Flashing warning light above temp gauge
 

I'm actually camping right now. Been driving the car 01 S everyday. No problems, runs great, no leaks, etc

Today went to start the car its been sitting in the sun but its only like 80 degrees out and it rained last night and the "warning light" above the 250 degrees gauge comes on and flashes continuously on even though the car hasnt ran all day. The needle as all the way to the left under 100 the lowest number. No CEL light. I ran the car for 2-3 minutes then the CEL light came on, good thing I got the warranty. The needle never went past 100 but I only ran it for a few minutes.

The manual says that the coolant temperature is too high, or low on coolant. I just checked the coolant and its all the way to the top.

The book also says the engine compartment blower fan could be not working.

This light started flashing as soon as I started up the car. But last time we drove it was fine.

I checked all the radiators and air passages in the front and all are clear, also checked both intakes on the sides of the car and both are clear. I checked under the car nothing broken nothing appears to be leaking, we're parked in the grass, checked the grass nothing, the roads here are gravel roads, nothing I can see wrong at all.

I checked the oil, the engine was a little warm but mostly cold. The countdown made me wait 10 minutes not 30 seconds, and it came back 2 lines below full which is like 4-5 lines above low, which is fine I guess.

I've started the car like 3-4 times and it starts right up and seems to be running normal, but I havnt run it for more than 2 minutes, cause I'm scared lol

Has anybody else experienced this? There arnt any leaks under the car and its run fine everyday.

Also is it safe to drive it to the porsche dealer which is about 45 mins away from here mostly freeway?

Did I mention I'm really worried? :mad:

LOL when u first turn the ignition on but engine off, that light always turns on, then back off when the engine is started.

Oh and the oil level counter will make u wait like 10 minutes or 7:30 when u start the engine and then turn it off and then turn ignition back on so the oil can travel down to the bottom of the block.

Ok I checked the "engine compartment blower fan" fuse, theres actually 2 of them. The main one a 15A was not broken down the middle but had a black burn mark on the one side which means the fuse is bad. So I replaced it. But the warning light is still on and flashing and the CEL light still on.

If this was the whole problem, and all that it needed was the fuse, will the CEL light and warning light still flash until reset by the dealer?

Do you think there is more to it than this since the lights are still on?

CJ thanks for the reply. I'm real worried! lol

But no the warning light comes on and stays on and flashes the whole time. It continues to flash. I drove it for 2-3 minutes and it flashes the whole time, plus the CEL light is on.

hmmm well i would have it towed then, why risk it.

Anybody else?

I'm gonna be leaving here in an hour or two and I would like to take it home which is half way to the Porsche dealer about 20 mins away.

The "engine compartment blower fan" fuse was definately burnt on the one side which means the fuse was bad, that could be the whole problem but the warning light is still flashing and the CEL light is still on. Does it just need to be reset or something else?

Anybody?

Was the fuse just black on one end, or was the inside broken? That could have been sparked a while back.

When you leave the car running for 10 minutes how hot does the temp. make it? I had air in my cooling system and the light flashed as soon as it came on. Also, the temp. got hot fast while driving. I made it to a mechanic 5 minutes away and I was just making it to the 2/3 mark on the temp. gauge.

My culprit was a thermostat.

QUOTE=maxferran]Was the fuse just black on one end, or was the inside broken? That could have been sparked a while back.

When you leave the car running for 10 minutes how hot does the temp. make it? I had air in my cooling system and the light flashed as soon as it came on. Also, the temp. got hot fast while driving. I made it to a mechanic 5 minutes away and I was just making it to the 2/3 mark on the temp. gauge.

My culprit was a thermostat.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply.

The fuse was not broken on the inside, but was really burnt on the one side. I put in a new fuse anyways.

I have not run the car for 10 minutes only 2-3 mintes. I will drive the car here in about an hour for 20 minutes and try to get home, mostly 50+ mph zones which should keep the car cooler as the air coming into the front will be coming in at 50+ mph.

Hopefully I'll make it! Theres no way I can get a tow with a flat bed at this time of night and way out in the middle of no where.

i have thought about this and went through everything i can think of and i am stumped. Keep us up to date.

Thanks for helping Gary!

Ok I made it home! Thats about the only good news of the day. Bad bad day, cat had to goto the vet for brand new bladder problem (which my previous cat died from) , the porsche has this problem and its only a few weeks after I bought it, and my water heater for my house decided to blow today and its a 135 gallon (not cheap) :(

Anyways, I drove pretty much over 50mph the whole time and did some skillful passing to keep the air moving into the car. I learned this from a lincoln limo that the fans had gone out on the engine one time, and the whole time while driving at freeway speeds the engine would stay at normal operating temp, but as soon as you started to slow down they would creep up.

Also I put the car in neutral several times when I did have to slow down while coasting because of a few traffic lights or other cars, and always drove the car in top gear so the lowest rpms possible.

