Battery out in a week, 996tt - normal ???

Hi there, Got a question - loads of you say "oh, weekend toy". Well my Porsche 911 turbo strugles to pass a week by, if I dont use it, the battery REALLY struggles. Two weeks and the battery is dead. Now, the battery is new - well 1 year old that is, Bosch Silver. The owner had battery problems with the other one so he replaced before selling the car to me. The car wasnt like this, if I remember correctly. My suspicion is the tracker - the car is a 2001 car, so the tracker is 7/8 years old now, maybe its batteries are gone and its draining from the main battery ? If so, how can I turn off the tracker all together ? Im most likely return to Portugal and my tracker doesnt work there so it makes no sense to have it on and draning battery. Alternator doesnt sound right as well - when the car is jump started, it charges ok - takes AGES though. .. the other day I jump start it, drove from Canary Wharf to Richmond ( good 1 hour drive ? ) and left it on the sidewalk. Locked the car WITHOUT the alarm and a couple of hours after I had to call Porsche assistance to jump start me... go figure. was dead cold as well ( -3 at 3am ). So either the battery is %(*£$(-up after one year ? or the tracker is draining ? or ... ?? bright ideas ? Merry xmas to all :santa:

Battery on mine is at least 2 years old. It lasts 2 weeks no problem. I do use a conditioner these days but on a few occaisions I have been away and forgot to attach it, still had no problems starting the car. I have a tracker too. Does the car go to "sleep" aftrer 5 days? ie you have to put the key in the door to wake it up?

yap. it goes into sleep mode. but now couple of days after sleep and its dead - well not enough power to start the car. lights on, etc etc, but few tries to start it and it goes to the point of no return

ok, mine isn't a TT but a 996 still. I have a Tracker Response fitted to mine and with a year old battery (Bosch silver) I can still get 4 weeks out of it although it's touch and go on these cold mornings. Better when it's warmer. I will add though, that only hold if the previous drive was a good one. If it's a short 15 minute trip and back then it won't recharge enough to start a couple of weeks later. I now have two cars so a set of jumpers.... J

If you call out RAC or AA (RAC is also via Porsche Warranty), they can check your battery. Firstly, they can determine the health of the battery, ie. if it's holding it's charge and how much. A battery should last for a couple of years, so it should be ok. Secondly, they can check to see if there's a drain on the battery, as it sounds as though this is the problem. It might be the tracker, but I doubt it. The downside is that if there is a drain, it could be quite a big effort to locate the problem. You'll have to go through the fuse box and isolate each circuit. This isn't something I'd do lightly either. Cheers.

And oh how joy it is when you pull the alarm fuse as part of that process. The damn thing starts and for love nor money it just won't stop. It ignores the key, buttons, everything..... Goes off like that for quite some time before it's happy to accept a reset....

> And oh how joy it is when you pull the alarm fuse as part of that process. The damn thing starts and for love nor money it just won't stop. It ignores the key, buttons, everything..... Goes off like that for quite some time before it's happy to accept a reset.. Yeah! I know what you mean. When the RAC man swapped over my battery, he had the biggest set of industrial strength earmuffs I've ever seen. Doesn't help that the alarm (and horn) is right next to the battery!

or, just buy a battery conditiner and keep it trickle charged.

This may come in handy for you Proenca. Very simple to use. http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=40347

I think you're on the right track. Something in your car is draining the battery, assuming that the alternator is getting the battery to a full state of charge. Unless you have the correct equipment, I would recommend taking the car to an 'electrics' specialist, they will do the following; 1. Check that the alternator is working correctly 2. Find if anything is draining the battery when the car is parked up 3. Check the battery 4. Check that the starter motor is not taking too many amps to start - it could be the cause of your problems Good luck :thumb:

Rhenders has the right idea. Your car is not well. A 1yr old battery should not behave as yours is doing. By all means buy a trickle charger, but that will not solve the problem. I would suggest giving it to a good motor electrician. When mine was messing me about, I gave it to Number 5 Garage in Ealing. Peter spent a lot of time and found the cause of the abnormally high drain on my car - a carphone kit under the drivers seat whose battery was old and draining the car, and also rusty/dodgy contacts on the auxiliary alarm unit which is in the front boot area and is prone to rusting on older cars (on the newer cars I think it was moved inside the car). I also know of another car whose tracker battery was old and failing and causing a large drain. Tracker batteries dont last forever. The main thing is that only a good motor electrician will have the kit to analyse and diagnose. OPC do not have the skills, and even some good indy's might not (electrics is hardly a sexy subject). Just ask if you want any more info. Josh