Pics of 996 Carerra cluster into Boxster
 

Attached are pics of my 996 Carerra cluster installed in my Boxster S. Cluster came out of an 02 Carerra 2 and my car is an 02 Boxster S.

Also included a pic of my nav install.

Enjoy

Patrick

http://firstshotstudios.com/images/porsche/_DSC0072.jpg

http://firstshotstudios.com/images/porsche/_DSC0080.jpg

http://firstshotstudios.com/images/porsche/_DSC0081.jpg

Looks cool... but why did you install the cluster? Does everything work as it should..
speed calibration, temp and gas?

Very nice. Is it possible in an older car, like my '97?

Looks really nice. Good trimming job. Did you get it with the white faces or did you do that yourself? I'd miss the Boxster's font.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=4593

If I read the renntech thread right, a 99-01 C2 gauge cluster will work for a 97.

Well.... I had thought that everything was all fine and dandy, except now I am slightly concerned about the fuel quantity indication. When I swapped clusters, I had 3/4 of a tank in according to the factory 986 cluster. When I woke the car back up with the 996 cluster, it read 3/4 of a tank, so I thought all was well, which it should be as a Carerra 2 and a Boxster are the same car from the firewall forward. However, last night I went out for a drive with a couple other cars, and was showing 1/4 (as you can see in the pictures from yesterday) and was planning to get fuel en route somewhere. Well, on a very twisty road while showing 1/8 of a tank, the car ran dry. No low fuel indicator, and showing 1/8 of a tank. Added one gallon from a portable to get it started and drove 5 miles to a station and added 16.2 more (I realize the pumps arent THAT accurate but you get my point). I had thought these cars held around 15 gallons, but my point is merely that it was EMPTY.

So, the real question is: is this going to be a problem from here out, or did the sender and cluster need to establish the high and low points in the tank and from here out will be accurate? If anyone can shed some light on this I would really appreciate it.

As to the question of doing this on an older car, Porsche has a "new" and an "old" cluster design (identified by the color of the plugs on the back) and as long as you match your cluster type to your car's vintage it should be fine.

I wanted to update mine to gain the oil pressure guage, as well as have the more "professional" looking design without the Boxster's "pretty" font. Also worth noting, the newer clusters use the dot matrix display which is nice.

Patrick

Don't worry.... we all gave him sufficient hell for running out of gas, even though it really was no fault of his own ;)

Silly Porsche owners think they don't even need gas!

Ya..that was a fun night. Next time the car gets low on fuel I'm going to grab my fuel jug and go for a drive and see if it reads correctly at the lower end of the spectrum now that it has had a full empty and full fill cycle. At least this time I wont be stranded waiting for friends, but I'm hoping it will read correctly now and give me a low fuel light and not run empty showing 1/8 of a tank as it did the other day.

Patrick

Calibration is usually necessary after replacement of the fuel tank, fuel level sensor or instrument cluster. This requires removing and refilling with exactly12 liters of fuel. Then using a PST2 (or PIWIS tester) to re-calibrate the cluster.

You might try just filling the tank and disconnecting the battery and then reconnecting the battery which should give you a minor recalibration as it resets everything.

Thumper-

Exactly how do you get exactly 12 liters of fuel in the tank, short of draining it?

Should I first try filling the tank completey and re-setting the DME and cluster by removing the battery lead for a minute first?

This brings me to another question: is there a similar process to calibrate the oil level gauge? So far it appears accurate, as the previous readings from the 986 cluster and the 996 cluster agree, which also corresponds to the dipstick readings.

Patrick

I would try filling the tank and then resetting by disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it. It's definitely worth a try. I filled my tank in preparation of swapping out the cluster. I'm doing mine over the next couple of nights. Worst case, I'll take it in to have it recalibrated. I can just imagine what that would cost.

I don't think you can calibrate the oil pressure gauge. But I could be wrong and probably am.

Well, I'm going to fill it up and re-set the DME and cluster and see if its happy as the fuel level goes down... if all else fails, I suppose I'll have the stealership calibrate it.

As to the oil, I only asked if it was possible/ should be calibrated since my seems to be accurate still.

Patrick

If you have to have the stealership calibrate your fuel gauge, you might pose the question about the oil pressure gauge. They might be able to check to see if it accurate as well.

Nice looking gauges, Patrick. I also like your Eclipse unit. My top choices were that one (5510?) and the Pioneer I ended up going with.

the resistance values of the floats may be different causing incorrect readings.

Thanks for the compliments. The 5510 is great.

I'm going to try topping off the tank tomorrow and pulling the negative terminal to reset and we'll see if that does the trick. If not its off to the stealership.....

Patrick

Fuel topped up and DME/Cluster reset. We'll see if this fixes things....


Patrick

It will be great news if this works! Keep us posted.

The fuel gauge is calibrated via the PST as outlined in the factory manual. The oil level gauge isn't calibrated but there is a TSB about changing the sender on newer engines installed in older cars.

Todd

I spoke to my dealer today, and their take on the calibration process was that its a real pain in the you know what and that the only adjustment is a +/- 5% adjustment.

This does not sound at all correct to me, so if someone who knows can confirm or disconfirm this I would really appreciate it.

Patrick

Man, that doesn't sound right. If it only adjusted the reading +/- 5%, then it should read close enough now. Do you have another dealer nearby that you can go to? I'm lucky in that there are 3 large Porsche dealers and RUF within a short drive from my house.

I haven't checked my new cluster to see if the gauge is registering correctly yet, as I am also doing some other mods/hacks at the same time and have yet to reconnect the battery.