The temperature gauge on the car did not move at all. It stayed below 100 degrees the whole time. I'm guessing it needs a thermostat? I flew into the garage and turned it off ASAP. Then I took the engine cover off in about 60 seconds flat to help cool the engine off. I had no idea what the engine temperature was at but it didnt seem that hot and I drove with the top down and the heat on to help cool the car in case it was getting too hot.

The car drove normally, didnt smell anything funny, or hear any funny sounds. In fact I averaged 24 mpg.

When I pulled into the garage it did leak some coolant onto the ground. Not a whole lot but there was some on the ground. There was also a little bit in the driveway. There were also a few drops around the coolant cap in the rear trunk, but none on the carpet in the trunk. But when I took the coolant cap off in the trunk its almost at the top maybe 2 inches from the top, so its still really full.

Also I checked the burnt on one side fuse for the engine compartment fan, and even though it was burnt on one side the fuse tester lighted up green so I guess the fuse was still good, but I still replaced it with a new one.

I'm going to have my mechanic come to my house in the morning and run the code and see what it is, and see if it needs a thermostat, which I would think it does for sure. Can you get codes from a boxster with a regular car code reader? Why else would the engine temperature gauge not move at all?

If we can just swap a thermostat in ourselves that would save me $200 for a tow and $200 deducatable on my warranty through GE, and thermostats are like $10 probably. Does anybody know can you get a thermostat for a boxster at a local car parts store? Has anybody ever replaced these by hand / seen a guide? Dunno how easy it is or where it is yet. Anybody have a part number? Mine is a 01 S.

If that doesnt solve the problem then I'll be towing it to Porsche due to the fact that there was some coolant on the ground.

Usually, even if a problem is fixed, the CEL light will stay on for a few running cycle (a normal drive of the car)

P0117 Engine Temperature Sensor - Below Lower Limit . Was the code that came back. Anybody else experienced this? Could this also be a thermostat?

pteam,

Hope this helps :

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=9335&hl=P0117

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=5076&hl=P0117

Nick

Euh.. the Engine Temperature Sensor IS a thermostat? no ?

Sounds like just a broken wire to the temp sensor or a bad sensor. Once you find and fix the problem you still have to clear the error code to clear the CEL. I am more worried about coolant on the ground than a bad sensor. Are you sure it is coolant and not just AC condensate? Where is it coming from exactly?

OK well its gonna cost me at least $400 , $200 for the tow and my warranty $200 deductable.

Yes it was coolant on the ground, it looks like it came from the overflow tank, and there was a very small amount around the coolant cap in the trunk.

The local parts store have no parts at all for a porsche boxster, so I'd probably have to order it online if I wanted to and wait for those to get here. The Porsche dealer said that that code could be from the engine just reading or reading low coolant (which it doesnt have, its 2 inches from the top) or a slight overheat. So I'm just gonna have it towed to them and they can fix it. It could be a thermostat which could still be very likely or the actual engine temp sensor but neither I can get locally and would have to order and I could replace both and that might still not fix it.

We could have cleared the code ourselves, and ordered the parts but do I order a thermostat and and engine temp sensor then clear the code? Then it might still have not been the problem, so just gonna have it towed to the dealer.

P0117 Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit - Low Input (High Temp) A . A=MIL Triggered on first occurrence . Thats why the porsche dealer said it could have just been a high temperature reading. But the CEL came on after only running the car for 2 minutes at idle yesterday.

I wouldnt read too far into that code because it means exactly what it is saying....P0117 Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit - Low Input, your coolant temp sensor sends a signal to your gauge and the computer that tells them what the actually coolant temp is. It just simply went bad, There no way it'll be the thermostat, If the thermostat went bad you would either have really high temps or normal temps but would take slightly longer than normal to reach normal operating temps.

So your gauge being pinned at below 100 and the overheat light being lit and the P0117 all point to the coolant temp sensor. They go out eventually and they are probably easy to replace yourself depending where on the block it is screwed into.

CJ thanks for helping!

When the flatbed towtruck came I drove it on up and smoke came out of the exhaust I only had it running for like a minute. I know its normal for a little bit of smoke to come out of the exhaust but this was definately more than normal. It smelled kind of like oil, and very rich.

Well im not sure if the smoke and P-code are related but keep in mind that the coolant temp sensor signal is a factor used to aid the cars computer in deciding a/f ratio i believe... atleast all my other cars worked this way unless the boxer engine doesnt require or use that feature.

CJBoxster has hit nail on the head in my opinion. I have an Audi A4 that has gone through a couple temperature sender units each with a different symptom. Once the car would not start at all and another time the temperature guage would not come off the downscale stop but the car ran fine. I ordered a few on line just in case because the shipping cost more than the sensor. Sensors were about $7 on line and about $40 at the dealer. After having it towed to the dealer the first time I was embarassed when I found out how easy and cheap it was to do myself. I think it is accessible from under the engine compartment near cylinder #4 on a Boxster.