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YOUR RESEARCHCoolant temperature sensor connector 2000 to 2002 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Reported or suspected cause
caused by a rodent, most likely
Reported cause
No successful repair reported for this finding.
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Coolant temperature sensor connector 2000 to 2002 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Leading evidence: 'caused by a rodent, most likely' (1 discussions report identifying this cause; no attributable repair resolution). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'caused by a rodent, most likely' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Check "stuff" out, i might have found the cause' (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.
Source reports, not a diagnosis or a success probability. Counts refer to discussions and can overlap.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome
1
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Coolant temperature sensor connector 2000 to 2002 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace boxster)
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Unsuccessful attempts
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Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
I actually never got around to getting mine fixed, since I used a digital display and pull from the GM temp sensor (I have a LS swapped Boxster).
Coolant temperature sensor connector 2000 to 2002 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace chassis is a 2000 boxster s, the engine
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
The chassis is a 2000 Boxster S, the engine was replaced with a low mileage unit from a 2002 Boxster S previous to my ownership.
Coolant temperature sensor connector 2000 to 2002 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace engine
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
I’m working through this exact same issue on my car that I replaced the engine on.
Coolant temperature sensor connector 2000 to 2002 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace water pump and thermostat
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Suggestion
Wish I had thought of not just verifying its 4 wires, but actually following them to their destination while I had everything unbuttoned last week to replace water pump and thermostat.
Coolant temperature sensor connector 2000 to 2002 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
20 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
986Forum: 1 discussions
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Generation: 20261026T144035Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
Hey guys,
I'm trying to find out if the coolant temperature sensor changed from year 2000 to 2002?
I bought a 2002 harness for my 2000 Boxster S V8 swap and I can't get the water temperature gauge to work. From the diagrams, it seems like the wiring was switched from 4 to 2 wire connector? Is this correct? Did the sensor change as well? Can I still make it work somehow with two wires?
Thanks!
Does anyone know where I can get a connector pigtail?
Hey John,
I think the issue is in the harness not the sensor (but im not sure tbh). The previous owner sold the harness and butchered some of the body wiring. Now I'm trying to piece it all together. Yours is a 2000 Boxster right? Mind checking what sensor you have and how many wires go to it? This is the sensor that I'm using, which has 2 pins, so I don't get how it can have 4 wires.
Vlad, I just came across the same problem installing a 2001 3.4 into my 2000 3.2 S.
The 3.4 and a 1999 2.5 both have the 4 prong coolant temp sensor but every 3.2 harness I looked at has the two prong sensor. Not sure what the extra wires are for
Just ran across this old thread as it is the only info on the net.
Rebuilding a 2000 Boxster S of mine in my shop that had an engine fire and had the same issue.
If you use the 2 wire sensor on a 4 wire DME you will get a coolant reading via OBD2 but not on the dash.
The fix is as follows:
If your car (read DME) is an original "4 wire" car then you need to use the 4 wire sensor and run them to the trunk area.
If you splice the two wire sensor in your dash will not read correctly as the 4 wire sensor spits out different ohms to the ECU vs the instrument cluster.
Hope this helps someone in another 8 years!
--Aaron
Thanks Aaron, this is great info! I actually never got around to getting mine fixed, since I used a digital display and pull from the GM temp sensor (I have a LS swapped Boxster). Will give this a go!
My temperature gauge stopped working, it simply wouldn't read any longer one morning. The red indicator seems to be working, it comes on with key on, goes out after start. The coolant level sensor system is working also.( slow blink with coolant level low) But the gauge reads nothing. It WAS working fine since the time I bought the car. The chassis is a 2000 Boxster S, the engine was replaced with a low mileage unit from a 2002 Boxster S previous to my ownership. The Coolant sensor inside the coolant jacket driver side engine front is a 4-prong unit, and so is the connector. I bought a coolant sensor specific to this car, but its a 2-prong sensor, so thats no good to me.
Has anyone had tihs experience, and if so, any tips on how to test the gauge itself would be much appreciated.
Tapping, yes. Harder tapping, Yes. Connector on temp sensor wiggling, Yes. Fuse, no. I presume that the temp gauge won't have its own fuse, and everything else works fine except the cruise control, and it's fuse is good. What Relay are you referring to?
Yucca Valley here, too. I use JT because most people know where that is, as opposed to YV.
Relay? Likely no relay. Threw it out there because I didn't check to see if we had one or not. Likely just one fuse for all the gauges.
I use 92262 in my sig because people know where is Palm Springs.
We'll connect sooner or later.
Just reporting my findings.
I edited my post.
If you "tap" a 2 wire sensor on an original 4 wire DME/instrument cluster car the instrument cluster temps won't display properly (reads very low)- the additional 2 wires on the 4 wire sensor output different ohms for the dash gauge.
I ended up having to use the 4 wire sensor and run 2 new wires. One is a ground, and the other has to go to the black XR2 connector in the trunk. I ran the ground to the trunk as well and tapped into the original ground source just to be safe.
--Aaron
Replaced 4-prong coolant temp sensor. No result.
So I poked around in the trunk last night checking "stuff" out, I might have found the cause for my malfunctioning coolant temperature gauge. Indeed there are 2 wires running into the forward facing trunk cavity. A brown wire and a blue/red wire, just hanging there outside any of the wire looms in the vicinity. Light tugging produced 2 app. 24in long wires, both cleanly severed from their bros in the engine bay. I suspect rodent damage. The wires would have been severed at the rear end of the engine near the trans, judging by the length that was left.
Wish I had thought of not just verifying its 4 wires, but actually following them to their destination while I had everything unbuttoned last week to replace water pump and thermostat.
I'll be really good at doing the top and carpet tango very soon, I fear.
I am reasonably sure that the wires belong to my temp gauge, not the (possessed by Satan himself) rodent.
Aaron,
I’m working through this exact same issue on my car that I replaced the engine on. Could you provide some more detail on how you connected onto the 4 pin temp sensor, got the two “original” wires to the 2 pin connector on the engine harness, and where/how the two “added” wires connect into the XR2 connector?
I’m competent enough with nuts and bolts to do the engine swap but electrical stuff is outside of my knowledge base. Thanks!
My issue was caused by a rodent, most likely. Found several pieces of blue/red wire and brown wire cleanly severed. No rotating components in the area of damage. ran a new 2-wire loom from temps sensor to trunk, connected there and voila! Gauge now works. This after replacing the 4-wire sensor and cleaning the connector with de-oxit.
I just finished swapping a replacement engine into my 2000 S and on start-up saw that the temperature gauge was not reacting. This thread seems to have the answer to my problem, I just have to get all the steps straight.
The original engine had a 4 pin temperature sensor and 4 pin connector. The replacement engine (which came from a 2001 S) had a 2 pin sensor and connector.
So I need a 4 pin sensor (have that from the old engine)
A 4 pin connector (I'll have to source that), connect the 2 wires from the 2 pin connector and add 2 other wires from the 4 pin connector to the trunk where 1 goes to ground and the other "has to go to the black XR2 connector in the trunk".
Can someone clarify which pins are which (on the 4 pin connector)?
This is a source reference. Confirm exact model applicability in the original material.
