Car struggles to turn over when left for a while
Discussion
All
My car is garaged, but is often not driven for 3-4 days. After that period when I start her up, its a real struggle to start, it struggles to turn over. It does after a little hesitation, but only just.
No problem after that once its warm.
I think it might be the battery ? the gauge sits between 12 & 14
The car is an 02 996 TT, just 3 years old, 19k miles.
My car is garaged, but is often not driven for 3-4 days. After that period when I start her up, its a real struggle to start, it struggles to turn over. It does after a little hesitation, but only just.
No problem after that once its warm.
I think it might be the battery ? the gauge sits between 12 & 14
The car is an 02 996 TT, just 3 years old, 19k miles.
The battery in Porsche are not known to be the best, and especially when a car is used infrequently. In this situation 3 years isn't a totally unbelievable battery life.
You might want to get a battery conditioner, something like this:
www.carcoon.com/charge.html
You might want to get a battery conditioner, something like this:
www.carcoon.com/charge.html
mrattley said:
Why not fit a battery isolator (cut-out) switch. These can be fitted to the -ve terminal in minutes and costs approx £10-15 to buy. Alternatively, go the whole hog and have one fitted on the dash.
Would that not also prevent power going to the alarm, tracker, central locking etc? If you disconnect the alarm from the battery without the key in the ignition it will sound (very loudly!!)
At the risk of sounding rude could I suggest that given your relative lack of mechanical knowledge, (the first posting was a bit of a give away), you get the car looked at by a reputable specialist / AFN.
Even something as simple as changing a battery can go wrong. I`ve seen ECU`s blown up by terminals being but on the wrong way round or connecting whilst ignition on. Keys locked in the car when the central locking closes, etc.
And then there is the reason the battery failed. It may be simply a 3 year old battery that has departed this mortal earth, or it could be a fault with the charging system / earthing, etc.
I make this posting not necessarily aimed specifically at you Roshambo, international man of mystery, but because it is a good example of the bad part of a forum like this. A little bit of shared knowledge can be a dangerous thing. And incidentally I have no involvement with the service side of Porsches so no, I`m not saying everyone has to rush to 911virgin.com towers because we are the only people who can mend Porsches we don`t fix them ! It`s merely an observation and aimed at making people realise the importance of getting even a simple job like changing a battery done properly.
There is no sustitute for experience and on the job knowledge !
Henry
Even something as simple as changing a battery can go wrong. I`ve seen ECU`s blown up by terminals being but on the wrong way round or connecting whilst ignition on. Keys locked in the car when the central locking closes, etc.
And then there is the reason the battery failed. It may be simply a 3 year old battery that has departed this mortal earth, or it could be a fault with the charging system / earthing, etc.
I make this posting not necessarily aimed specifically at you Roshambo, international man of mystery, but because it is a good example of the bad part of a forum like this. A little bit of shared knowledge can be a dangerous thing. And incidentally I have no involvement with the service side of Porsches so no, I`m not saying everyone has to rush to 911virgin.com towers because we are the only people who can mend Porsches we don`t fix them ! It`s merely an observation and aimed at making people realise the importance of getting even a simple job like changing a battery done properly.
There is no sustitute for experience and on the job knowledge !
Henry
Maybe someone could post a step by step guide to replacing the battery ?
Would help me as the car can't go anywhere, so I cant drop it into Porsche or a specialist - they would have to come to me.
I was going to follow the manual re changing the battery, though reading some more on here it seems alarms going off, keys locked in cars seems common, something the manual doesn't cover.
A duffers guide should take seconds to write & would be much appreciated.....
Ro.
Would help me as the car can't go anywhere, so I cant drop it into Porsche or a specialist - they would have to come to me.
I was going to follow the manual re changing the battery, though reading some more on here it seems alarms going off, keys locked in cars seems common, something the manual doesn't cover.
A duffers guide should take seconds to write & would be much appreciated.....
Ro.
Changing the battery is far from being a job requiring the help of an OPC in my opinion!!
General rules:
- make sure you know your radio code before disconnecting.
- switch off everything including ignition, lights, etc.
- leave the drivers door open but interior light switched off.
- disconnect the -ve terminal first (less risk of damage to electronics) followed by the positive one. Tie the connections back out of the way so that they don't re-touch the terminals and arc.
- fit new battery securely so it can't slide around. Don't overtighten clamp or you might crack the casing.
- connect positive terminal first, followed by -ve one. Don't fanny around making and breaking the circuit - stick the terminal on and tighten it up in one action.
- route battery overflow/vapour pipe to bulkhead if fitted.
When you start the car up the ECU does a reset process. As I recall, for my 993tt the instruction is to let the car idle for a few minutes while the brain talks to its extremities, remembers its name and its job. Bob's your uncle.
This is how I did it for my 993tt - can't see it would be very different for a water cooled beastie. Best of luck.
General rules:
- make sure you know your radio code before disconnecting.
- switch off everything including ignition, lights, etc.
- leave the drivers door open but interior light switched off.
- disconnect the -ve terminal first (less risk of damage to electronics) followed by the positive one. Tie the connections back out of the way so that they don't re-touch the terminals and arc.
- fit new battery securely so it can't slide around. Don't overtighten clamp or you might crack the casing.
- connect positive terminal first, followed by -ve one. Don't fanny around making and breaking the circuit - stick the terminal on and tighten it up in one action.
- route battery overflow/vapour pipe to bulkhead if fitted.
When you start the car up the ECU does a reset process. As I recall, for my 993tt the instruction is to let the car idle for a few minutes while the brain talks to its extremities, remembers its name and its job. Bob's your uncle.
This is how I did it for my 993tt - can't see it would be very different for a water cooled beastie. Best of luck.
Roshambo said:
I would have thought that the RAC are about as clued up at changing batteries on 996 Turbo's as I am.
Bloke from the AA who came to replace the battery in my Cerbera a couple of years ago did the whole job very efficiently, including making an improvised electro magnet to retrieve a bolt dropped into the engine bay. Sample size of one so it must be alright!
I guess the OPC know their stuff, but I wouldn't want to do that as it will just increase the current and hence the arcing at disconnection/reconnection. You might ring him back and check whether he meant just position 1 on the key, i.e. radio on and not too much else. Actually turning the ignition on fully before changing the battery sounds well dodgy to me. 
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