Took the car out for a nice ride today, or so I thought. Drove about 50 miles and stopped for gas. Turned car off just to find out station was closed. Time to go to another gas station, but the car would not start. Got every kind of error message there was - from week battery, to fault with headlight control system, to fault with PCM. Waited 10 minutes, tried again - nothing. Waited 20 minutes, tried again - nothing. Read issues in the past where gas gauge would read 1/4 full, but tank was really empty (I had a little more than 1/4 tank), so I waited for station to open up and filled the tank. Tried to start - nothing. Called Porsche Roadside, who arranged for tow truck. Waited over 2 hours, and because it is Sunday, and all dealerships are closed, needs to be put in storage overnight and then bought to dealer tomorrow. What started out as a nice drive on a nice day turned into a very frustrating day. I have read about issues with so many other cars, and considered myself lucky -- guess not . . . Will let you know what happens, but this sure is not a confidence builder. Had the car only about 1 1/2 years.

 

Well that would suck! Sorry to hear. Please keep us posted.

 

See if battery terminals are loose

 

Those errors are signs of a weak battery. Did the car crank at all or nothing, like when the battery is dead?

 

Ouch, sorry to hear. +1 to Tony's question... did it just not respond at all, or did it crank and fail to start up?

 

I heard some clicks but as I continued, clicks went away. Did not crank. Drove 50 miles, so would assume the alternator would have charged up the battery, no? Also, I have the car in a trickler, so the battery should have been strong. Battery is only 1 1/2 years on it and on trickler when not driven. Not saying that it can't be, but would wonder why if it was given I try to maintain it as much as possible.

 

Had this happen to my 997.2 ...and it was the battery that was bad. Exact same story. Took the car out for a nice drive. Turned it over and it wouldn't turn over (With all the error messages). New battery solved the problem and the car was only 2 years old. Good Luck.

 

Does sound like a battery issue. First thought would be loose or dirty terminals. Second would be a bad / shorted cell. What voltage are you seeing when driving? Too high a voltage (~15.5v+) is probably going to evaporate electrolyte.

ChuckJ

 

Hmmm. Well, I will find out today. Dead battery after 1 1/2 years seems really odd, but I guess anything is possible. I checked connections and all were tight and looked clean. Voltage as I was driving was about 12.5. Thanks all. Will let you know what happens.

 

12.5? That sounds look an alternator or voltage regulator problem. These cars usually operate at 13+ volts

 

RNL is right, 12.5 is too low. 13.5-14.5 is more normal.

ChuckJ

 

Excuse my ignorance, but where can you check/lookup the voltage in the car?

 

Dash display. Second pod from right. You can add voltage in the settings. It's one more thing to look at and worry about

 

Thx. I've messed around a lot in there and must have missed that.

 

Sounds like the age old problem of any car where alternator isn't charging the battery. but there is enough power to run the ignition system. But once you stop the car the battery doesn't have enough to crank the engine. In an old car this usually cropped up first at night with the headlights on when the battery load was highest while driving.

What surprises however is that I would assume given the more sophisticated charging system you would get a warning of some type while driving..and the battery was draining.. In an older car you would notice this if you had an ammeter and saw that the battery drain was on the negative side (discharging) while driving.

You have to be very careful about drawing conclusions from the volt meter readings as this can be misleading. While running you should see a higher than 12V reading which should be at the battery terminal, which generally means that the battery should be charging, but not always if the battery has a problem or the terminals are lose/dirty.

Trying to draw a conclusion on the battery state when the car is off is difficult too that's why a live ammeter would be much more valuable..

Bottom line it sounds like you have a charging system issue.. Could be a bad battery or something in the charging system..