06 Cayman new owner

Hello all! Well I inherited a 06 Cayman S . It looks great and only has about 90k miles on it. The family member that had it before took pretty good care of it until falling ill. since I got it I have tried to clean it out as it seems some furry friends tried to take ownership of it. No nest but definitely lots of shredded papers. the battery was only holding 2 volts so I tried to replace it but as soon as it touches power the alarm horn sounds steady and the windshield motors start spraying everywhere. there are no lights on the dash and it for sure won’t start. Any tips????

So far I’m reading that the dealer has to reprogram? Possible ignition switch or clutch switch. Or maybe the immobilizer? Any help is appreciated

Key FOB battery is 3.2 volts Car Battery is 12.6

Wiper sprayer and wipers are on the stalk, perhaps you hit them with your knee or otherwise actuated them, they should have no nexus with any alarm. Try putting the key in the door so the car recognizes the key next time you connect the battery, make sure the key has a good battery in it. I don't recall all the details but when the car has sat the key back in the door lock resets the system. Of course the lack of dash lights may be a different issue altogether. Lets hope this is a waste of time but you need to look around and make sure the critters didn't chew any wires, that of course would affect these issues too.

I appreciate the quick help. This seemed too good to be true to be gifted a Cayman lol. So I unhooked and then rehooked the battery Back up. So now I’m getting a crank but no start so I’m getting close. There are no engine codes that I can pull. The main display screen doesn’t light up either. the key works with the car to lock and unlock and it’s recognized as key 1 when used to try to start. Any thoughts?

How long has it been sitting? Did you crank it a while? It might be a minute before it gets gas. Otherwise in general you need to confirm fuel and spark. Also as stupid as it sounds what does the fuel gauge indicate?

Ok so my extended family is saying it’s been parked for about 6 months. Ive pulled out the carpet and seats and don’t see any other evidence of critters. Engine was dusty but no evidence there either. The oil reading is at the bottom bar reading. This is cold with the engine obviously not running. I may try changing the oil to be safe. I need to rent a fuel pressure tested but I did depress one of the Schrader valves and only got a few drops out of it. With the fuse pulled for the pump I’m. Or hearing a difference in any general engine noise so I can’t say for sure the pumps running. I was reading that it’s under the battery so I may try to access that tomorrow. I put at least 3 gallons of fuel in and the gauge is still at bottom of the reading. Not sure the meaning of that but there is a few gallons for sure in there. thanks for the feedback and quick responses.

Hey, congratulations, i guess. Caymans are amazing (when they work, like all mechanical things). My 2006 seems to drain its battery if left longer than two weeks without driving. I got in the habit of using a NOCO Smart battery tende r which is essentially the same unit that Porsche dealerships sell under their label. I think I paid about half of what this is currently on Amazon; sales come up all the time. You can use a 12V cigarette lighter attachment and just put it in the console power socket if you have the smoker's package, or the passenger footwell 12V socket. I just leave mine on any time I won't be driving it for a few days.

Dont worry - yet - about fuel guage. When power is cut for an extended period of time, the gauge reads zero for a few hours after power is restored. It will gradually register proper tank level usually in 3 hrs or so of continuous power. I have a battery cutoff switch in my 987.1 as it sits unused for weeks at a time (track car), and that is what happens every time I power back up. As for non starting...have to go thru the diagnostic sequence as one would for any car engine. Sitting for six months wouldnt in and of itself cause a problem...the problem is more likely the reason it sat for six months. You've been given a great gift. Good luck and enjoy! Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Is there a fuel pump relay? Is it in the drivers kick panel or the one in the engine Bay Area? Can’t seem to find a picture for it. Thanks

Just an update. It was definitely the fuel pump. As you can see the hose is in 3 pieces. It was a Siemens unit not sure if that’s the original. The car fired up and I got a little bit of smoke from not running for a bit as it went away quickly. Going to change the oil and prob check the brakes. Also the head unit wasn’t coming on but I replaced a fuse and it powered right on. thanks for all the help everyone!!

Excellent! Congratulations for figuring it out. Another part that you won't need to worry about for a while. Just as a point of awareness, water pumps seem to go our a bit more frequently on these, as well as my old 944. My car's water pump was done at only 14,000 miles. 36,000 on her, now, and I am watching for signs. Also, if you don't know how long ago, if ever, the plugs and coils were changed, this might be a good time to get peace of mind on them. The threads specify no anti-seize fro plugs, so they can seize if left too long. And coil packs seem to be hit or miss. While you are in there on plugs, getting new coils installed is worth the price so you don't have to get back in there again. I bought new plugs and coils for mine in 2018 and finally installed them in 2020. My car had a few coils fail before I got it, too, so I watch that. As well as my wife's 2007 Camry just had several go bad, and the fix on that sucked. Don't be disappointed if the headliner disconnects and sags at some point. Seems to be a common complaint I bought a huge roll of headliner alcantara in a charcoal grey to match my stone grey interior. I haven't needed to get the full roof out, yet, but I did cover the A-pillars and it is so much better than the crappy scratched soft touch finish. I also pulled and painted the center console because the soft touch finish looked so bad. I hope this was the last step before getting her back on the road, with new fuel, fluids and oil, and a few "Italian tune-ups" for good measure. Oil on startup for horizontal engines is normal after long storage. Same thing with my old BMW boxer motorcycles.

Have an odd clicking noise coming from driver side right near the rear tire. Goes away over 2k rpms but is annoying. Can’t hear it inside the cabin but with windows down it’s audible. Doesn’t matter if car is warm or cold and no smoke associated yet. Car runs great otherwise. Stuck lifter, cylinder scoring, IMS ?

