[Williamvon]

Looking for 2017-2019 Cayman owners, manual transmission. I have a 2019, 2,000 miles and just ran into a problem. Backed the car out of the garage and here was a puddle of yellow brake fluid to the right of the left front wheel. Traced it to a loose return hose to the master clutch cylinder, coming off the brake fluid reservoir. Car was trucked from Prescott to Phoenix. Dealer said for some reason the hose came loose. They pushed it back on. That was the fix. I found a Porsche technical bulletin, SB-10055359-4799, WE04, titled "Replacing the Return Line for Clutch Master Cylinder" for 2013 Boxsters, and even though this bulletin stated that this issue was directed at brake fluid leaks at the hose connection to the reservoir, the dealer said the WE04 problem was not the same as mine. So to you other Cayman owners with manual trans, have you had this problem? Am I the only owner of a Cayman in the world where the hose came loose? There is no clamp on the hose, the male stub coming off the reservoir is ribbed, but the hose slides off and on quite easily. Quite frustrating. If the dealer cannot explain why it fell off, do I risk going more than 3-4 miles from home and getting stuck with no brake fluid or a clutch that will not operate? Thanks for any help!

 

[JazzCatGab]

I have a one-and-a-half-year old 2019 Cayman manual with about 6K miles on her and this is the first I've heard of this issue. Hopefully, you will never hear of it again.

 

[GTS18BGTS]

Bring it to a local dealer and let them sort it out. The car is still under warranty and this is a serious issue.

 

[Williamvon]

GTS18BGTS: The car was trucked to the dealer. He said he had no idea why the hose was loose and leaking, and just pushed it onto the reservoir. Probably took all of 15 seconds to do the "repair". Without knowing why it came loose, makes it a little concerning about if it will happen again. How far from home do I venture?

 

[TK718]

Return lines are low pressure (even the feed lines from the reservoir to the master cylinders are low pressure - it's the lines between the master and calipers/clutch slave that have high pressure threaded lines).

The bulletin you referenced, while for a faulty part on a different vehicle, shows that the return line for the previous gen is simple push on, pull off, as expected for a low-pressure line.

I fear this is a one of those fixes that would feel good if the dealer had secreted the car away for 2 hours. Sometimes it's hard to believe the minimal work required to fix a thing that's so critical, like brakes.

I'd drive it as hard as ever, and watch for a low fluid light. If that ever happens then I'd be concerned that the fitment of the line/reservoir was poor, and ask to have those parts replaced. But I bet you're fine from here on out.

 

[Williamvon]

Thanks TK718. A friend who is a former car mechanic advised putting a plastic zip tie around the hose to hold it in place at the reservoir attach point, avoiding any damage to the hose that a metal worm gear circle clamp might do. I am just not sure if that would void the warranty. I hope you are right in that this is some strange one-off and I will never see the problem again. Fingers crossed!

 

[GTS18BGTS]

GTS18BGTS: The car was trucked to the dealer. He said he had no idea why the hose was loose and leaking, and just pushed it onto the reservoir. Probably took all of 15 seconds to do the "repair". Without knowing why it came loose, makes it a little concerning about if it will happen again. How far from home do I venture?

Ah. I guess I misunderstood. I thought it was trucked to your location.