450knotOffice

Guys, my wife and I bought her a base model Cayman last month and it's been great. However, one thing that's been bothering us is the fact that her overhead interior lights don't seem to work as the manual states and as my 996's overhead lights do. The result is almost total darkness at night when she gets in the car, unless she reaches up in the dark and flips the switch on.

Here's the situation. The switches are three position. The center position is supposed to be the automatic position, meaning that the interior lights are off unless the door is opened etc. They are supposed to dim out automatically within two minutes or when the car is started. The other two positions are Off and On. Interestingly, if her switches are in the center position (which should be auto), they turn on and remain on continuously, never going out - which basically means that the switches have to be placed in the off position at all times unless you want light.

What the heck? Was the base Cayman wired this way? The dealer didn't seem to think anything was wrong with the system. He seemed to think that the auto feature was an "option" on the base Cayman. That doesn't seem right. Heck, my 23 year old '84 Carrera has the same basic type of three position light system and it works as it should, meaning I open the door on a dark night and the interior lights come on.

Ideas? Is this really considered an "option" on the base Cayman? Or does something seem amiss to you guys?

I appreciate any input.

arenared

Is anything else "goofed" up (like windows not one-touch up/down when they're supposed to)? In my case (a 986), I had a variety of weird problems including the interior lights. It turned out the country code was not configured.

450knotOffice

I haven't noticed any other strange electrical issues and I just checked the one-touch up/down feature of the windows and it works as advertised.

99firehawk

i have 2 base boxsters here that the center postion lights when you open the door and shuts off when you start or lock the car. doesnt mean theres something wrong with yours but thats how thses 2 work

450knotOffice

I talked to Mark at Hergesheimer today and he said that more than likely there are some settings that aren't set right in the "computer" than runs such things. His shop is an authorized Porsche repair facility but he says he doesn't have the right machine or computer or some such thing needed to get in there to check and change the settings for the Cayman...yet. So he recommended a friend of his who's one of the service managers over at Porsche Newport Beach where we bought the car. I called the guy and left a message and he just called back and confirmed that the situation isn't right. I'll be bringing the car in to have him fix it asap, hopefully tomorrow.