When you change the plugs, number them and stick them in cardboard with holes so you can see the plug tips. If any one of the plugs have an oily residue, that could be the cylinder to consider having bore scoring. At this point though just change the plugs, oil and filter. When changing the filter, cut it apart and see if there is small bits that can be magnetic or not. If its free of these bits, then that point is not a problem. I would do these first, then slowly drive the car for 500 miles, like a new car. No standing on the throttle yet. Check the oil consumption and a regular basis by the oil level on the dash when starting. You eventually will need to figure out exactly what makes the tick. You can start by reviewing Jake Raby of flat six innovations, videos about how to take care of these engines. He has 6 or 7 videos, each one building on the past ones. You should be able to solve the ticking issues with a bore scope, to confirm bore scoring or maybe it's just a noisy lifter. One video tells you how you can tell the difference between bore score tick or a noisy lifter with a hose against the engine to isolate the noise. If a lifter, you can change to type of oil and figure out which oil will quiet that lifter, maybe by changing the type and wt of the oil. Start by using a 5W-50 oil like Mobil 1 FS brand to see if the ticking resides. If you need to use a lighter wt oil for the winter, then use something like Amsoil 5W40 signature or Mobil 1 FS 5W-40 and change the oil every 3500 miles. Yes it's a hassle, but you may get another 100k miles out of that engine with this technique if its not a bore score. If it has a bore score, then all bets are off, you will need a rebuilt engine or a junk yard motor. Yes you can run that motor if you decide to replace it, but if you rebuild it, stop running it until its rebuilt.

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This was drivers side front to back(left to right). Hope that makes sense. It has 95k on it but I don’t think these are original although the coils looked original. Could the starter or clutch cause a clicking while driving? I will pull the passenger side shortly and show pics of those as well. No oil on plug boots and the plugs don’t look wet

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Also no leaks that I can see but was getting some oil seepage from this bolt. Any thoughts?

Clutch noise, yes maybe, push the clutch in while driving and hearing the noise, does it change with the clutch depressed. I had a slight pulse noise from the clutch, while idling, which went away with the clutch depressed. Had a new clutch kit installed when I had my Wavetrac LSD installed as Cantrell had the transaxle off. They also checked for any oil at the bottom of the housing under the IMS bearing . They did not take off the flywheel as the surface was not damaged, so we just checked for oil around the IMS bearing , none found. After the new clutch was installed, no noise while idling. How much smoke on start up. Is your cold startup a hard one, like takes a number of engine revolutions to catch. Just wondering if you are loosing fuel pressure on the fuel rail leaking through the injector into one cylinder. This is sometimes the cause of bore scoring. Your spark plugs will tell you if this is happening. A reason to use injector cleaner in your fuel every few fillups to keep the injectors spraying correctly and not leaking.

Ok it’s a short pulsing rapping noise. It increases in frequency with revs but disappears around 1800RPMs. Clutch in or out doesn’t seem to matter. Car is plenty of power and no misses. Smoke continued after AOS change but now after about 3 drives it is gone. So the plus is it doesn’t smoke but has a pretty good clacking like I described.

Was thinking water pump but the car doesn’t overheat. There is a squeal about every third start up but I changed the belt so I was considering starter but not certain that would be present during a drive. I was thinking maybe the plunger wasn’t fully retracting was or something

Check out Jake's video of where to put the hose to hear exactly where the noise is coming from inside the engine. Is it from the cylinders or heads. If its the cylinder, then you know to explore the bore scoring scenario. If coming from the heads, then its up to you, but I would change to a different type of motor oil. See the blog called RAT/540 and find an oil that is very high is prevention of wear. He goes on and on on this particular item as well as oil temperature in race environments. We have a particular type of engine M97 that has oiling problems caused by excessive heat. Usually affects rod bearing #6 first causing bearing scarring. This is a terminal issue, unlike bore scoring. If you plan on tracking your new found toy, please protect your crankshaft and rod bearings with a 3rd radiator and a much larger oil/water heat exchanger to keep the oil temps down. We have no oil pressure or oil temp gauges so we are blind. This causes us to rely on our motor oil selection to do the protection for us. Coming into a rt hand turn after 20 minutes of running hard, threshold braking, then hard turning while trailbraking, reducing the oil pressure to almost 0 from oil starvation, or even on high G force long left hand corners will cause oil starvation. These episodes are additive and soon, you will experience a rod bearing scaring due to the oil passage way from the rear main bearing into the rear of the crank and into rod bearing 6. Oil temperature well over 300 degrees in this area of the motor. That's why LN and other highly suggest their (Driven, Joe Gibbs) DT-40 or XP -9 oil to help here.

When you changed the belt, did you examine the water pump? Sometimes they start to leak slightly before the bearing and seals go out. If you see moisture there, it would be a good time to change the pump.

Got the passenger plugs and coils replaced. I would say that these are original. I was glad I bought the coil packs as well. There were cracks everywhere. Well the smoke is gone and the clicking has lightened up. She’s running pretty good. Looks like I will be doing the water pump next.

I would start using injector cleaner for a few tanks of gas to clear your vaporization/aeration of fuel through your port injectors. These are easy to use and actually makes startup easier. Then once a month or so add one can to your tank. Just wondering if the one plug on the bottom panel #24 has more oil in the threads and more carbon around the tip. What I getting at is the injectors do leak some fuel after shut down. This cleaner will help your injector close and not leak raw fuel into the cylinder. Im still concerned about the tic. Use that hose while the engine is running on jacks to find out if the tic is coming from the cylinders or the heads.