bet

I have been driving a borrowed Cayman S to determine if I think it would be a good daily driver for me. I have a question for you experienced Cayman owners. Even though the ambient temperature is quite warm, I noticed that the temperature gauge in the Cayman S is basically pegged at just slightly to the right of the 175 mark and doesn’t really seem to move at all, no matter what the driving conditions. I am not use to this because the 996's gauge will fluctuate in accordance to the actual temperature of the coolant (i.e. in stop and go traffic it will creep further up but then go down when you get moving for a while). Does the Cayman gauge function like the 996 (and I just haven’t gotten in a situation to cause the temperature to rise above the cooling capacity of the car) or is more of an “idiot” type gauge that doesn’t show the normal fluctuations of the coolant temp?

RaceCarDriver

I don't have a Cayman, but my 2002 996 C4S stays at 180 degrees regardless of driving conditions

busaganashi

Mine seems to rest right in the middle after about 2-3 minutes warm up. I've driven in temps from 70 to 97 degrees and for a prolonged drive of 700 miles at about 90-95. Didn't seem to move much if any and not like my 911 did.

Holger B

I read somewhere that a lot of the manufacturers are doing this now, only moves with extreme changes in temp (my E46 M3 was the same way, the gauge never varied). The thinking is that too many customers get nervous about it moving around a little and have it tested while under warranty only to have the dealer tell them nothing is wrong, wasting time & money for the dealers/car companies.

bet

I know most of the manufacturers did this, but I have to confess I liked the fact that Porsche did not. I liked the fact the temp gauge was sensitive enough that you could see the effect of the driving conditions on the car. However, after driving this Cayman S for a couple of days now under a lot of conditions with hot ambient temps and high humidity I have come to the conclusion that Porsche has joined this crowd. The sensitivity of the needle just does not exist once it hits 175 on the gauge.

David A

Just install a 3rd center radiator from Porsche.
I did on my 996 & it lowered my temp at the track and Miami traffic.

Jim Michaels

Hypothesis 1: Porsche has fixed the temp needle so it won't rise above 180, thus calming the driver.

Hypothesis 2: Porsche has fixed the engine cooling so the temp doesn't rise above 180; thus calming the driver.

Answers to the same question posted on caymanclub support Hyp. 2 rather than Hyp. 1. The needle on my coolant and fan-cooled CS stays at 175, even on track. Any evidence that it's actually hotter than that?

ringmeister

Don't laugh but BMW has been doing this since the E36. The water temp guage is built so that after warmup it sits dead center unless the car totally overheats then it will quickly jump into the red.

With the new BMWs they did away with the water temp guage altogether, might as well since they were useless anyway.

bet

While, I have no evidence that the temperature does not rise I have also not seen any real evidence that hypothesis #2 is correct and hypothesis #1 isn’t correct . Evidence that the gauge does not change during track activities or hot driving could be attributed to either hypothesis being correct and neither proves or disproves either one. Logically, I tend to think a combination of #1 and #2 are in the works. I don’t doubt the cooling capacity has been increased but I also think considering the methodology of utilizing fans/thermostats to regulate the temperature that Porsche has also desensitized the gauge not budge off the 175 mark.

andrew911

They should have kept it since at least it looks neater to have more gauges

Last summer by water pump went in my e39 BMW (540i)- the gauge immediately jumped to the red- I immediately turned the car off and turned the key to let the heater go on full blast. As with many cars, there is coolant circulation with the heater on... after about 30 seconds the gauge jumped from full red to dead center...obviously it's basically an idiot light in the BMWs whereby as soon as the water is out of acceptible temp range, it goes full red. Rather foolish.

Another thing BMW doesn't have (and I don't think the boxster/cayman have) is the oil temperature gauge- which tells when the engine is fully warmed up. Guess I'm old school- I like full gauges (thus I'm still an aircooled driver....)

Jim Michaels

Ringmeister: Who's laughing? I've tracked my E36 M3 also, and its temp needle always stayed in the middle position. I haven't tracked our Honda Pilot, but it's needle is always where it's supposed to be as well. What is this; sneaky revenge for WWII?

Holger B

There's an easy way to test this. A number of OBD II readers have data logging capability that allows you to monitor a number of sensors at the same time while driving. Hook up one of those and drive around under different conditions to get accurate readings and compare them to what the gauge is telling you. I bet the gauge is rigged.