As you can see ...

I have an A/c controller that would not work in my 2002 because I have a CAN bus. How can I figure out if it will work in a 2001? Thanks in advance, TLC

If you were close enough to me I could connect my OBD2 bus/traffic monitor tool: Vehicle Spy 3; and tell you if the car had a CAN bus. (If it does it will be for the Komfort Bus. For the DME the bus is ISO-9141-2 or KWP 2000. Even my 2008 Cayman S didn't use CAN for the DME.)

You can look at the OBD2 connector and see which pin locations are occupied.

Looking at the OBD2 connector the upper left hand pin location is #1 and the pin locations increase from left to right: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 is in the upper right hand corner.

The lower left hand corner is #9 followed by 10, 11, 12, .., and 16 in the lower right hand corner.

Pin # 6 is the CAN (J-2284) HIGH while pin # 14 is the CAN (J-2284) LOW.

Pin #7 is the ISO 9141-2 K-Line while pin #15 is the ISO 9141-2 'L-Line. These pins are used by KWP2000 and there is no way to know which protocol is in use other than attempting the proper discovery in the right order.

Pin # 2 is the J1850 Bus + line while pin # 10 is the J1850 Bus - line. (I do not expect these to be present.)

Pin #4 is chassis ground, pin #5 is signal ground, and pin #16 is battery power. Pins #1, 3, 8, 9, 11, and 12 are "Vendor Option".

'course, you realize even if the CAN pin locations are occupied this is not a guarantee the car has a true CAN bus and even if it does have a true CAN bus this is not a guarantee the A/C system will work in the car.

OK what I gather is that it's hard to tell for sure. So, does anybody know if having the same part numbers on the two A/C modules means that both will work in the 2001 car? Thanks, Tom

Porsche started building the wiring harness to support CAN early.
Some 2001 and 2002 model year cars have the wiring in place, but it wasn't until 2003 that CAN BUS was implemented (very limited).
In model year 2006 with the Cayman is when CAN became dominant.
Happy Boxstering
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

An earlier A/C controller would not operate when installed in my '02. It was part number 986 653 101 00. What year cars will this A/C controller work in? Thanks, Tom

… is not a good number.
It may be stamped on the part, but it is most likely a sub-assembly number which Porsche doesn't make public.
There's no way of knowing if the part will work or not unless you try it.
How do you know the part is good? Was it working when it was removed?
The 2002 is not CAN bus.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

This was given to me by a mechanic and told it would in my '02 so I had the display fixed and when it did not work in my car I fixed my old unit and now I'm selling this one. What years of Boxsters will this unit work in? From the date I guess at least '97. Thanks, Tom

[i1134.photobucket.com]

… that unit is made by Hella for Porsche.
That part number is a production part number, not a replaceable part number.
No way to know by the part number unless you can inspect various model years and see when that number changed, but my guess is that it will work on model years '97, '98 and '99.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna