A final word on Porsche coolant pipes
April 3, 2018
After some correspondence with a contributor on Rennlist.com, I decide to satisfy myself that I can tell if a Cayenne has had its coolant plastic coolant pipes replaced with the aluminum upgrade by looking from outside. I take the scope and snake its camera into the back of Ruby’s engine compartment with only a vague idea of what evidence I am looking for, but convinced of the outcome because we have already lifted the manifold and looked at the array of aluminum below.
Eventually I tell myself I see a satisfying flash of aluminum casting just below the elaborate black plastic casting of the intake manifold. The next step is to take this methodology into the engine bay of my son Charlie’s nearly identical car to determine if it has also had the upgrade.
This proves daunting. There is an aluminum casting in the correct location, but things generally look different. After much fussing Charlie and I conclude that on Ruby the tech left out a black plastic component which sits above the pipes running toward the back of the engine. Anyway, the upshot of it is that the gray Cayenne has also had the coolant pipe upgrade, we think.
I find it hard to believe that my surgeon can replace heart valves with a variation on this scope. My hat is off to him. I can hardly find the back end of an engine with mine.
BTW: I have an unused coolant-pipes-kit in the shop with shipping and Canadian sales tax already paid, if anyone in Eastern Ontario would like to take it off my hands at a bargain price.
the Walnut Diary 
April 3, 2018 at 6:17 am
Just wondering if you checked the glove box for service records before you started this project? ;>}. On the bright side, just write off the parts expense as labour you didn’t need to perform, huh?
April 3, 2018 at 8:03 am
The glove box didn’t contain service records. On the other hand, the shop which had maintained the car since 30,000 km seemed to know it very well. They claimed the same mechanic had done all of the work on it through both owners, servicing it every 5000 km, and he insisted upon $1200 worth of engine repairs (including an oil change) before he would let the owner sell it to Charlie. This mainly involved taking off the heads and fixing “o” rings which leak oil and then the head cover panels leak, as well. The Vietnamese businessman (gold merchant) who sold it to Charlie had bought it from another Vietnamese gold merchant, who had bought it new. Ruby’s replacement was a new Macon.
I just looked on Pelican Parts for spark plugs, Bosch #7413. Bosch price is $5.50 USD. Porsche price is $24.00 USD. This might be part of the reason independent garages servicing Porsches do well. I ordered them from UAP in Smiths Falls for $8.59 CDN each. That’s the best available buy by $0.20, and I have the spreadsheet to prove it.
The upside is that Ruby is back together, no worse the wear for my inept wrenching. That is a victory in itself.
November 10, 2018 at 3:57 pm
For “heads” above, please read “valve covers.” My bad.
Rod
April 3, 2018 at 12:52 pm
Rod, will you be doing any ice out reporting this Spring?
April 3, 2018 at 2:03 pm
No. I have switched to Porsche repair as a hobby. Similar inputs required.
April 3, 2018 at 2:59 pm
Well I’d like to thank you for the 9 years of posts and monitoring you provided for us, they will be missed. Your reporting was essential in any winter snowshoe we took to the island, and allowed us to have the boat launched and first trip over as soon as the ice broke. Cheers.
April 4, 2018 at 4:12 pm
John:
I have enjoyed our winter conversations and your photos which gave the whole thing perspective. Let me know if you plan an ice-out contest, eh?
Rod