Porsche 911 2004

• Recall 157620 [USA]: If the pin fails, it will cause separation of the strut from the vehicle, affecting vehicle control and increasing the risk of a crash.
  Ohlins usa, inc (ohlins) is recalling certain front struts, part number pos 5n20. These struts were sold as part of ohlins strut kits part number poz mn02, intended for installation on 1999-2005 porsche 911 carrera 4 and 4s (generation 996), and 2001-2006 porsche 911 turbo / turbo s (generation 996) and kit part number poz mn05, intended for installation on 2005-2012 porsche 911 carrera 4 and 4s (generation 997), and 2006-2013 porsche 911 turbo / turbo s (generation 997). The pin of the strut may experience excessive stress during maximum steering, possibly resulting breakage of the pin.
  ohlins will notify owners, and dealers will request the return of all unsold kits containing the subject part from dealer/distributor inventory for a full refund. All owners who purchased one of the kits (poz mn02 or poz mn05) will receive replacement front struts (pos 5n20 or pos 5n21 - these parts are interchangeable), along with new top mount interface solutions, free of charge. The recall began december 22, 2020. Owners may contact ohlins customer service at 1-800-336-9029.
  owners may also contact the national highway traffic safety administration vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.Safercar.Gov.

To ensure accuracy and for your safety, it is recommended to do a free VIN recall check here or here [USA] - UK - Canada.

Bulletins are notices put out by manufacturers in conjunction with the NHTSA to notify the public of manufacturing issues or changes.

• Rapid coolant loss investigation as of 20130426

  On april 26, 2013, the office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe13-009 to investigate 10 complaints alleging incidents of sudden coolant loss while traveling on public roadways in certain model year (my) 2001 through 2007 porsche 911 vehicles.The complaints alleged that pipe ends joined by epoxy to certain cooling system components may fail suddenly and separate, resulting in large volumes of coolant leakage.The investigation was opened to assess evidence of a design or manufacturing defect in the coolant pipe fittings and any related safety consequences. In response to odi’s information request letter, porsche identified a manufacturing quality issue with the supplier’s application of adhesive to coolant pipe fittings that resulted in elevated failure rates in approximately 6,800 early production 997 generation vehicles (my 2007 and early my 2008).Odi’s analysis of field data showed that the age-adjusted failure rate for these vehicles was approximately six times greater than my 2001 through 2005 996 generation vehicles and my 2008 through 2011 997 generation vehicles built after a process improvement for adhesive application was implemented by the supplier.Most of the leak complaints reviewed by odi did not appear to involve complete separation of the fittings and many were detected when the vehicle was parked.There were no crashes or injuries reported to be related to the alleged defect in any of the subject vehicles.Odi identified two allegations that coolant leakage resulted in loss of control incidents, but neither involved vehicles affected by the assembly process quality issue.A third loss of control allegation involving a vehicle built during the period affected by the supplier process concern is not counted since odi was unable to contact the owner to confirm the incident.See the full closing resume in the document file for pe13-009 for additional information about the subject cooling system and odi’s analysis of field data related to the alleged defect. A safety-related defect has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted.Accordingly, this investigation is closed.The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by nhtsa that a safety-related defect does not exist.The agency will monitor this issue and reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.
  

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Common OBD Error codes specific to this vehicle.

• B1096 [1] B1096

After 1 hour of slow 880-n highway stop and go driving in traffic, a large column of steam was observed coming from rear driver side of vehicle while exiting interstate. Immediately observed huge coolant puddle developing on freeway offramp, and alerts on dashboard gauges ("check coolant level"). Upon stopping the car it was observed one of the coolant hoses leading from the water pump had come loose. These are hose fittings which are epoxied into the aluminum water distribution system which come loose over time after the epoxy becomes brittle with age. The engine deposited its entire coolant system quantity rapidly onto the exit offramp of the highway which may potentially cause a crash. This is an extremely well documented issue affecting gt1 block engines made by porsche in the 996tt, 996 gt2, gt3, and 997 tt vehicles.

