Hot engine?? Or is this normal.

Before you all shout at me -I do know we are having hot weather at the moment!! I was just wondering if everybody has this or is it just me? My car is a 98 C4 996 manual. Normal engine temp when driving is 80 (needle pointing straight up), obviously when I get into some traffic, the temp slowly creeps ups so that the needle is just level with the outside edge of the zero on 80, then the fans kick in and it seems to stay around that temp. The fans continue to kick in and out accordingly but the temp still appears higher than normal. Today it was somewhere in the region of 95 degrees after quite a while in traffic. Are the guages prone to being a bit innaccurate, or is this normal - any advice???? Also, does anyone know if the radiators on either side at the front are both for the engine, or one for the engine and one for the air con, or a mixture of both? Simon

Sounds about right.

Both rads are for the engine, they have secondary "rads" (heat exchangers) mounted against them for the air-con.

Mark, the 986S and above (996, etc) have 3 rads in the front, is the additional centre rad also for the engine?

Yup, however it's now just a big black blanking plate on the 987S and 997S manual cars. It is now only used on the tiptronics (I'm assuming it is still just coolant - it seems a long way to run oil lines?) Edit: Actually, I'm slightly wrong about the Air-con. It is the Condensers that are sandwiched against the rads, not the heat exchanger.

Guess what? Found a small plastic bag stuck inside the right front radiator inlet ducting. Will keep you posted if temp gets any better.

How do you gain access to the radiators and Aircon Heat exchangers, do you go in through the lining in the boot or from underneath? Thanks

