Durametric Activations Page
 

In the durametric software under Engine Module and then Activations there are several items you can start and stop. For instance when I click Start on the Engine Compartment Purge Fan, it turns on, and then when I click Stop, it turns off.

On the same page there is "Fan". When I Start that I hear a relay click, but no fan turns on. When I click Stop, the relay clicks again.

Is this the radiator fan, and should it run when I click Start?

if i remember correctly, you should be able to activate both fans in the two levels (high and low).
another option is to go to the relay box, and jumper leg 30 to 87 at each relay.
there are 4 relays in total
right side fan low speed
right side fan high speed
left side fan low speed
left side fan high speed
the relays are located just above the fuse box on the driver side kick panel.
you can find more information about it in the Bentley book.
let me know if you need more info and ill shot you a schematic or a pic.
if your fan still doesn't work, it could be the fan resistor (very common).

I recently replaced my ALB because I had a pump failure code. Durametric offers an activation for the pump and when I tried it with the new (secondhand) pump all it did was click so I was as worried as you are now. It was supposed to run the pump. Long story short it all worked fine when the car was back together. Take Meirs advice. The Durametric is great but it may have limitations.

Before you do anything let me ask if you have ever had an issue with overheating in traffic? If not,why worry at all?

I'll give jumping the relay a try which is the most direct way to do it. The car came with the Bentley book as well as the 101 projects, so I'll use the Bentley book to locate the relays.

Only reason I'm curious is the car tends to always run in the 180*f - 200*f area when out and about. That seems a bit high to me, but I am in Vegas where it's normally 100-105 everyday. Perhaps I'm just over reacting. I did clean out some debris from the bumper area, but haven't taken the bumper off to get in better. I'll be replacing the bumper in the future so I'll do it then.

I just bought the car about 3 weeks ago so I have been going over different areas to see if anything needs fixing, or is starting to fail.

180 + is normal for the car, it would run better if you bought the 160 thermostat from LN engineering and stay a little cooler. I'm in Hot Florida so we have the same problem.

I'm in Socal and its been over 100F for weeks and the 3.2L never goes over 185F (needle straight up) even with full AC and idling in traffic.

Maybe like you suspect, if its going much past 190 then perhaps something is not being as efficient as it should be.

-Clogged radiator, sometimes plastic bags get sucked in.

-Sticking thermostat, time for a new one

-Water pump is failing. This is a known issue and an engine builder here says replace every 3 years to be safe. The plastic water pump impeller vanes have a habit of breaking as they get old and more brittle which then pumps less coolant and in the worst case scenario the broken pieces block coolant passages in the heads and could lead to overheating problems.

What model and year is yours?

Perhaps others with that MY could verify your reading as normal or not.

It's just a fact of living in the dessert. When it's 105-110 average, things get hot. I have head the fans turn on whille sitting at a light, so I know they are working.

As for the water pump, it was replaced about 6 months ago, so it's working fine.

Now that we're down in the upper 90's, it's running cooler as well.

Maybe my S is just better at being cool (pun Intended) due to the extra radiator.

I am assuming that yours is not an S model.

Maybe that is why those that track, retrofit a second radiator into their non S cars to keep the temps under better control.

So it sounds like you are just accepting that as normal?

Surely someone else out there in a hot climate with a non S model can tell us if their temp guage ever reads above 185F under any conditions.

Where are those Palm Springs Boxster drivers, they certainly get the same high temp climate as Vegas.