I was driving around a corner about 40 mph when the car suddenly spun around. I then saw steam coming from the engine. Upon further inspection there was coolant on the ground. One of the coolant fittings had come completely loose, and all the coolant had leaked out. The only real fix is to weld all the coolant fittings. There are 9 of them and the engine has to be removed to do the welding. It cost me $2500 to fix this defect. This is a safety issue as i was lucky i did not hit any one or any thing. Just pure luck. When you dump large quantities of slippery coolant on to the rear tires it is just a matter of time before someone is killed. This problem is so prevalent that most race tracks won't allow a 996 or 997 gt3, gt2 or turbo on the track until the coolant lines are fixed.

On very hot day, over 100 degrees f, after having just exited a freeway onto a city street, while accelerating from red light, a glued-in water coolant pipe/tube popped out from its cast housing, causing catastrophic loss of all cooling fluids which spilled onto the roadway, immediate increase in engine temperature from 185 to over 260 degrees f, and loss of power. Car needed to be towed to repair shop.

A coolant line fitting that is epoxied into the block became suddenly and completely disconnected. The coolant all flowed out of the leak nearly instantly. The pool of coolant created a hazard for following cars and the motor needed to be shut down immediately and the car towed to a service facility. *js

Went to streets of willow driving event. During 3rd run session i noticed steam coming from behind as i was taking a 180 degree turn. I immediately stopped the car when it was safe to do so and shut the engine off. Steam kept billowing and the car seems to have lost all it's coolant in a few seconds. 5(!) cars behind me all spun in the 180 degree turn because of this failure. Fortunately none of them crashed. After examination it turns out one of the coolant fittings that porsche glued into the motor block with epoxy had popped out. This appears to be a very common problem with all of these gt engines. Not only is this dangerous (every gt2/3 on the road is a ticking time bomb, street or track) but it is also costly to have it fixed properly. Needless to say i had my car towed to a shop that is very familiar with this problem to get it fixed right. The solution is to weld these fittings into the motor block. There are 8 of them and the engine needs to come out of the car, the fittings all removed and cleaned from the epoxy before they can be carefully welded back into place again. It is the only valid fix. I have a receipt showing $2750 to have this done. I feel this was my only course of action to make the car safe to drive again and i think porsche should recognize there is a problem there and reimburse owners that had this done and offer it under a recall to owners that still need to get this done. *tr

The m96 motor supplied with this vehicle line has had the following problems. Engine block leaks the block is porous. Resleeved cylinders were maker fix ,the sleeves moved causing engine destruction. A main crankshaft bearing was designed out. Allowing the crankshaft to move frt to back and with gravity causing a failure of the rear main seal could not fix if crank had moved more than a few degrees from orig spec.Primary problem ims( intermediate shaft) failure. Result, complete destruction of motor. No fix from manufacture. After market only supply. Over ten thousand after market repairs done.Conservative apx cost $,3000 i have much more evidence. *tr

My gt3 has cooling pipe on the engine external to the block. I have read this is a systemic issue with the engine used in gt3 and turbos (metzger motor). A fitting comes loose due to adhesive failure resulting i loss of all or most of the coolant fluid. The repair requires engine removal and repair of the fittings. There is some issue as to the proper or best repair approach. What is know is that the adhesive failure is almost sure to occur. I have been lucky as i have few miles on my vehicle and have not yet experienced this failure, but very concerned this will occur and the sudden loss of coolant fluid will most like result in a spinout or crash. Even if no accident were to result, i am out of normal warranty, this failure will set me back $1500-2000. I have followed reports of the numerous failures of these fittings on 6speedonline.Com. As i have not yet had a failure, i still want to register my concern should there be a nhtsa directed recall to porsche. *tr

I was driving at miller motorsports in tooele utah in drivers education event when my engine temperature gauge started to increase from 180 degrees up past 200 degrees. As the temperature gauge went to 250 degrees, a coolant failure light came on. I pulled off the track and shut down the car within 2 minutes of the failure light and i had to be towed off the miller motorsports track. I had lost all of my coolant from the car. The next morning (sunday) i took a rental car back to miller motorsports along with 9 gallons of distilled water. I poured 2 gallons of distilled water into the car, and then started it. About seven minutes later, water started spurting from an aluminum coolant line attachment that had come unglued. This aluminum attachment was in a place on the top of the engine that was readily determinable as the water was shooting straight up from where the fitting had come unglued and slipped off. I do not currently know whether i got the car stopped in time for the engine to be ok. I am afraid to drive it before i get all of the aluminum fittings reglued or welded. Because this happened on the top of the engine, the coolant did not create a situation that was a safety risk to me, but if it had been a different aluminum coolant attachment that let loose, i could have crashed at 115 mph due to coolant on the tires or someone behind me could have crashed. The miller motorsport personnel said they noticed a plume of steam at the end of the front straight. At the end of the front straight, i had slowed to 115 mph. I am the original purchaser of this car and did not think i was at risk for this type of safety issue on a car that is not driven in stop and go traffic. It also only has a little over 28,000 miles. *ln updated 1/8/2013 *js

The epoxy holding an aluminum elbow that connects a coolant hose to the water pump (i believe) let go, the elbow worked its way loose from the pump and emptied the coolant from the system out onto the road surface. I became aware of the problem when i noticed that the engine temperature needle had pegged at the high end of the gauge range, after which the engine temperature warning light came on. Prior thereto, the engine temperature gauge had been reading at normal levels and responding normally. I was able to stop without an accident, but i noticed after stopping that the right rear tire and wheel well were wet and slippery with coolant.

Summary: failure of coolant hoses during normal operation of vehicle, resulting in immediate flushing of all coolant onto road surface and into engine bay. Immediate engine shutdown required to prevent further damage. Observed risks include: panic situation to operator and passengers of vehicle; catastrophic engine failure due to overheating and consequent accident threat; loss of traction to vehicle and subsequent traffic due to high volume of coolant on road surface; vapor trail limiting visibility of subsequent traffic; roadside accident hazard affecting vehicle and subsequent traffic. Details: saturday, july 27, 2013, ~7:15pm et, nassau county ny - westbound on state route 24 - hempstead turnpike. Driving at approximately 45mph in 3rd gear, vehicle operator noticed a thick cloud of vapor emanating from the rear of the vehicle, over the engine compartment. Operator brought vehicle to a halt in the middle of the road, whereupon the odor of burning coolant was detected. Having been familiarized with reports of like vehicles being afflicted with these symptoms, operator immediately placed vehicle into reverse and backed vehicle off of route 24 and onto a side street, and turned off vehicle by removing the key. Operator observed the outside temperature to be approximately 75 degrees fahrenheit, and the vehicle's reported (remaining) coolant temperature to be approximately 190 degrees centigrade at the time of the incident. All other vehicle systems were functioning properly at the time of the incident. Vehicle has been regularly serviced and its engine, intake, and cooling systems are unmodified, factory specification. Operator has photographic evidence of the event and will provide to nhtsa and related parties upon lawful request. *tr

A coolant line came loose then i was driving the car. I was very lucky i did not spin in the coolant, and get in a serious accident. This is a very serious safety issue. The lines were originally "glued" in from the factory. This was a poor design and is a weakness of the car which could have been catastrophic in terms of destroying the engine, and getting in a serious accident. In order to properly address the design issue i was quoted over $3,000 to resolve the issue. This involves taking the engine out and welding the lines. I believe porsche should pay for the repair. *tr

Coolant pipes leaking after drive. *tr

The coolant fittings failed, almost causing an accident.. There was no oncoming traffic. *tr

