Air Tempurature Display under speedo...

[CJ_Boxster]

What is the production start date for 97 boxes that have an OBC?

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

I have a 97 as well and it depends on if your car was an early production model or a late production model. Mine was one of the first off the assembly line and there is no temp sensor in the front bumper. One must have a temp sensor to get the reading.

You can turn this feature on by asking your dealer to enable the OBC (On Board Computer). if you hook a switch up to your dash, you can also get other things on that part of the display such as miles per gallon, miles until empty, etc.

http://www.whiteson.org/boxster/mods/obc/

[Tool Pants]

The pictures in the link are of me and Dan when we did 6 OBC retrofits at the same time at Bruce's house. They were taken years ago and I do it a bit differently now.

The OBC is in the instrument cluster.

The very early cars did not have the temp sensor in the grill. There is just a rubber plug. If you turn on the OBC on a car without the sensor then what you see is - - - (three dashes). No temp display because there is no sensor.

A few years ago I retrofitted the sensor on a December 1996. We also have a local November 1996 that does not have the sensor. My late January 1997 has the sensor. So I think cars made prior to January 1997 do not have the sensor.

But, and there is always a but. An early car without the sensor might have had one put in early in it's life. Somehow this sensor also has something to do with the a/c. Back when the 1997s were new Peter Smith had a customer with an a/c problem. PCNA told him to retrofit the sensor.

On the December 1996 Peter turned on the OBC and all we saw was - - -. About a week later we put the sensor in while the bumper cover was being replaced. As soon as I hooked up the sensor we saw the temp. We did not install the stalk or switch for the other OBC features, as the owner just wanted the temp display.

You need to look at your car and see if it has the sensor in the grill. If you do then you just need to have the OBC turned on with a PST2/PIWIS.

[CJ_Boxster]

I think i seen it whiel washing my car a week ago, does it look like a small black cyclindar shaped peice of plastic that might be molded into the passenger front grille?

Originally Posted by Tool Pants

The pictures in the link are of me and Dan when we did 6 OBC retrofits at the same time at Bruce's house. They were taken years ago and I do it a bit differently now.

The OBC is in the instrument cluster.

The very early cars did not have the temp sensor in the grill. There is just a rubber plug. If you turn on the OBC on a car without the sensor then what you see is - - - (three dashes). No temp display because there is no sensor.

A few years ago I retrofitted the sensor on a December 1996. We also have a local November 1996 that does not have the sensor. My late January 1997 has the sensor. So I think cars made prior to January 1997 do not have the sensor.

But, and there is always a but. An early car without the sensor might have had one put in early in it's life. Somehow this sensor also has something to do with the a/c. Back when the 1997s were new Peter Smith had a customer with an a/c problem. PCNA told him to retrofit the sensor.

On the December 1996 Peter turned on the OBC and all we saw was - - -. About a week later we put the sensor in while the bumper cover was being replaced. As soon as I hooked up the sensor we saw the temp. We did not install the stalk or switch for the other OBC features, as the owner just wanted the temp display.

You need to look at your car and see if it has the sensor in the grill. If you do then you just need to have the OBC turned on with a PST2/PIWIS.

[RandallNeighbour]

Originally Posted by CJ_Boxster

What is the production start date for 97 boxes that have an OBC?

Like ToolPants said above, all boxsters have OBC. But cars built before Jan 1997 (like mine) did not have an outside temp sensor in the front bumper, which is why my outside temp reads: ---

I turned it off after I found this out because it just pissed me off. There isn't even a wire leading to the bumper so I can wire one up. I think my boxster must have been one of the very first ones off the assembly line... which answers a lot of my questions about the car's reliability!

Ah, to do it all over again and look at build dates, etc.!

[Tool Pants]

I forgot your money pit did not have the sensor. What month is it?

As Randall said, if you do not have the sensor then you just do not go out and buy one and plug it in. There is nothing to plug it into.