Battery Drain

Sounds like your alternator is dead. You can either fix it yourself with a cheap diode pack, or get a refurbished one for under £250. New ones are around £1,000!

I guess my porsche warranty wouldn't cover this, I've only had it since April...

Been away on short business trip, left car at airport 1 night/2 full days and it's [almost] dead. I say almost as I have electrics but when you turn the key all the warning lights flash. It's very pretty but I'd rather the engine start... Called Porsche Assistance who are their usual helpful people and RAC diagnose a drain on the battery and say it needs looking at by Porsche. I had an issue about a month or so ago when the warning light 'Warning - Battery/Alternator' kept coming on. Porsche Bolton said they'd had it on charge/tested etc and nothing wrong with it...I'm going to pop down again tomorrow but any thoughts - a simple battery change maybe or something more sinister going on..?

Same again this morning - I'm now on first name terms with Porsche Assistance! RAC diagnosed 'bad cell' so the car is now at OPC who were less than interested in the fact I now I have no car, have missed my train to London and had to cancel 2 days of meetings. I have to say my experience to date of OPC's is appalling!

Paul, Sorry to hear of your woes. I think it states in the Porsche Assist booklet that you're supposed to get a courtesy car. Have a look.

Hi Paul I recently had a problem with my 987 where occasionally it wouldn't start and i was told by OPC that if the car was recovered by Porsche Assistance they would automatically give me a courtesy car through Porsche Assistance. I limped along with mine for a couple of weeks and then put it into the OPC who arranged for a car anyway. Might be worth asking. Cheers Tracy x

I had it recovered a while ago (another problem) and got a courtesy car through Porsche Assist but as the battery isn't a 'flat-bed' situation i.e roadside fixable and I've driven it myself to OPC I can't have one. The bloke at OPC said he had no courtesy cars when I called up this morning to say I was on my way down but I know this is rubbish as if you kick off they find you one (it's happened once before on one of my many trips down there)...he said that if he gave me one of their reps cars that they wouldn't be able to get home - like I care about that! Where's the customer service... When I arrived there this morning they had miraculously found one of the reps cars for me but I was that hacked off that all my plans had gone t1ts up I left my key and the RAC report and just walked out. I ended up getting a taxi. Maybe I shot myself in the foot but I'm really not happy and it made me feel better!

The diagnosis is in and as suspected need a new battery. They want nearly £300 for it so question - if I wanted to get one elsewhere ( not looked yet so prices maybe comparable?) would it void my warranty as technically the battery is a non warranty item but could affect warranty-able items if the battery was to blame for something else going wrong? Do they have me over a barrel?

Oficially - over a barrel. However, all OPCs are different, some may be bothered about it, some may not. If yours aren't then try and get a Bosch Silver with a higher amperage than your existing battery (85 would be good) at Costco or Halfords for under £90. SO the original diagnosis was that your battery was fine, now the diagnosis is it's not? How old is the battery do you know?

At one time it was cheaper to buy a Porsche battery from Porsche Assist/RAC than it was to buy one at an OPC. Might be a bit tricky if the car is at an OPC though......

Thanks for the info Rodney I'll ask the question and see what they say. The battery I believe is the original so 6yrs old, not sure what life expectancy should be?

Usually about 4-5 years if you are lucky. I have heard of them going for longer, but it's rare.

I had the same issue 2 days before we were off to Classic Le Mans car was at OPC so they fitted new Moll battery to preserve warranty (wot a load of *****) I was able to negotiate on price though. Mine was the original battery and had lasted 4 months short of 6 years

I think I'll end up biting the bullet and doing the 'right thing' for the sake of the warranty. Love my car still but losing confidence in it, this is around the 6th time it's been off the road in 4 months, 3 of those involving Assistance call out. It's being used for the 60 years of porsche event at arley hall in september and just hope it's roadworthy otherwise it'll be the only car on display on the back of a flatbed RAC trailer