Experienced sudden coolant loss while driving on public roadway. A bonded-in aluminum tube (spigot) on the coolant distribution manifold popped off, resulting in a massive, instant coolant loss. The coolant dumped all over the rear tire, causing the vehicle to go in to an uncontrollable skid, rendering the vehicle inoperable. Luckily myself, my passenger, and no one else was injured. My vehicle is currently at a porsche independent shop in seattle, wa where the engine is being removed from the vehicle to address this failed fitting as well as address all coolant line fittings to prevent future glue failures. The shop is welding all coolant fittings as it seems the factory glue is not sufficient at holding the aluminum tubes together. Total out of pocket cost to me is estimated to be more than $4500 for parts and labor. The following article written by a porsche tuner does a very good job of explaining the problem in detail: http://sharkwerks.Com/porsche/technical-articles/327-the-gt1-coolant-pipe-prevention-fix-on-gt1-block-gt3-gt2-turbo-cars.Html additional information ascertained from research and discussion with reputable porsche independent shops, race teams, race shops: in these engines, coolant/anti-freeze circulates through aluminum castings and rubber hoses. Hoses are clamped onto aluminum sleeves that are inserted into the bores of the castings and held in with adhesive. Problem: adhesive eventually fails, which allows the sleeves to "blow" out of the engine, resulting in a sudden loss and spillage of slippery coolant/anti-freeze onto the vehicle rear tires and road surface. This causes an immediate and dangerous loss of traction to any vehicle driving through the spill, including the one spilling the fluid. *tr

The coolant lines on this car have well known and documented failure problems. I am very concerned for my safety and the safety of my passengers and as such am going to have the repairs completed as a precautionary measure. With the failure rate of the coolant fittings on these cars, and the usually catastrophic results i do not feel safe driving this vehicle. I'm going to spend my own money to correct a problem that should have been fixed by porsche. *tr

I bought this car brand new from porsche and although it only has around 14,000 miles on it, i feel i must limit use of the car until it gets the glued coolant lines repaired. I have not had a failure yet but the risks of waiting until that happens are high and could easily go beyond the financial aspects and result in physical harm to myself, a passenger, or other motorists. The problem of catastrophic coolant line failure is well known with this model due to the use of glue rather than mechanical or welded connections. As an interim solution i plan to run the car with only water as the cooling liquid but due to winter freezing temperatures in my area, this will have to be undone in the fall. My biggest concern is that a coolant line failure on a public road and on a curve can lead to a multiple car accident for anyone following. *tr

Engine has press fit (and glued) couplings for coolant lines. When coupling fails, there is rapid coolant loss which is a toxic hazard as well as potentially dangerous to traffic. *tr

My 911 turbo suffered a coolant system failure, as has been well documented for this particular engine, the gt1 3.6 liter in the 2001-2007 turbo, gt2 and gt3. I was driving on the highway when i noticed smoke coming from the rear of the car. Upon pulling to a stop the car had dumped most of its coolant. It was flat-bedded to the dealer and the steel coolant pipe had pulled out of the aluminum water socket/cross over tube on the driver's side of the engine. They drained the cooling system, replaced the water socket and associated seals and filled and bled the cooling system. The failure results from the use of epoxy to attach the coolant pipe to the socket instead of a hard-threaded design like porsche uses on the race version of this engine. This failure will occur again in the future, as the repair uses the very same epoxy, at which time i am likely to be out of warranty and several thousand dollars. *tr

The coolant lines are glued in by factory to save costs. However the glue is failing and the coolant lines pop out and anti freeze is dumped everywhere causing an unsafe condition . Porsche is aware of their problem but doing mothing about recalling older cars to be repaired. I paid to repair my car independently but porsche owners are being encouraged to report this safery issue. *tr

Early coolant pipe leakage at one of the fittings. Unable to repair without engine removal. I chose to repair all coolant fittings at that time. *tr

I had pro-active repairs performed on my 2004 porsche gt3 coolant system due to known issue of coolant pipes separating from the engine. I had the repair performed because i was afraid of losing control of my vehicle (it is my daily driver) or causing a crash behind me. The repairs cost me $3900 + ca state tax (7.75%) for a total of: $4200+. *tr

