My 993 dashboard just lit up like a xmas tree?

[Vinceg]

My 993 2s has been parked - in a garage - since last Oct. Garage is not heated so can be somewhat damp during the winter. When I parked her up last year all was fine and certainly no warning lights.
With the first of the decent weather last weekend I initiated my first drive of the year. On start up I have a whole raft of warning lights up plus the Speedo has stopped working. I did drive the car for a short while just in case of a damp/short circuit issue that I hoped might clear. No lights cleared. The car drove fine and apart from all those lights I noticed no difference in response. I’ll book into a local independent to investigate but ahead of this does anyone have an ideas, or similar experiences, that my indicate the root cause. The car has been maintained regardless throughout the last 5 years despite v low annual mileage of 1-2k pa. All fuses are good as far as I can tell.I have not attempted to pull and re-seat relays.
For the record I have the following flagging up:
Speedo – no reading; Low fuel indicator(Yellow); Low washer fluid(Yellow); Central warning light(red); Brad pad wear (red) ( pads all good); Handbrake (red), Oil pressure (red) – I run 5 bar at 3k revs on gauge; Brake pressure (yellow) – brakes a good; rear spoiler warning(yellow); engine fan belt(red)
I have 2 thoughts re cause:
A number of relays have corroded/poor contacts from an extended period in damp garage over the winter
Rodents have potentially attacked some aspect of the loom and I now have some random short circuits?
Any other thoughts or suggestions I could try/eliminate before I hand my wallet over to the professionals?

[g7jhp]

Could this my the 993's achilles heel..........coming to light (on your dashboard)?

[Soovy]

Vinceg said:

My 993 2s has been parked - in a garage - since last Oct. Garage is not heated so can be somewhat damp during the winter. When I parked her up last year all was fine and certainly no warning lights.
With the first of the decent weather last weekend I initiated my first drive of the year. On start up I have a whole raft of warning lights up plus the Speedo has stopped working. I did drive the car for a short while just in case of a damp/short circuit issue that I hoped might clear. No lights cleared. The car drove fine and apart from all those lights I noticed no difference in response. I’ll book into a local independent to investigate but ahead of this does anyone have an ideas, or similar experiences, that my indicate the root cause. The car has been maintained regardless throughout the last 5 years despite v low annual mileage of 1-2k pa. All fuses are good as far as I can tell.I have not attempted to pull and re-seat relays.
For the record I have the following flagging up:
Speedo – no reading; Low fuel indicator(Yellow); Low washer fluid(Yellow); Central warning light(red); Brad pad wear (red) ( pads all good); Handbrake (red), Oil pressure (red) – I run 5 bar at 3k revs on gauge; Brake pressure (yellow) – brakes a good; rear spoiler warning(yellow); engine fan belt(red)
I have 2 thoughts re cause:
A number of relays have corroded/poor contacts from an extended period in damp garage over the winter
Rodents have potentially attacked some aspect of the loom and I now have some random short circuits?
Any other thoughts or suggestions I could try/eliminate before I hand my wallet over to the professionals?

Disconnect the battery for a few hours then try again?

[anonymous-user]

Why on earth would you park a nice car in a garage you know to be damp for months? Adding simple ventilation, a dehumidifier etc would have all cost less than the bill you are about to receive not even taking into account any long term damage.

[stigmeister]

From my aged memory this sounds like the old electrical earthing problem (some electrical wiring can rub on the bodywork wearing away the outer insulation covers thus allowing the core wire to earth out and give the Xmas Tree Light-up) in the engine bay which was subsequently put right as a recall by Porsche - certainly worth checking to see if your 993 had this f.o.c work done in the past!
Stiggy

[Vic_S]

Do a search on the Rennlist 993 forum - I think its come up there and from what I remember, is often caused by solder connections going bad on the clock circuit board.

[73 Duchess]

Hi Vince. This recently happened to me as I was driving. It may be unrelated but the ABS light came on first followed by Speedo needle dying and then dash lit up like Christmas tree. It turned out to be e Alternator, was hoping it to be the belt but alas, no!. I hope it's not the case for you but may be worth checking.

[mollytherocker]

Ah yes, I know the exact cause of your problem.

Unfortunately, I am too polite to tell you!

MTR

[marky911]

MercScot said:

Why on earth would you park a nice car in a garage you know to be damp for months? Adding simple ventilation, a dehumidifier etc would have all cost less than the bill you are about to receive not even taking into account any long term damage.

Some people may not have the luxury of power in their garage. Still better than not having a garage at all though.

Good luck getting sorted op. I'm always anxious when I couple my battery back up in the spring and fire the car up after its winter lay-up.
Luckily I've never had a single issue with my 964 yet. Touch wood.

Fingers crossed it's just a bolt on part such as alternator, as mentioned above. Much easier to sort than a wiring fault that could be anywhere.
Be sure to report back once it's fixed.

[thegoose]

marky911 said:

Fingers crossed it's just a bolt on part such as alternator, as mentioned above. Much easier to sort than a wiring fault that could be anywhere.

...especially if caused by an errant rodent's nibbling

[Vinceg]

My situation remains open and inconclusive. Some intermittent electrical fault?

I had the car booked to go to a local independent a week after original ‘light show’. Car laid up all week prior to its appointment. I started up the day prior just to ensure the fault was still present – it was. Started the car on morning of appointment and NO lights faulting. Drove for 20 mins to see if anything changed - it didn’t – all fine. Spoke with the indi and agreed to leave it for now. Car garaged for the week again and then driven following weekend - again all fine after 2 hours driving hard. Decide to clean/wax before putting away ( yes she’s a garage queen). On start up to roll into garage all those lights were back. Tried several on offs in garage and lights consistently faulting. Now I try again AM today ( next day & car hasn’t moved an inch) and no lights faulting.

I’ve checked belts. Battery and alternator outputs are fine (12.8V and 14.4V). Also confirmed with Porsche that my car has no outstanding recalls so any original loom rub issues I assumed fixed or not required.

Any ideas? Leaving with the indi for a week or two waiting the fault to re-appear looks like my next step?

[BrewsterBear]

Dodgy engine earth strap?