You take the nosecone off usually. To periodically clean the rads Porsche recommend vacuuming (they even quote a Karcher vaccum cleaner attachment part number!) But to really do the job you need to take the nose off. There is an excellent how-to here (it shows a Boxster 2.5 but the same applies for the 996) [FONT=gadget"][size="+3"]Accessing the Boxster 2.5L Radiators[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]After two and a half years and 47,000 miles, my boxster began to tend to run hot, especially in Austin's extremely hot summer. I talked with John Gladwell, a master Porsche tech at The Porsche Store in Plano, Texas and he told me that a likely culprit was that my radiators were plugged up with debris.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Sure enough, he was right. You can't see this dirt until you pry the air conditioner heat exchanger off of the engine coolant radiator, but if your car is like mine it will have more dirt between them than you can imagine will fit. I recommend this procedure on an annual basis, or even at every 15,000 mile service.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]In the interest of full disclosure, my radiators had a lot of debris, but the real culprit turned out eventually to be a blown fuse for the fans behind the radiators. Whenever I turned on the AC, which wasn't often, the car would start to overheat. Once the fuse was replaced with a good fuse (and the proper size, I think the body shop swapped it during a crisis one time) I had no more problems with overheating. However, the radiators still get very plugged up.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Here's how to get at them.[/size] [FONT=gadget"]Tools: [blockquote] [FONT=gadget"]Jack [FONT=gadget"]Jack stands [FONT=gadget"]19mm socket for wheel bolts [FONT=gadget"]Key for security wheel bolt [FONT=gadget"]Metric sockets (10mm) [FONT=gadget"]Regular screwdriver [FONT=gadget"]Philips screwdriver [FONT=gadget"]Torx bit (T25) [FONT=gadget"]Torque wrench (97 ft-lb) to tighten wheel bolts [FONT=gadget"]Shop vac to clean out debris and other tools to clean out radiators [FONT=gadget"](Some have recommended a special tool that is used like a comb to clean the radiator) [/blockquote] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Parts: I recommend that you get spare plastic rivets from the dealership near you. I bought 20 for $7.20. You only need eight or so for both the front wheel well liners and they "should" be reuseable. I found that one or two were damaged on removal and they're cheap so I replaced them all. The ones I didn't damage were perfectly good and I'm keeping them in case I run out of the ones I bought. I suspect the extras will come in handy some day. The part number is 999-507-497-40.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Terminology: I call the heat exchanger for the air conditioner the Air Conditioner Heat Exchanger. I call the heat exchanger for the engine coolant the "Radiator." I hope it doesn't get too confusing.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]First, jack up the car onto jack stands or use a lift if you have one, and remove the front wheels. Gary Friedhoff has an excellent website detailing how to jack up your car .[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Removing the Wheel Well Liners.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]After getting your boxster off the ground and removing the front wheels, you should remove the front wheel well liners. You can probably get by with only disconnecting the front of the liners, but since you're already there and there's only a couple more fasteners, you might as well remove it all the way and inspect underneath them for general condition. There are three types of fasteners holding the liners on. There's three plastic nuts on metal studs, there are about four re-useable plastic rivets, and there are regular philips screws into anchor nuts.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]The three plastic nuts are easy to find. Use the 10mm socket to take them off. Easy.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Most of the plastic rivets are easy to spot. One is underneath the nose, as shown here.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Note how the plastic rivet works. To remove it you should pull the plunger out about an inch and then pull the entire rivet out.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]The screws are under the nose, at the forward edge of the wheel well and at the front part of the liner that attaches to the bumper skirt. My pictures didn't come out well, but you should see them easily under the nose.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Now pry out the liner. It's a bit awkward, but it comes out with some modest effort. Putting it back in is a bit trickier, be careful not to tear it or puncture it with the studs that hold the plastic nuts.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Now remove the side markers. There is a spring that you push in and the assembly pops off. See the owner's manual for more info. Twist the light bulb and pull the light out. Set the assembly off to the side and let the bulb dangle.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]There are two screws on each side at the side marker area. One is at the forward part where the side marker assembly attaches, the other is behind the side marker. Remove these screws.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Now you have to remove the plastic cover over the front trunk latch. This is held in place by four simple fasteners. You just rotate these 90 degrees and they come right off (pointed front to rear is fastened, right to left is unfastened). Then pull the cover off over the latch handle.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Under this cover are two screws, one on each side of the front of the trunk. Remove these screws.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Last, remove three screws under the center of the nose. The entire front bumper cover should easily slide off now. I recommend laying an old quilt on the garage floor to set it on so your paint doesn't get scratched.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Now you remove the scoops. There are two torx screws on the outside of the scoops. Use your T25 torx bits to remove them.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]There are two torx screws inside the inboard of the scoops.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]And there is one torx screw on the top outside of the inboard of the scoops. The scoops should come right off, except the right one. . .[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]. . . which you need to take the Outside Air Temperature Probe off of. This dismounts easily from the grill (it doesn't fit very tight in its mounting bracket).[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Then just pop the rubber grommet off the scoop and let it dangle.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]By now you should be seeing a lot of debris. Vacuum as much up as you can at this point.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Next you disconnect the air conditioner radiators. These are held in place by two torx screws on the inboard. . .[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]. . . and by a slot on the outboard. After removing the two inboard screws, carefully slide the heat exchanger inboard. Be careful with the aluminum tubing, which is connected to some hefty rubber hoses. Make sure the rubber bends, not the aluminum![/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Then pry the heat exchanger back.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Clean out the radiators as much as possible. I used a water hose at low pressure, which removed a lot of the grime on the bottom of the radiators, but there was still some dirt left.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]I didn't find a way to access the rear of the radiators. It looked too involved to remove them and I got most of the dirt out already.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Reassembly is the reverse order of disassembly. One thing I recommend is that you move the emergency trunk release cable to the tow hole. If your battery ever dies, you'll pay hell to get your trunk open. If you put this cable in the tow hole, you can simply access the tow hole, and then pull this cable to open the trunk so you can access your battery.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Use some tape to hold the slack cable, if there is any, from getting tangled on anything.[/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Now put it all together again! Good luck![/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size] [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"]Back to Skyler's Web Site [/size] ​ [FONT=gadget"][size="+1"] [/size]

Central radiator is also for the engine and is used on the TT, GT2 and GT3, plus the 996 tiptonics (as already mentioned). On other models it is a "styling" feature.

Yikes! Thanks for the post Mark. I'll get them checked at the next service I think[ ]

Lost me with the first picture !!

Top info!!!! Might be taking my car apart this weekend - then again, will probably let the dealer do it - I always get a bit worried when I've put the car back together and still have some "mystery parts" left over.

Dontcha just love that saying? [ ]

Oh yes! [ ] [:'(] Actually the only problem I actually had when I followed these instructions was the rubber "bellows" (shrouds?) that seal between the rad inlets in the bumper, and the rads themselves. I just could not get the bumper back on - something was stopping it sliding home. Eventually worked out it was the bellows fouling, a quick pop around the rad inlets pushing these to the outside edge with my fingers and it went on.[ ] It's pretty easy [ ] at most.