Failure of factory glued in coolant fitting caused an instant dump of coolant onto the rear tires of the car causing loss of control and a spin. This is a well documented problem in all porsche gt3's and porsche turbo's and porsche refuses to identify the design flaw of having these fittings glued together. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 porsche 911 carrera 4s. The contact was driving 25 mph and tapped the brakes to disengage the cruise control but instead of the vehicle decelerating, the vehicle abnormally accelerated and crashed into a preceding vehicle. The airbag also failed to deploy. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnosis. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was 57,000. The vin was not available. Updated 8/2/12 *cn the consumer stated the vehicle was totaled. A technician downloaded the data from the vehicle's engine management system to determine the role of any vehicle equipment malfunction in the accident. Porsche of arlington, the dealer, delivered the downloaded data to porsche na, where the data is analyzed. Porsche stated that any documentation of porsche's investigation and analysis of the incident was proprietary. The consumer was given two citations for vehicle negligence and intends to contest them both. The consumer needs engine management system data to do so. Updated 08/06/2012 *js

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 porsche 911 carrera. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 mph, the engine stalled without warning. The vehicle was shifted into neutral and failed to restart after multiple attempts. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnostic testing, who informed the contact that the intermediate shaft (ims) failed, which caused the engine to stall. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 28,000. The vin was unavailable.

While participating in the one lap of america in 2012 i had a coolant pipe fitting (behind the alternator) come loose causing the car to dump all its antifreeze on the track. 3 cars behind me ran into the antifreeze and had off road excursions but luckily no damage occurred to any other vehicle. Upon further inspection of my vehicle after the incident i observed another coolant fitting to be on the verge of failure. These fittings are glued into the engine block and as the car ages the glue is failing to hold the fittings in place causing catastrophic cooling system failure. I subsequently had the engine removed and all of the failure prone fittings welded instead of glued to prevent this from happening again. *tr

The car was being driven when suddenly the coolant system failed and coolant spilled from under the engine causing my car to skid out of control. The coolant also posed a hazard to other cars on the road due to the extremely slippery nature of the liquid. The car had to be towed to an independent mechanic. The coolant lines had to be replaced and welded rather than the epoxy glue that was used in the original coolant fittings. Porsche dealerships would only use epoxy to seal the fittings which would only eventually lead to another failure.

While driving the car on track, a coolant fitting broke loose and dumped all the antifreeze down onto the track surface. A vehicle on track behind me ran over the antifreeze, lost control and skidded off the track. The driver of the other car wasn't injured and there didn't appear to be much damage to his car, except perhaps some scuffing of the paint on his front bumper. The fitting that came loose is one of 8 fittings that porsche glued into place when they originally built the engine of my 04 gt3. When the glue gets old it lets go, and that's what happened to me. I had to flat bed the car from the track to a repair shop, pay them to drop the engine, completely disassemble all the coolant manifolds that use these glued-in fittings, bring the manifolds to a welding shop, have the welding shop weld all the fittings into place, and then have my repair shop reassemble the entire engine and re-install in the car. This resulted in a considerable expense, and the loss of use of my car for a couple of months while this work was being performed, waiting on parts to arrive, etc. I have pictures of the fittings that had to be welded, while my engine was still in pieces during the repair process. *tr

Coolant lines came loose where they were glued to the motor. I have seen catastrophic failures, and did not want to have an accident. Had the motor removed, and repair shop said some of mine were loose and showed signs of leaking. Had all welded at an independent shop. Porsche would not fix unless there was a failure, and would only re-glue those that were loose. *tr

Traveling at a speed of 30 miles per hour at a low rpm, i heard a loud grinding noise underneath the car. Initially i thought road debris was caught underneath the car and i was dragging it along while driving. I quickly turned the car to the right off the road and turned the motor off. Underneath the vehicle i noticed all of the engine's oil spewing out from the bottom of the engine. I contacted my insurance company and arranged for a tow vehicle. I thought an object struck the undercarriage of my car. The car was inspected by my insurance company and determined to be a complete engine failure. No evidence of a road hazard perforating the engine was seen. Since i filed this letter i have learned that my engine suffered an intermediate shaft failure. This is a defect in the m96 porsche engines (1999-2009). This defect occurs in water cooled porsche engines. Porsche motor company denies responsibility in these vehicles but recognizes that engine failure do occur. I have accurate records with the cost of the repair. How can an automobile company recognize that a defect exists but will not issue or be responsible for repairs? Thank you for your help. Updated 09/12/11

