Just be careful not to cut the o-ring.

This is your access to the rear portion on the vent tube when you remove the part that I listed as #1.