I'm not sure how the dealership deals with the "exactly 12 liters" part of the calibration. They must drain the tank and then add "exactly 12 liters". If my fuel gauge is off, I'm going to have RUF do the calibration as they never look at me funny and scratch their head when I ask about something. It's either "no problem", "yes sir" or they give me an explanation as to why it can't be done without making me feel stupid.

Thumper-

My thoughts exactly. If all you could account for was a plus or minus five perfect adjustment, theres no way it could be off as much as it is now, nor would you need a specific amount of fuel in the tank- the system would simply have a over/under calibration based in percent if that was the case.

That said, I'm nearly certain they simply dont know what they're talking about (which doesnt surprise me in the slightest). So I'm either going to talk directly to one of the tech's or go to another dealer in a neighboring town.

Trust me, I wish I lived near a RUF center.

Patrick

Cluster
 

Looks great...

Getting close to low fuel after DME/ cluster re-set at full tank....so we'll see how this goes.....

Patrick

Putting a 996 cluster in a Boxster is nothing new. Do not remember anyone having an isssue with the fuel gauge - unless they used a C4 cluster.

If the problem continues.

Is your 996 cluster new or used? If used, then can you rule out the fact it may have had a bad gauge and that is why it was sold.

How do you know for sure it came from a C2?

I realize this is nothing new, and I was hoping for no issues related to it. Aside from the fuel issue (basically my 996 cluster is about 1/8 tank optimistic) all is well. Gentleman I purchased it from pulled it out of his C2 when he did a full interior gut to turn it into a track car, I have not cross checked the part #, but have no reason to suspect it not being from a C2.

If the DME/custer re-set does not work, I will just have the dealer calibrate the fuel sender to the cluster and I have to think that should cure all issues.

Patrick

Just found a pic of the back of the cluster, it is attched. Can someone verify what series 996 this is from?

Part #: 996 641 980 76 70C

Pic attached

Best I can tell from the 996 parts manual is that it is for a '02+ Carrera 2. The only numbers that didn't match up was the 76. The parts manual does list a 996 641 981 76 70C, but it lists it as a Carrera 2 / 4 / 4S.

By the way, I was able to get my cluster in on Sunday. The first cluster I tried was fried, but the second one works great (it's nice to have a backup). Mine's a tiptronic and the tiptronic readout works great. I did the OBC hack at the same time and the dot matrix display is very cool. I filled my tank prior to the swap and the new cluster read full when I put the power to it. I also did the litronic retrofit yesterday.

Per my parts guy 996 641 980 76 70C is discontinued and replaced by 996 641 981 73 70C.

PET is screwed up for 996 641 981 73 70C. After the part number it lists 480 which is the option code for a 6 speed. But it does not list a second code. Such as 339 for a C4 and 338 for a C2.

So, I cannot confirm from the part number if it came from a C4 or C2. Just that it came from a manual transmission 996.

Thanks for the help guys. So it appears that this is a C2 cluster. I'm going to see if this reads correct as it gets low on fuel (after my DME/cluster reset), if not, off to the stealership we go to properly calibrate the cluster to the sender.

Patrick

What does DME stand for? :confused:

Dang, Im so amped to do this mod, Can anyone give me the Part Number of a dot matrix cluster that will work for a 1997 boxster, and from what year to what year's & models will fit incase i find some without the part number listed online. THANK IN ADVANCE!

Would this part number fit my 1997 boxster, 996 641 223 01 70C ?

The dot matrix cluster started in 2002. It will not work on a 1997.

The 996 clusters that work on a 1997 are 1999-2000 and I also believe 2001. The 996 cluster needs to be from a C2.

Okay, a few questions here:

1) What does DME stand for?
2) Can I get the C2 cluster for an 01 Boxster Base Model? If so does anyone have the right part number?
3) Do all of the other warrning lights and functions still work the same? Does this reset the odemeter?
4) Does the C2 have the light for our covertible tops? The one that stays on until it's closed all the way. Spoiler light?
:cheers:

DME is the german term for ECU, i.e. engine computer (well more than just engine in modern cars but you know what I mean).

As far as doing the cluster swap for the "Older" generation clusters, it will have to be from a C2 up to 01. These used light bulbs instead of LEDs for the idiot lights, so you will likely have to put a bulb in for the convertible and spoiler lights. All the warnings, etc will work properly then. You will have the mileage from the new cluster, as that is where the data is stored.

Patrick

Sounds kind of risky with the milage thing. If you sell your car later on, how does the person buying it know the real milage? Did you have to have it reprogramed to the correct milage, or did you leave it with the new milage on the odometer. I would not want to show a false odometer reading and with one that shows more than is actually on the car.

And how did you get white face gauges? I only see black ones for sale. Did you get a later model one that came this way or did you switch them out?

Still no answer?!
 

Sounds kind of risky with the milage thing. If you sell your car later on, how does the person buying it know the real milage? Did you have to have it reprogramed to the correct milage, or did you leave it with the new milage on the odometer. I would not want to show a false odometer reading and with one that shows more than is actually on the car. It's also illigal to change you odometer reading on a car that you are selling. Not that you selling yours. Just something to think about.

And how did you get white face gauges? I only see C2 black ones for sale. Did you get a later model one that came this way or did you switch them out?

The white faced gauges are factory, but rather rare from my understanding. As to the mileage, I had mine re-coded to match my old cluster before I put it in.

Patrick

How much does re-coding cost? And did you also need to buy the outside trim piece for the extra 2 gauges? Looks like a different shape from the factory 986 one.