This is in response to my awareness of nhtsa pe13-009. I am the third owner of a 2004 porsche gt3 that i use primarily for track driving days and occasionally for street use. When i purchased the car in 2010, i was aware of many reports from owners of similar cars that had experienced sudden coolant loss from any of eight glued-in tube-like aluminum fittings to which coolant hoses are attached. The reports described the catastrophic effects of coolant loss, primarily on the track, that in some cases resulted in loss of control to the affected car and/or loss of control to cars following that car. A number of crashes were reported. These reports are contained in various online forums, including rennlist.Com. Because i was concerned about the possibility of this failure occurring to my car, i prophylactically had my engine removed and all eight coolant pipes welded into the aluminum manifolds that they had originally been glued into. I did this at a cost of $2500. I think it would be prudent for porsche cars north america to recognize the issue created by this poor design and correct it by recalling cars that have not been repaired, and reimbursing owners, like me, who took it upon themselves to correct the problem before there were any consequences. It is interesting to note that various similar-engined factory race cars made by porsche during that era, including the 2001 gt3 rs that i own, used a completely different (and more robust) threaded means of attaching these coolant fittings to the coolant manifold. *tr

Porsche gt1 engine press fit coupling for coolant lines. When coupling fails, there is rapid coolant loss which is a toxic hazard as well as potentially dangerous to traffic. Also, without coolant the engine is in jeopardy of overheating. *tr

Catastrophic engine failure of 2004 porsche 911 4s w/o warning. Well documented early version of model 996 intermediate shaft failure requiring complete engine replacement. Known product defect subsequently corrected in later versions. No notification by manufacturer or distributor to consumers. Hazardous and costly major product defect. *tr

At a driver education event in kent, wa, a porsche turbo had a failure in the coolant fittings that caused the car to dump all of its coolant on the pavement. I was behind the car in a porsche gt3 and upon driving over the coolant lost traction and totaled my car. The speed of the turbo at the time of failure was approx 90 mph, the car continued to accelerate down the straight-away after the failure but stopped after realizing the car was smoking. This is a common issue with the 996 series, more commonly in the gt3 than the turbo. This is well documented in forums such as rennlist.Com. Http://forums.Rennlist.Com/rennforums/showthread.Php?T=679777&referrerid=108168. I have heard of a pca chapter that has required that cars on the track run with water wetter or fix this issue with getting the fittings welded. Given the number of incidents and the damage to cars experiencing this failure and the cars around them, something must be done to address this. Especially since turbos and gt3s are purpose built cars for track enthusiasts. In gt3 documentation, it states that daily driving will actually cause the service intervals to increase. It is built for the track, it should survive being driven on the track without such failures. *tr

Driving in a high performance driving event on a hot day going around a fast right hand turn and felt the car being a little loose then noticed the on board computer flashing low coolant. I slowed down and pulled in to a safe place to check the motor and saw a coolant j shaped press fitting completely popped out and dumping mass amounts of slippery coolant on the engine and rear tires. I popped the fitting back in and safety wired it so hopefully it will not come back out. Replaced coolant fluid with new and burped the system. *tr

Pressed fittings for the cooling system failed dumping coolant on the rear tires causing the car to crash. The replacement part failed the same way three weeks later.

Previous owner stated that coolant lines disconnected due to failure of the fittings. Coolant was spilled all over the road behind him. Another driver barely missed the coolant but there could have been a major accident. Porsche fixed the problem under warranty, but the fittings were not welded as the fix recommends, merely re-glued. I'm afraid this will happen again. *tr

Driving on freeway when heard a weird noise from the back of the car and a message in red came up on the instrument cluster, lost power to engine, pulled over and oil leaking from engine. Engine completely destroyed due to ims failure. Engine was replaced with re-manufactured engine by dealer. *kb

The contact owns a 2004, porsche, 911 carrera. The contact stated his engine had to be replace due to the intermitten shaft failure. Contact stated he was driving at 55mph when he started to press the accelerator pedal and the vehicle engine started to slow down and would not respond. Contact then started to exit of f the highway and doing so all the lights on the instrument panel started coming on. Contact drive the vehicle to the dealer and they stated the intermitten shaft failed and they will be repairing the vehicle. The failure mileage was 9,700

