Engine compartment fan fault warning light. 987.1 BS

When the temp. reaches 175, the light flashes slowly and the warning "Engine compartment fan fault" is displayed in the screen. At the same time the engine compartment fan kicks on. Turning the engine off the fan runs, until the compartment cools. The coolant is at the max. level. Seems to me this is what is suppose to happen, minus the warning message. I scanned with my Foxwell and got error code P1157, surprise eng. compartment temp. sensor. I replaced that with a new sensor. And erased, the code. No change, next start up, the above repeats. BTW, searching on PP's forum, a poster there, said that the fan was suppose to pull out hot air from the compartment? My fan pulls air into the eng. compartment. Any ideas what my next move should be. (That error message is an automatic fail on my upcoming smog test in Calif.) Thanks, Art

I would be very surprised if any smog test tool would read what's a Porsche specific error code (any code > P1000 is a manufacturer specific code, and it can even be a manufacturer/model specific code.) OBD-II code readers may read them, but the chances of the code reader providing an accurate interpretation of the code is slim to none. You can try that with your Foxwell by using it in OBD-II mode. If no errors are reported in that mode - chances are high that the smog test facility isn't going to see them.

BTW - what temperature is reaching 175F? Coolant? The Foxwell can likely read the engine compartment air temperature (I know it can on my '09 2.9L) - it would be interesting to monitor that temperature to understand under what conditions the fan turns on. On my '09, I only hear that fan going under two conditions: (1) Ambient temps in excess of 90F, and crawling in traffic (2) After parking and shutting down the car, the fan may kick on if ambient is high. I assume due to the heat given off by the engine with no airflow around it. Generally, the engine compartment fan is rarely supposed to be on. When the car is moving there is a vacuum created by the air passing under the car that sucks air into the engine compartment vents on both sides of the car, and it then exits out the open bottom of the compartment behind the car. It's a clever design. It was improved on a bit on the Cayman and later model Boxsters with the channel recess leading to the intakes of the side vents.

I do not know what to do to fix it. It is very odd that my fan is doing what it is suppose to do, but I get the error / fault. As you know, Calif.'s smog rules are insane and make no sense what so ever. I have read in other forums, that the compartment fan, is also tied to air pollution by temperatures and time in use. It's job is not just to blow fresh air into the engine compartment. If can I can track down that article I'll note it here. I'll tomorrow run the OBD -II mode and see what that reports. Thank you for your help. Art

Mine used to run just like yours. This all began when I topped up a low coolant level. I never heard the compartment operating until this error message on my screen. The graph I stumbled across on the Foxwell showed and consistent 172.5 F compartment temp. I'll re look at it , it was a flat line graph. Perhaps, I did not do the C to F conversion correctly. Or I found a graph un related to this ? I am a Firefox rookie.Real rookie !!! This morning, I ran the car, with the AC on full blast, to force the issue, fairly soon after the dash gauge read 175, slow flashing light, compartment fan comes on and fault error in dash screen. Ambient temp 87 F degrees . Thank you, . -Art

I have not had the time to do any of these data/scan suggestions. I will work on them, I have for some time, had some medical issues that require attention, (chemo therapy). I appreciate very much your suggestions. One major point I failed to report, the temp gauge, NEVER , goes beyond 175 degrees. "Engine Compart Blower Failure"...seems like the CME, ?, does not know that the compartment fan works fine . Thanks, Art

Art - certainly no rush on our part.. and attend to your health first (I have been there, done that, it's no fun..) Just noodling here: I'm guessing your guess is likely correct. Perhaps the control unit senses the current the fan is drawing to determine if it's running correctly. Could it be running slow? (something interfering with the blades, that's happened to people) - running slow would up the current draw... which then might trigger that error message. Just a thought. Any excess noise when it's running would make me suspicious of this (although the thing is pretty deafening when it runs anyway..)

Schwinn; Thanks for the update. My foxwell is the pelican parts lesser model. But I think that only refers to the keyboard and screen size/color. I'll give this a try and let you know how it works out. Thanks, Art

Which one do you have, exactly? I believe the 510Elite is the same as this 530 , functionality-wise... but I'd love to hear confirmation either way.

The difference in the two is - 510 has IMHO a better button type (instead of the chicklet sort of buttons it has actual buttons) and I have heard the 510 had difficulty connecting to the Volvo computer bus, something that was fixed in hardware on the 530 . The software is the same, and likely the 510 will serve just fine on a 987.