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YOUR RESEARCHAm I running hot?
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Replace problem appeared
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The problem appeared to be something electrical as the fan motor was replaced and the replacement now blows as much as the other one.
Leading evidence: 'Replace problem appeared' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'last time i drove the car' (1 discussions; 0 report identifying it and 1 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Check fans' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
I still couldn't get the OBD tool to work but used the HVAC control hack and it showed 102C.
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Suspected cause · Original poster
To be fair it's also been about 10-15 degrees hotter than it was the last time I drove the car so I'm not sure if I am still within the norm or if I need to address an issue.
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last time i drove the car
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Suspected cause · Original poster
To be fair it's also been about 10-15 degrees hotter than it was the last time I drove the car so I'm not sure if I am still within the norm or if I need to address an issue.
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I just got the car back after getting the AOS replaced and noticed that it seems to be running a bit hotter than it was last month. To be fair it's also been about 10-15 degrees hotter than it was the last time I drove the car so I'm not sure if I am still within the norm or if I need to address an issue. Two pics of the temp gauge attached. I tried to connect my bluetooth OBDII scanner to my phone in order to get an exact temperature reading but it would not pair and I needed to go into the office. I'll try again at lunch.
I'm sure the gauges are none to accurate, but highest my C4S ever got was a gnat's knadger to the left of vertical and that would be at a stop after a hard run. Summer temps over here up to 50C (122f). If you consider the reading on the gauge, I believe it's still within limits.
Nope. It's fine. In the winter my car will go to the left side of the zero and never go above. In the summer, on a hot day, in traffic, it will go to the right edge of the 0 on the 180. Had it checked out twice and was told it was normal range.
Mine does the same. Here in the Houston Texas area, the temps are getting up in the mid 90s. My water temp rises up towards the line after 180 like yours does.
The dealership advisor says this is normal. I put RedLine water wetter in the coolant, but does not lower temps much.
Based on the gage face pics the temperature is ok.
The gage is really just an idiot light.
I use the one in my cars to know the engine is cold -- as if this wasn't obvious when I get into the car after it has sat unused for hours -- and that the engine is probably up to operating temperature provided the needle as been at or above the "180" mark for a while.
My Boxster's coolant gage needle is quite active sometimes getting about as far to the right of the 180 mark as your car's gage.
The Turbo's is less active.
Be sure both radiator fans come on when the engine gets hot enough and both are blowing about the same amount of air and the air feels about the same temperature.
Both of my cars have experienced a failed radiator fan and the temperature gage needle will climb a bit but even so nothing scary.
You should also arrange to get the car inspected for any signs of a water pump leak. I do not really think this is the case but now's the time to check this as the summer heat is close upon us. (Already been 105F here a week or two back.)
That seems a "tad" hot for mine.
I am in South Florida, I have one radiator fan on the blitz and even with temps and humidity in the high 90's mine will never crack 185.
If it reaches the outer edge of the zero, immediate engine destruction will occur. Relax, Im in SE Texas and thats just a little hotter than mine gets. Paranoid 996 owners.
Cleaning out the nasty stuff between the radiators and the condensers can also result in a decrease in operating temp. Even with the third radiator installed, the cleanout I did on Sunday made a perceptible difference.
yes. front bumper must come off. Its any easy job.
I cleaned my radiators (twice) and have a low temp thermostat and the readings have never changed.
I have driven the car a lot and I found that the outside temp plays more of a role in where the temp gauge lands.
I would say those readings are normal temps. I have just come back from a fast 15/20mile drive and the air temps in PA right now are 95F on my garden temp clock. I read my car temps just the same as yours moments ago as I arrived back in the garage.
I still couldn't get the OBD tool to work but used the HVAC control hack and it showed 102C. This was a bit cooler than the peak it hit while sitting in traffic and was with the arrow halfway through the 0 portion of the 180. 102 converts to 215.6F is that too hot or still within the range? At what point is the engine running too hot? 220?
My guess is that your low-speed cooling fans aren't coming on, likely due to a broken resistor. At operating temperature, test your fans as suggested earlier in the thread. Turning on the AC should activate both low speed fans. Your radiators may also have a lot of junk caught against them if they haven't been cleaned off recently.
I know that the water pump is not leaking. Coolant level is right where it should be on the expansion tank when cold. The water pump was done not that long ago and when I saw the car up on a lift yesterday there were no leaks of any kind.
How do I check the radiator fans and where is the potentially faulty relay to check?
It's almost never the relay. Normally, it's the resistor (there's one for each fan at the front) which cracks and prevents your fans from coming on at low speed.
Do some searching for the fan test procedure. There is a comprehensive one on Renntech.
By my observation with an OBD2 code reader/data viewer tool the fans in my 02 Boxster come on low speed at 212F and shut off at 205F. They switch to high speed if the coolant temp climbs to 216F.
You can't really go by the needle.
Anyhow, 215F is not hot. Not hot enough based on my experience to cause the fans to switch to high speed mode.
My Boxster's coolant temperature has been to 226F in 116F heat in southern AZ and heck even in my area pushing the car hard in the twisties on a cooler day (in the 90's) can get it that hot.
The time I was in AZ and noted the high coolant temperature when I returned home I talked to the SM at the dealer where I bought the car and he passed on the numbers to the factory (116F ambient temperature, 226F c coolant temperature (for hours at a time), and 136F intake air temperature) and the word from the factory was as long as no warning lights came on there was no problem.
And the factory was right. The car/engine has covered about a zillion miles since then with no apparent ill effects. (The odometer just turned over 280,000 miles the other day.)
Relax.
Check the fans. With the AC off drive around until the car is up to temperature. Back home in the driveway raise the RPMs to say 1500 and hold until you hear or a helper hears the fans come on. Have some way of viewing the actual coolant temperature in real time. That AC access trick for the early 996's is good enough.
When the fans come on note both fans come on and are blowing about the same amount of air and the air feels about the same temperature. This is important. The driver's side fan on my Turbo was running -- I could hear it -- but it was not blowing nearly as much air volume as the passenger side fan.
The problem appeared to be something electrical as the fan motor was replaced and the replacement now blows as much as the other one. (The tech reported no fan stage errors but the electrical load of the driver's side fan was out of spec.)
Let the RPMs drop to idle and let the fans continue to run until they shut off.
If the fans come on low speed at something around 212F and shut off at something around 205F I do not see any real need to try to test the high temperature fan turn on.
You can clean the radiator ducts out if you want, if they need it. The odds are very long any trash in there is affecting the engine's coolant temperature as the car has considerable excess cooling capacity. (Competition cars have run with just one radiator with no overheating problems.)
The benefit to cleaning out the ducts is this reduces the chances of a condenser or radiator being damaged from corrosion. For this reason alone, though, keeping the radiator ducts clean is worth the effort.
For those with a MY 99 and other earlier 996s, you can get a C reading of your coolant temp. using top and bottom buttons held down together on the center stack controlling HVAC operation. I routinely have the temp. displayed while I'm driving, summer and winter, and feel this is more accurate than the temp. gauge on the dash. Colder weather on the highway my centigrade temp. is at 88-90, in the summer, highway driving around 90-92 degrees C.
I did a check last night. Ambient temp around 22 degrees Celsius. Running temp around 87-90 degrees C with busy city driving in Tokyo aircon on. I have a tip so I do have an additional radiator.
I checked the odb2 reading against the gauge as it was warming up and it was spot on. Lack of marks make it hard to tell the exact temp. From the gauge but it's good enough.
My gauge shows very similar or a bit less when cruising at 80 on the f way. in HOT Fl. and less in cooler areas, or after some rain, or a bit higher when spiritrd in the twisties of the Carolinas. !!
For what it is worth, straight up on the needle is 92C according to my readout, or 197F. Hard to tell by the angle of the shot, but the needle is straight up.
it got all the way up to 102 C on the day that I made the post with the needle most of the way into the 0 of the 180, interesting how much of a difference traffic made even after I got out of the traffic and was able to drive steadily at 45-60 on the highway.
Mine has been to the 0 in 180 a couple of times when the weather has been near 100 and I've driven her hard and than been stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. I'm sure it's very normal and nothing to be worried about.
Please get gas you're almost on empty.
