DEan Lewis

I have a 2003 Boxster with a CDR23 single CD player. No amp and nothing else.
When playing CD's it overheats and shuts down.
I bought a new Continental radio/CD and it did the same thing today.
Now I am thinking it is not the radio.
Seems like the compartment where the radio is shouldn't get that hot.
I am thinking the "flaps" the divert the air up or down aren't working properly or the climate control is out of whack.

Any help on this would be appreciated.

Thanks, Dean

Macster

Reads like you have probably ID'd the problem.

If the system is an auto climate system my expeirence wtih mine is even if the A/C isn't on and one turns the unit off by using the fan speed control to stop the fan then using the temperature control to select 72F the unit still attempts to get/keep the cabin temperature at 72F. Provided the cabin isn't hot from the car being out in the sun or the ambient temperature is too high the until does a pretty good job just adjusting how much hot air and cool air (from outside) to blend to keep the cabin temperature at 72F.

I'm thinking if the system has a air flap problem it would struggle or manifest signs of a struggle in trying to meet the 72F setting. It would blow cooler air or the fan speed would climb.

Or a more involved approach: Have you tried manually adjusting the temperature and vents to in a way test at least some of the climate control's operation?

I'm thinking just say selecting the center -- dash -- vents -- and then with the fan at its medium setting you should adjust the temperature control setting from cold all the way to hot and confirm by hand or better by a digital thermometer the air from the vent outlets sort of kind of agrees with the temperature control setting.

I only have documentation for a test to check proper A/C operation. I have nothing on checking the overall operation of the heater/AC system. The auto climate control system could perhaps provide some clues that all is not well if connected to a diagnostics computer. But for this you'd have to take the car in to a shop with the proper computer.

DEan Lewis

Thanks for the response.

I am going to have to try different setting on the climate control to check this out.

One thing that is interesting is that I never use the auto function, I just have it set for a temp (like 68?) and about 4 bar on the fan.

One other thing is that even when the temp is set on low (without the a/c on) not much "cool" air moves through the vents.

Wife is driving the car today, will have to check tomorrow.

Dean

DEan Lewis

Had a suggestion on another forum to add an amp.
Not a bad idea??
Makes some sense.

Radio can't provide enough power.
Interesting.

Dean

Macster

First thing I guess I'd check is if you turn the cabin vent fan off if what you suspect is going on is correct then the radio should work just fine since there will be no circulation of any air, heated or cool or any combination.

As an aside, you should give the auto temp feature a try. The auto climate heater/AC on my Boxster (and my Turbo) is a very nice option. I'm spoiled by how the heater/AC performs without dragging down the engine and no matter the outside air temperature, humidity.

The compressor is a variable displacement type and as the cooling demand drops off as the cabin gets to temperature the auto climate control reduces the compressor displacement to reduce the amount of cooling. Nice. I can no longer stand -- well, I hope I never have to stand -- the "old fashioned" A/C compressor that has a clutch that every so often when driving is being engaged then disengaged to control the amount of cooling.

Setting the thing to auto and the temp to 72F keeps me comfortable at 118F or -1F.

I don't get a lot of cool air through the vents unless the ambient air temperature is high and the car's been out in the sun. In this case the A/C vents blow quite a bit of cool air. But once the cabin temperature is brought down the A/C system back off on the cabin vent speed. I've driven through 118F temperature in the Turbo with the auto climate set to 72F and the cabin vent fan is not even at half its setting and other than the outside temperature display and the side window being hot to the touch I wouldn't have known if it was 118F. It could have been 78F or 28F.

DEan Lewis

One more thing I just remembered, I replaced the dash speakers with some Polk Audio DB's. I think 4" (can't recall).

I only have dash speakers.

I can't imagine they need that much more power over stock?

But I also can't say the unit shut down playing CD's before I upgraded the speakers.

Dean

Macster

It is possible the new speakers require lots more power and this accounts for the behavior you observe.

In fact, I like the explanation the heater air flap is routing air to the radio less and less the more I think about it.

This would require two failures: The failure of the flap and the failure of the heater enclosure/vent system to just happen to leak hot air at the right spot.

It has been decades since my audiophile phase but more powerful speakers require well, more power, to move their diaphragms. Something has to provide that power and an amp could certainly be required.

DEan Lewis

New update.

I went with running the auto climate control at 70. Nice feature, I have never used it.
Drove to my kids baseball game playing a CD. No problem.
Coming home the CD ended so I took it out.
Nice and cool.
I am thinking I got it solved and then about a mile later with only the radio playing it shuts down.

Only has two dash speakers. No doors or rears.
Did replace the dash ones with Pol Audio DB's but can't imagine they take that much power to drive.

Next thing I might try is putting the stock speakers back in and see what happens.

If it doesn't shut down, then it's buy an amp time.

This is starting to frustrate me.

Dean

DEan Lewis

I am going to add an amp or put back in the stock speakers this week.
Will let you know if anything changes.
Thanks, for all your help.
Dean