Instrument Panel is Dead, Mostly

I drove my 2007 CS last weekend, hit 2,800 miles, put it away and haven't touched it in 5 days. This evening I was about to go out for a drive when, as pulling out of my driveway I noted the analog gauges on the instrument panel were dead. Everything else seems to be working including the trip computer, TPMS , etc. The digital speedometer reads "0" at any speed but the odometer still works. The panel is getting power because it illuminates with the headlights but none of the analog gauges work, so I have no functioning tach, speedo, gas or temp gauge. I drove a block then went back to the driveway to investigate. (Hey, the Borla drone helped here, I know that in 2nd gear when I hear the drone I'm doing around 25 mph ) I checked the fuses and the IP fuse was fine (B1, right? Same as accessory outlet which was powering my V1 fine). I do have the RemoteKey installed but it's worked fine for months. I've done no mods to the car recently. It has been warmer and more humid this week than recently if that might matter. Help, any suggestions before I head to a dealer to investigate? Thanks!

I've seen this happen now and again on some of the older Boxsters... try disconnecting your battery for about 5 minutes - that will re-boot everything. If that doesn't work, then take it into the dealer - the large plug that plugs the instrument panel into the dashboard may be loose, or not connected all the way. brad

Brad, thanks for the suggestion, I had considered that too. Unfortunately, I just tried that and no luck. Strangely, my main odometer dropped by 2 miles when I reattached the battery , from 2,801 to 2,799 (?!?) but the trip odometer didn't lose any mileage. It's odd, all of the dash warning lights come on normally at startup (including the low gas and high temp lights) and everything else seems to work. Just no analog indicators and the digital speedo reads zero. Oh well, off to the dealer I'll go. Unfortunately the service depts are all closed on weekends around here so I can't even schedule it until Monday at earliest. When your CS is your weekend toy in the northeast, each weekend is precious!

basch wrote: "When your CS is your weekend toy in the northeast, each weekend is precious!" I understand completely as I live in a region of the country that averages between 120 -160+ inches of snow. Please let us know what happened.

I can relate. I have a sense that many of us share a common bond that we are busy people who greatly value our time off. To see even a few hours of it, let alone a whole weekend lost.. hurts.

Battery issue I had the same problem that many people have posted about. I hadn't driven my 2006 CS in about 2 weeks. The battery didn't appear to be completely dead, but no start and all the warning lights came on. I jump started the car and took the car out. I only drove about one mile and the car would not go out of 1st gear. Manually or automatic. Warning light "Tiptronic emergency run" is showing. The gear positions on the display panel are blinking. I put the car back in the garage. I haven't seen this problem associated with the battery issues in any posts. Does anybody know of any easy fixes before trip to dealer ? Thanks !

I dropped it off at the local dealer after-hours last night. They looked at it today and have a new instrument cluster being FedExed to them for delivery tomorrow. They think it's some electronic gremlin and this will be the easiest way to find and hopefuly fix it, rather than trying to eliminate each possible wire or subsystem as the culprit. Fingers crossed!

Hmmm.... that sounds like where I live... Upstate NY?

Fixed....mostly Well, the FedEx package didn't go out as planned Tuesday night but it arrived from Atlanta today at the dealership and they replaced my instrument panel under warranty. They said that fixed the issue, so I arranged for an after-hours pick-up (they locked the key I left them in the car and I used the second key for the first time ever to open it). They didn't have time to write up my work before closing for the day so will be mailing it to me. No charge, but I can't yet tell specifically what was done or what PN's were replaced. The odometer read 2801 now, 3 miles less than when I dropped it off. I assumed the dealer just programmed in the old (or similar) mileage to the new gauge? Or is it stored in some other computer? More strangeness: When I turned it on, the low-gas warning light was on, the gauge was on empty and a red exclamation mark was lit up inside the tach. The message center said something along the lines of "consider range". I thought this was odd as I had filled it up about 40 miles before leaving the car with the dealer. Since the dealer was already closed and with possible paranoid visions of techs taking a Ferris Bueller-style test drive before they reset the odometer, I drove across the street to fill up. It took 2.5 gallons before it was full, so no tank-emptying joyrides at least unless they added more gas, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt as they are a Porsche dealership and have frequent access to much more interesting cars than mine. But I now had a new and different gauge issue... Knowing my tank was now full, I figured I'd just use it over the weekend and take it back in next week if necessary. Slowly, over the next 5 miles home, the gauge crept up, eventually hitting 7/8 before dropping back down to ~3/4 full. The trip computer distance-to-empty increased along with the tank level. Is any of this "normal"? Has anyone heard of this before? Any suggestions? I'll call the dealer tomorrow for their thoughts, too, as I assume they have replaced more IPs than mine. And why does my German car suddenly think it's British?

For the sake of completeness, in case anyone else encounters this issue, I thought I'd mention that I called the dealer and they said they could recalibrate the gas gauge again if needed after replacing the cluster. Instead, I then took off for 2 weeks of vacation. Finally this weekend I ran through most of my last tank of gas. I then filled it up again and the gauge now measures full, so I assume something just needed time to calibrate itself. All is well again in my Cayman world.

How does one get to this plug ? I am driving stealth instruments for about a week now! 98 boxster . Kiarchi