URGENT! Battery issues...

Hello guys I just popped into the garage to say hi to the Porsche and its dead... Its a 911 Turbo. A 2001 model. It has a brand new battery and is in pristine condition. . . We have the official TEquipment Porsche charger and we were told that if left standing for 3 weeks the battery will go flat... The car was last driven 5 days ago. We have plugged the charger into the cigarette lighter but now the dash lights wont switch off along with the clock lights... The boot wont open o we cant get to the battery and its making funny whirring sounds like something fluttering... A fuel pump maybe? Even with the charger in it wont work... Can someone please help as its my dads car and he is rather upset. Thanks everyone Mike

If your battery is new and it's dead then something must have been left switched on and it's drained the battery. The charger doesn't delivery sufficient amps to turn over the battery, that applies to any car, so you'll have to wait until the battery is re-charged - say minimum 12 hours. Is the ignition key turned to 'on' - if so take the key out of the ignition switch and all lights should extinguish. If they stay on you've got a faulty electrics system. Any noises you have decribed could be a multitude of things. Let us know how you get on Ray 8)

Hello Thank you for the quick reply. The battery is brand new. We have only had the car for about two weeks now. When the charger is plugged in then the clock lights come on irrespective of the key being in the ignition or not. The rear spoiler is up and we didnt even touch that so not sure why its doing that... The boot did open at first but now wont so we will have to see. Last week the head tech at Porsche Centre here in Cape Town checked the car out by taking for a spin and also on the pc and no errors came up. We will try get the boot open tomorrow and jump start her from my moms GTi. Poor dad is rather upset though... Mike

OK, if you can get the boot lid open charge the battery directly, and not through the cigarette lighter socket. Remember it's positive to positive (red) and negative to negative (black). A new battery won't discharge for no reason. So either something was left on, or you've got an electrical fault which is causing the battery to drain. Sounds like you need an auto electrician to check things over.

something like a tracker drains your battery...especially if the internal battery on the Tracker (which your car will keep topped up) doesn't hold charge anymore.

Hello everyone Called Mr Ian Long at Porsche centre this morning. He says the surge due to a loss of power will cause the aerofoil to raise and the clocks to go funny. A simple reset of the computer will sort this out... The car manual states you must jump start off the engine. According to the techies it is perfectly safe to jump start dirrectly from the battery... We also solved the problem... Last week we had a tracker fitted to the car and the techie there said that the bulb in the boot/ luggage compartment was not in the socket... The techie put it in for us and this is why the battery is flat... We called the previous owner and he told us that the bulb actually does not turn off and caused the battery to go flat so he simply took it out. lol. From now onwards we will be using the Tequipment charger from Porsche whenever the car is not being used. Much easier. Thanks for the replies everyone. Mike

Hello The tracker guys came and checked the car to reconfirm that the tracker was not pulling power while the car was switched off and since the tracker was only installed last week its still brand new. Funny how a small bulb can cause such issues... Mike

Its not that the bulb draws much current, its the current measured in amps times time wher the problem lies. So if you bulb only draws say half an amp, it will consume 24x0.5=12 ampere hours in a day, so in 5 days it will draw 60 ampere hours. As you battery has probably only got 80 ampere hours worth of energy in it, it's not surprising that your car won't start. Your bulb should extinguish when the lid is shut so you really need to get that fixed - think green, save your pocket and the worlds resources! Anyway, glad you figured it out Ray :thumb:

Hello You are right We spoke to tracker again and yes.. It turns out the tracker which they fited to our car does pull .5 amps and therefore yes... It should be flat. We pushed the car out and jump started it with the GTI. It started first time. Now we can go back to loving the Porsche :mrgreen: Mike

I have a similar issue with my 996 GT3. After about 6 days the battery is dead. It has a Tracker and is alarmed, so I guess this drains the battery ? Just to make sure, I bought a new battery, but the same thing happens. Also, when I go to disconnect the battery (negative first), to re-charge it, the alarm keeps going off. Its a bit of a pain, as I have to wait for ages in my garage being deafened, so I can remove the battery to re-charge it. Am I doing something wrong to set the alarm off ? Or is there a way of removing the leads without setting the alarm off. (I obviously disable the alarm before doing any of this). Advice appreciated. Thanks Justin

Switch the ignition on, and leave it on, before you disconnect the negative. This will stop the alarm siren going off.

Hello Juzza Give your closest Porsche Centre a visit. Ask them to supply you the Tequipment charger. Its a bit costly but basically whenever the car is off you simply plug the charger into the cigarette lighter and it will keep your battery at the optimimum levels so you dont need to charge it and have the stress you are having. Hope that helps. We learnt this the hard way last night after not plugging ours in. Mike

You cant switch the ignition on when the battery is flat though :dont know: :?:

A small bit of common sense. BEFORE you unplug the negative (assuming your battery isn't already flat) you turn the ignition to ON. This disarms the alarm and will stop the alarm sounding when the battery is disconnected. Ass for the .5 amps that tracker is using, that's sounds like madness. 500ma? Nup, don't believe. 50ma ie, 0.05amps is more likely. My car has a tracker, porsche alarm and can sit there for a month untouched and still start. At a month it's tough, and in winter it's really 3 weeks (batteries don't work as well in winter - lower temp = less grunt) however better than a week. If your battery is already flat more than likely your alarm has already had a session of sounding out (probably to the dissatisfaction of your neighbours) and disconnecting the battery will not result in any noise. For those with a 996 who can't get to the boot or bonnet, can't find the pull cords in the wheels arches and don't have access to power near the car for a charger...... you can disassemble the lever section (on 996's with pull boot bonnet) and unlock the deadlocks with three allen key bolts beside the drivers door. Easy!

Thanks for the comments. I'll leave the key in the ignition next time and see what happens when I disconnect.