If this was me i would buy a new battery elsewhere for around the £80 / £90 carry it into opc get some boy to fit it ( i did mine took 15 minutes ) and then drive home or too work ! personally i would not pay £300 for a poxy battery and to be honest the porsche moll's don't seem to last that well, also the battery i bought has a 3 yr warranty it might even be 4yrs. got that off my chest ! ( don't like being messed around ! ) 75pno

Paul, I had a similar experience when I traded my Boxster which I'd had absolutely trouble free from new to an OPC approved used C2 . In the following 6 months I had, Oil/air separator fail, clouds of smoke and a flat bed recovery, a serious brown trouser feeling I can tell you, RMS weep, solenoid failure on the Air con system which made it sound like 100 year old central heating system. In fairness all of these were rectified by my local OPC (newcastle) under warranty without quibble. Getting to know the service department on first name terms as a result of this experience has stood me in good stead with subsequent cars ( two since then) and after an initial loss of confidence with the C2 the car turned out to be a bit of a gem and thoroughly reliable. Keep the faith Hope this helps

Cheers Ashley thanks for that, it doesn't matter whether its a Porsche or a Tata Nano these things are mechanical and of course prone to issues. My problem is the amount of these issues I'm having - the battery failures were just the tip of the iceberg, there's been PSM and ABS issues, failed heating all of which required multiple visits to OPC i.e. they were never diagnosed first time round - thus more rescheduled time for me and huge inconvenience. Following the battery replacement I've now been told the following need attention - Front Brak Discs - to be replaced as corroded Rear Brake Discs - to be skimmed and redriled as corroded and lipped NSF diff seal leaking Alternator - ribbed belt (?) Oil leak from rear crank oil seal Coolant leak from front - requires investigation NSF play in tie rod end Leak from NSF diff seal Is this really normal? The car has done 24k, it had 19k on the clock when I bought in April (from OPC) this year and had done 1k in the 12m prior to that. I asked them today if the car was a duff and asked for a straight answer but the politically correct people down there wouldn't be drawn into the conversation. I'm hacked off about the whole Warranty issues with apparent void claims if someone non-Porsche goes within a mile of the car. I feel like I'm being held to ransom by OPC but am hedging my bets on this point and have booked it into an Indy for some straight talking answers on the state of my 996. I believe part of the ownership experience is end-to-end, sales, service etc...I love the car, puts a smile on my face each time I pick up the key but the overall experience just isn't there...I'm keeping the faith but only just. Maybe I'm expecting too much for a 6yr old Porsche but I sincerely hope not...

Paul, I'd go back to the supplying OPC, the 111 point inspection isn't a fail safe as you know only to well. It sounds like the brake issues you have are caused by lack of use as the discs are prone to rust particularly if the car is put away wet. If it were me I'd be looking for a compromise, at least on the chargeable items and given your ownership experience to date I'd have thought you'd stand a chance. That said some of the things you list are covered by the warranty anyway and are fairly common maintenance items, front rads particularly, so look on the bright side once they're done they should be ok for several years yet. If you're not getting satisfaction locally a well worded and balanced letter to Porsche Reading should get things moving[ ] Keep us posted

My local INDY has had a look over the car and he said it was 'mint'. OK so there are a few minor (and he stressed minor) issues to be looked at but in short they said the report from OPC was 'grossly over exaggerated' and that 'if it were my car I wouldn't be looking at getting it booked in anytime soon'. The coolant is the biggest 'concern' and will need to be looked at sooner rather than later but that's it - discs and pads as expected, oil 'leaks' of no significance etc etc. Maybe its a trust thing but seems to me like a sales ploy from OPC to get more business from someone they know isn't too gemmed up mechanically. I need rear tyres too - tried doing a PCGB search but can never return any results (!?)...have been told my Pirelli Assimetrico N3's have been discontinued and replaced with P Zero Rosso N4 and according to a table I pulled up from Porsche website on a random google search the Rosso's score a max for wet and dry use whereas the Assimetrico was a max dry score and low wet score - does anyone have experience to back these claims up? I'm having the Rosso's fitted anyway but thought I'd ask whilst I was posting.

Paul, I have the Rosso N4's fitted and have no complaints at all with them.