Re: While you're replacing the pump ,,,,

My car is a '99 with 68K .

So I'm driving down to the new Atlanta Motorsports Park on Sat to observe a Tracks Unlimited event to get a feel for things before our upcoming PCA DE weekend in July. Beautiful day, top down, making good time. Finally get off the main road and as I slow down I get a whiff of that unmistakably sickly sweet smell of antifreeze. Check the gauges. Not running hot. No idiot light flashing. "Must be someone else". Next stoplight and I smell it again. Check behind me as I take off and don't see where I'm dripping anything. Still figure I'm good. Get about 5 miles from the track and the low coolant light starts flashing. No problem - only down a tad when that happens. Pull in a store and get 2 jugs distilled water to refresh things after I get to the track and it cools down. I make it to the track and stop to sign the waivers. As I'm signing the kid at the gate says " Hey Mr. - You know you're leaking coolant" . Me - "Yeah - I know - little water pump issue". Him " More than a little".

Well I pull over into a parking spot , turn off the engine, open the door and peak underneath. Sure enough, I've got a waterfall coming down. Anyway - long story short, my very understanding wife drives the truck down to pick me up (can't wait to see what payback she'll want for doing that!). We manage to locate and rent a uhaul auto transporter and haul it home. I've got a new pump on order, read all the DIY's, have the car raised, panels off and feel confident I can get it off. I'm waiting for delivery of a UVIEW Airlift system to help with coolant replacement (what's the fun in DIY if you can't use the money saved to buy more "stuff').

Here's my question. The write-ups for using the airlift system seem to all talk about draining the coolant system before starting the process of creating a vacuum. . I know I'll get a lot of coolant to drain naturally taking off the pump, but I don't want to go to any heroics to drain it all. It's fresh coolant as it was replaced not too long ago when I had to replace the passenger side radiator. For those who have used this device before, will it function properly if I have a good bit of coolant still in the system? Any special suggestions? Operation seems pretty straightforward from what I've read.

Thanks

See my other pastime at www.gothamcityracing.net

.... Let the car drain through one or both of the front radiator hoses disconnected at the engine.
Because of the way our coolant system is laid out with very long coolant tubes going to and from the front radiators it's best to have them drained.
Otherwise you may end up with a trapped pocket of air in one of the radiators.
Happy Boxstering
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

But isn't that the purpose of the Airlift system. To pull all those air pockets out? Perhaps I'm just not fully understanding what that system is doing.

See my other pastime at www.gothamcityracing.net

The purpose of the system is to pull out all the air it can find, but if you have a trapped bubble of air in a radiator and the tubes are full, the Airlift System, sucking from the rear of the car cannot pull that pocket of air out through the liquid.
That's why you need to have all the tubes open so that all the air can be vacuumed out.
The tubes don't have to be dry, just all open, so drain as much as you can, then pull the vacuum and make sure the system holds the 24" of vacuum for at least 5 minutes, meaning that there are no leaks in the system, then proceed to refill with 50/50 mix of Coolant/Distilled water.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

Do you recommend the car be level when using the Air Lift system or should the car be "nose down" ala the burping method ?

See my other pastime at www.gothamcityracing.net

... I first remove the coolant drain plug.
Then I disconnect the out and in rubber hoses to the front radiators.
When they've stopped draining I raise the front of the car a few inches and that drains the rest.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

The airlift works by generating a vacuum in the system and letting the vacuum suck in the coolant. It only works with areas that are contiguously connected via air. If you don't drain the system you risk (as Pedro alludes) leaving air in the system.

You might want to consider putting in new coolant anyway but either way you can inspect the coolant when it comes out. Using the UView is quite easy once you figure out what connects to what.

and distilled water to refill the system. Be sure you use the same anti-freeze as before.

The shop system works with a partially empty cooling system. The low pressure created will allow all air pockets to vanish. The hoses can collapse and this will force the coolant to a slightly higher level in other areas but unless the system is full now none of the stuff will get into the air lift system. 'course, read the directions they might have a caution against using this on a partially empty cooling system.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com