Do these issues need the rear subframe to be dropped?

[BareFacedGeek]

Hi All,

 

Bought my first Porsche, a 2007 Cayman S, a little under 2 months ago.  Have to say it is a wonderful thing and so much fun to drive.

 

Popped it in for a minor service last week at an independent Porsche specialist.  They have highlighted a few faults but described one as needing the rear subframe to be dropped to gain proper access.  They told me it would be about an 8 hour job to do this.  On the invoice, it has been listed under advisories as "RHF Coolant pipes are leaking".  It was described to me as a plastic pipe that links two radiators on either side of the car as "corroding" (is this a slang term for some sort of plastic degradation?).

 

So far, my googling has only shown that any radiators are located at the front of the car.  I also assume the "RHF" means "right hand front", so I'm a little confused over being told that the rear subframe need to be dropped.

 

Does anyone know if it does require a subframe to removed to change any parts of a Cayman's cooling system?  He did also mention that both the exhaust manifold and exhaust flange bolts are corroded.  Would that require the rear subframe to be dropped to change these items?

 

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Aaron]

Phil, any honest mechanic would put the car on the ramp and show you if requested.  I would start with that.

 

I believe that there are metallic flanges and clamps on some of the coolant hoses and they can corrode, causing small leaks.

[Woodhouse]

Hi Phil,

 

It's the front subframe that needs to be partially dropped to replace the aluminium coolant pipes that run cross ways under the steering rack.  There are flexible rubber hoses that connect to the radiators at one of their ends and to the aluminium cross pipes at their other ends .  The flexible hoses have metal quick release connectors at each end and these corrode in the aluminium pipes.

 

IMG_20170422_192916120 by DRH986, on Flickr

 

All 987 and 997 cars suffer from this; if buying one of these cars, this is one of the jobs that you are going to need to do sooner or later.  The parts (2 x aluminium pipes, 4 x flexible hoses and 2 x short rubber connectors) cost around £200 from Porsche.  I'd say that 8 hours is a bit high; I did this on axle stands in probably around 6 hours plus another hour or so cleaning up and painting some metal brackets.  It is a fiddly job and needs the front end of the subframe lowering around 150mm to gain access.  

 

On the other hand, the rusted exhaust studs are an utter pig of a job and took me about 10 hours on top of the 6 hours or so it took to replace the clutch, flywheel and rear crank seal.  I would not want to do that job again and when our other Cayman needed a clutch last year, I got our OPC to do it!  A local Porsche specialist quoted me 4 hours just to replace the studs.  

 

 

[Woodhouse]

The exhaust flange studs require the rear diagonal stiffeners and maybe a cross brace to be removed but the rear subframes (one on each side that the rear suspension attaches to) don't need to be touched.

[BareFacedGeek]

Many thanks for the detailed reply, that is very useful information.  I think it is definitely worth asking another specialist, or my local OPC, to give an estimate as well. 

[graham.reeds]

I had these done and it had only done 22k miles. 

 

Revolution Porsche do videos of any issues so you can clearly see what needs doing and that you aren't being ripped off.