Am I worrying needlessly about engine temp?
 

A few points first. My perfect 2000 S with 33k blew up 10 years ago. Am still scarred. Baffling to my family, I bought a 2000 2.7 this year. Love this car. But worry as I sit in the horrid Bay Area traffic and watch the gauge rise into the 0 of the 180. Took it to Gavin’s Porsche in Oakland (most honest mechanic I’ve ever worked with). Checked out the cooling system and fans, all good. Just wondering tho, while I don’t track this car, could I beef up the cooling system by adding a lower temp thermostat and maybe a 3.2 S oil cooler?

Isn't the 0 of the 180 the normal running temperature? That's where my 2003 S is all the time. If you want more cooling you could also add the third radiator in the center up front, but you would need to have a center opening in your bumper cover.

When stuck in traffic, ever try running your heater on high? Regardless of how heat is disapated, via radiator or heater core, the result is the same....heat transfer from one environment (engine) to another (atmosphere). Granted, this works best with top down... ;)

Yes................

Let me share my personal experience.
First Porsche- 01 boxster S. 3.2L engine, with center radiator from factory. Installed low temp stat.
Second Porsche- 99 Boxster base. 2.5L engine. No 3rd rad, no low temp stat.
Current Porsche- 02 Carrera. 3.6L engine. No 3rd rad, no low temp stat.
Go figure out why the 3.2 comes with extra cooling and the larger 3.6 don’t.
Anyway, in all three cars, the needle was always between the 8 and the zero on normal driving, or right of the zero on traffic.
You have nothing to worry about.
BTW, a low temp stat is good to have, although it is not going to affect the operating temperature of your engine. It’s just going to start the cooling cycle sooner, preventing hot spot at the no1 cylinder, and will get the engine to operating temperature faster.

If you really want to provide additional cooling, install the S model center radiator.

Porsche Boxster Center Radiator Installation - 986 / 987 (1997-08) - Pelican Parts Technical Article

Ive done all the cooling mods, including oil cooler, low temp thermostat, and third radiator and the car still gets to 104c in heavy traffic. Runs about 97c on the highway regardless of temp. On the track, no issues, stays below 100c.

In my experience, the cars just run hot.

180 is the correct operating temp for these cars. I have every engine cooling trick and more on my Boxster and it runs at 180. On those days on track where it is 90+ degrees and 120+ track temp it hangs 180 - 195.

160 degree stat.
Third Radiator
Extra ducting to wheel well from front radiators (racing hack + down force)
997 Oil cooler
manual switches for cooling fans.
Oil cooler with 2 6" fans.

It runs 180

Thanks for response
 

Lot’s of good ideas here. I like the manual fan switches idea. But it seems the S oil cooler is the best bang for buck for simply keeping the engine temp down. Is it a simple bolt on proposition? Easily accessible from the top? Had an estimate of 2.5hrs labor to do install.

If someone is going to take 2.5 Hrs. to do this, they are factoring in a long nap into the process.

Your car is at normal operating temperature. Just drive it and enjoy it.

Bay area...low temp thermostat...needle is on the dash above "18" for 90%+ of the year or when the car is moving 20 mph or higher. Needle rises to the dash above the 0 when stuck in the commute moving less than 15 mph on days when the temp is 80 degrees or higher.

I like that biggest smile of the day. :cheers:

Normal for stop and go
Get a phone app with bluetooth ODBII sender
You can get better temp data how it relates to gauge. You also see temps the fans come on the drive speeds where temps start to go down

If your car starts to run hot, turn on the A/C...
 

Sounds counter productive, but it turns on the radiator cooling fan. I do that all the time when I drive in stop and go traffic. It works.

"Get a phone app with bluetooth ODBII sender" ... this! Worrying about anything from the inaccurate gauges is a waste of time. At least get a cheapo ELM OBD2 device from amazon ($10) and the Torque app for your phone. You'll then have all the error codes and fuel trims and other fun stuff to worry about as well!

Am I worrying needlessly about engine temp?
 

Considering the boiling point of Antifreeze is approximately 223 degrees F and the normal operating temperature of combustion engines is roughly the same, I'd say 180 to 190 degrees F is worrying over nothing. Even pure water requires 212 degrees F to boil.

If 180 actually was 180
When my needle climbs into the 0 then rhat typically means 200+ low speed fans come on around 212-215

not only it turns the fans on, it turns it on the high speed.

AC turns the fan on at low speed. I added a 3-position toggle switch to manually control the fan at low or high speed without AC. With the low temp thermosta and proactive cooling fan at my finger tip, I can keep the temp at indicated 180F or slightly below for most of driving cond. When I let it past '0' then flip the fan at high speed, it comes down to 180F in 3-4 minutes.