Coolant tank replacement on a Boxster

[trogdor]

Hello folks. I'm new to the site but lurk at a few others trying to learn what I can about my 2000 Boxster S. So far its been trouble-free other than a CPO warranty covered RMS replacement right after I bought it last year.

I just got the 30k service done at HBL Tyson's and the car appears to be perfect except for the slightly smelly trunk with its leaking coolant tank! Of course this is not covered under the warranty and HBL wants 900 bucks to replace it. The mechanic who worked on my car said there is about 5 hours labor involved.

I've done some searches and found that Sunset will sell the tank for 164 plus 10 bucks for the new -01 cap for it. I understand it also needs the screw-type hose clamps. I've read a few places where guys have done the work themselves in 3 hours or less so I now wonder where a good shop to get this done might be. Curry's in Sterling is right around the corner and I've taken it there for tires in the past so I'll give them a call with my findings to see what they'd charge.

I'd love to do the work myself but I have a 10 day old baby boy here, no garage and the box is my daily driver so I'm just looking for shop recommendations and/or a reasonable charge estimate. Thanks.

[BlackTalon]

Curry's is good, as is IMA, ASG, RPM and a few others. Can't vouch for how much $ any of them would want for this, though. Your best bet is to call a couple of them and ask about turn-around time and cost.

[HoodPin]

We had to get ours replaced too, late last year. Extended warranty, too, wouldn't cover because it was considered to be the "expansion tank" which is a $25 item on 99% of the cars out there.

$900 sounds steep, but not criminal. We paid somewere around $750 or so at Tischer. Lots of labor involved is my understanding. Even the DIY'ers admit its not a simple job.

As suggested, you may want to check out some independents to compare price. This repair is pretty standard, so they won't need to guess how much diagnosis is involved; the task is to simply replace the coolant take.

[trogdor]

ok, just to update - I called Curry's in Sterling after the dealer's $900 quote and told them I found the tank for $165 and the cap for $10 and that DIYers had done the job in 3 hours.

They said they would charge 3 hours labor and 255 and 17 for the tank and cap. Since I couldn't wait to get this work done I just paid their price on the parts and ended up with a total bill of $615... not too bad to have a pro do it I guess - especially when they're 5 minutes from the house.


BTW - HBL wanted $1100 for the 30k service I recently had done! I negotiated a 300 dollar discount when I bought it from them last year and went during a period when they offered a 15% discount so got out of there for only $635 or so. I'll definitely shop around when the time comes again for this service.

Whew - now the Box is nearly perfect. It feels good to not have anything wrong and no service due for a long time.

[racer]

Whew - now the Box is nearly perfect. It feels good to not have anything wrong and no service due for a long time.

True.. now you can spend the money on Mods and entrance fees! :)

[markwemple]

Is it me or is it incredibly early for a part like this on a Porsche to go bad. The normal life expectancy on an Audi expansion tank is about 200k (I say about becausee I've never had one fail but I ususally get nervous at about 200k).

Is quality going downhill that fast?

[thomschoon]

Sadly the coolant tank is a common problem, when I started looking it poped up on all the BBS for something to look for, right after the RMS. The weird thing is that you think somebody would come up with a stronger replacement versus waiting for it to happen again, maybe as the cars age there will be more aftermarket parts.