Went to head out this AM and the car turned over for a split second and then there was a bunch of clicking going on with every imagineable light on the dashboard following. I thought it might be the battery b/c it was weak a few months ago but it is fully charged. Does this sound like the starter? Also, is there any possible harm in doing the old push-start drop the clutch to take it to the dealer? TIA and Happy New Year!

 

It is your battery. Just had this exact problem a week ago.

 

Check your battery terminals, make sure they are tight.

 

Another vote for battery issues. The Porsche batteries SUCK- time to replace it with something aftermarket. I hear good things about Ultimate Yellow Tops.... but they are pretty heavy

 

Sounds like the battery to me. Some of the chargers don't show the right info and show it's charged. Grab an optima redtop, hook it up and see if the car starts

 

Plus one for battery as problem. Bad batteries can still show full voltage,
but that voltage is only at the minimal draw of the meter. At starter-motor
draw, it goes down to single digits. I have had the stock porsche battery
last 4 or 5 years, and expect my Sears 48 series Die Hard to last even
longer. I just keep the car plugged into the Porsche battery maintainer.

The Sears 48 series is the correct replacement size and has the
breather tube, and Sears guys know to plug in an alternate power
supply while they replace the battery so you don't have to put in
your radio code or anything like that. Good warranty too. The other
way is to go fancy with the Ultimas etc. You can save some weight
with those.
Joe Weinstein

 

Thanks for the info. While my battery charger has not lied to me over the years, maybe this is the time. I'm going to take the battery out first thing tomorrow and take it to Sears. I know they have a load tester there and that should tell the story. Any draw back besides having to re-enter the radio code if I do the replacement myself? Probably the clock & the presets ...

 

Pulling the battery wont cause any problems. You will reset the entire car, but that is no problem. Just make sure you have the radio code handy!

 

Thanks for the advice, it was the battery after all. You lose the clock time, all the stuff from mpg, avg. speed, etc. but not the radio presets.

 

Did your dash say "Failure Indicater" after the clicking and the dash lights? I got the same thing today after not driving the car for over two weeks. I had clicking, dash lights and then after that "failure Indicater" with the picture of the engine. I have it on my battery tender now and will try and start it again tomorrow.

 

2 weeks? I thought I was bad. We've had some weather so what's up? If your battery is original just replace it. Mine showed signs of going about 2 months ago but lingered on probably b/c I used the tender. I was lucky in that the time it decide to stop working was in my garage. I didn't look at the dash but all the lights stayed on and it behaved like a quick short or something after it attempted to turn over and then started clicking.