I purchased my 2004 porsche gt3 in may of 2009. It had just under 20,000 miles on it. In august, 2010, i was driving on track at texas motor speedway and one of the coolant fittings came loose from the engine. The epoxy that holds the press-fit coupler to one of the heat exchangers had lost its ability to retain the fitting and came disconnected. All of the engine coolant was lost in a single instance. [catastrophic coolant loss]. I had that fitting replaced by the porsche dealer in dallas under aftermarket warranty. I can provide info regarding the on this at your request, and i have some pictures of the offending part. I had a second (and separate) fitting fail in january 2011 at 35,000 while driving on track at motorsport ranch houston. They same symptoms were found - the press-fit coupling had come loose resulting in complete coolant loss. This was also repaired with a factory replacement part under aftermarket warranty at the porsche dealer in houston. I believe there are 8 known press-fit couplers on the gt1 engine block in the 996 and 997 model gt and turbo cars. Each of these is known to fail based on the press-fit coupler and poor design (use of epoxy on a high pressure component). I understand that this is a known problem on porsche gt/turbo cars and has been discussed on the internet (e.G. Rennlist) for many years. 25% of mine have failed, and almost every other gt driver i know has had at least one fail. *tr

Porsche gt1 engine press fit coolant coupling failure. High pressure coolant coupler fails causing rapid loss of all coolant. This is not only a toxic hazard, but a safety concern on the road. Further, loss of coolant jeopardizes engine life. The gt1 engine has 8 press fit couplings. So far, 2 different couplings have failed on my car. 1 on the heat exchanger, and 1 on the steering pump housing. *tr

Airbags failed to operate. *tr

While driving at a drivers education event at watkins glen race track, a coolant fitting came apart and out of its housing releasing about 3-4 gallons of coolant onto the track. Luckily no accident occurred. Since the car was still under warranty porsche agreed to cover the failure under good will and a new housing (same design) was installed by the local porsche dealer. However, in october, 2011 while driving at another drivers education event, the same fitting failed. This time 3 cars following me slid off the track due to the coolant with one crashing into another. One car was totaled and the other seriously damaged. *tr

The event happened in 2008. Purchased porsche gt 3 from porsche dealer in 2006. Accelerating onto a limited access highway from an entrance ramp the car made a violent fishtail movement in a counterclocwise direction causing a 180 deg. Spin. I tried to correct but no response and then applied brakes heavily but car continued its movement eventually hitting a concrete barrier in the right rear. The car had to be towed and eventually totaled by the insurance company. At the impact site i did notice fluid on the road and also back up the road. Since my wife was injured and needed to be taken to the hospital, i was more focused on tending to her but as i look back and also reading about the coolant problems this car is having i would not be surprised if this car had a discharge of cooling fluid. As a side note, i do hold a competition drivers license with the scca and have competed for over 30 years and have owned porsches for over 40 years. I presently own another 2004 gt 3 and very concerned about this problem. *tr ## vin failed ##

The above car has a factory water cooling system that involves aluminum piping that is epoxied into the block after approximately 24 months of use the epoxy fails and all the coolant is evacuated from the system all over the engine and the ground the motor could seize and the coolant on the road in that volume creates a dangerous situation for other drivers.The epoxy fix offered by porsche failed 3 times for me (twice more subsequently)until i had a shop weld the aluminum pipes to the block. *tr ## vin failed ##

Dt: the consumer stated that the 2004 porsche 911 carrera stalled while driving 10-20 mph. The vehicle has been having problem for over a year. The vehicle was taken to the dealership several times. The dealer could not find the cause of the problem. The dealer changed the spark plugs, but the code showed that cylinder six was faulty. The problem seemed to be intermittent. The dealer has had the vehicle for over ten months. The manufacturer has been contacted, and they put the vehicle in diagnostic testing, and the problem has not shown up with any explanation. The manufacturer has attempted to fix the vehicle. The problem was still unexplainable. *ak