New owner sorting out possible issues from battery change

The previous owner replaced the battery March of this year and did not hook the terminals up to a battery tender . As of right now these are the current symptoms I have observed: 2006 Cayman S w/ PCM , PASM , Sport Chrono 150k miles: 1) Seat heaters switch does not light up or work 2) Homelink garage system does not light up or work 3) Rear spoiler does not light up or work 4) Windshield washer sprayer will not spray 5) Passenger window will go up and down but sometimes needs to be pushed and released in order to do so No warning lights on the dash. I went to a reputable indy, I believe he was using the program iCarSoft he was showing me how when he pushed a button like Sport mode it would show up on the screen as enabled but when he pushed the seat heaters or rear spoiler nothing changed. All of the fuses have been checked. He mentioned that it could possibly be a control module going bad but I have read from others experiencing similar issues that I would need to take it to a Porsche dealership to have a "hand-over" reset procedure performed. However, I did not see many people complaining about losing spoiler and windshield washer function so I would like to know if I would be throwing money down the drain to take it to Porsche or if it sounds more likely to be a control module failure. Thanks for your help.

I'd buy a Durametric (new or used) to test all the controllers and do a complete scan of all control units. You can often find used ones (with 1 or 2 VINs remaining) on ebay. Price should be roughly $100 * VINS remaining.

The device he was using to scan it looked pretty darn expensive and capable of scanning the control units. I guess I'm just confused why he wasn't able to definitively say that a control module is bad. From my research it looks like the majority of my issues are controlled by the same module but a couple are ran off different modules, leading me to believe a hand-over reset procedure is the most likely cure. Is the only way to do a hand-over reset with a PIWIS found at a Porsche dealership?

I've never heard of a hand-over reset with regard to Porsche . A PIWIS (or a Durametric) scan will communicate with the individual controllers. Once communication is established, functionality can be tested, faults cleared. There's a lot of non-functioning components in your car. Not knowing what has previously occurred, it is possible that the entire system needs to be re-programmed. Maybe one or more controllers was damaged or replaced without reprogramming. PIWIS is probably the best way to do this. Maybe firmware needs to be updated or re-flashed. BTW, the previous owner's story sounds a little fishy. A dead battery by itself should not cause these malfunctions. People remove batteries routinely for storage during the winter. Hooking a charger incorrectly might do this kind of damage, but a reset isn't going to fix it.

Yeah, swapping a battery did not cause all those issues. Could be the previous owner had the car jumped when the battery was dead. Tow trucks are notorious for using high voltage to quickly charge the battery - maybe a surge of excess voltage took out some controllers. I'd be pretty surprised if a reset is going to fix everything, but maybe. When I replaced the battery a couple years ago on my 07 Cayman , I pulled out the old and put in the new without doing anything special and had no issues.

I agree it seems odd. I have seen at least 3 or 4 threads where improperly installing a new battery has led to these issues. However, I cannot account for the rear spoiler and windshield wiper fluid not working. I guess I'll start with buying a Durametric and go from there. If one of the control modules is bad, could I install a new one and use the Durametric to reprogram? I would very much like to fix this on my own if possible.

Hmm, I'd be interested in reading those 3-4 threads - so many people swap batteries or take them out for the winter, it has to be something really weird to cause an issue. Do note that there are multiple versions of Durametric, and the $100/VIN mentioned above is for the Enthusiast version which has very limited (if any) programming ability. It can read status (lots and lots of status), clear some error codes, reset the maintenance flag, assert a few things for test, but not much else. There is a much more expensive professional version that can do more (~$1,000?). When I had an electrical issue a few years ago, my indy sent me to Porsche because it needed PIWIS , not whatever tool he had.

Looks like I'll be taking a trip to the stealership then. Here are a few threads with similar symptoms due to replacing a battery: https://********.com/forums/997-forum/471371-seat-heaters-homelink-not-working.html Heated Seat problems on 2006 Cayman S - 6SpeedOnline - Porsche Forum and Luxury Car Resource Boxster / Cayman - Heated Seat problems on 2006 Cayman S - Does anyone know where the fuses for the heated seats are? They don`t seem to be with the other fuses in the main fuse box. The reason I am looking is that the heated seats are not working at all, on both sides. No lights come on etc... www.6speedonline.com https://********.com/forums/porsche...man-and-cayman-s-all-generations/715183-2007-cayman-s-homelink-not-working.html Last one has same window issue.

Well that's pretty disappointing. Guess it is one of those random things where a bunch of controllers sometimes get themselves confused. Per the threads, it seems less likely to occur if you do a hard pull of old to new - worse is the battery slowly going down to below operational level. I designed automotive electronics for many years, mainly for products going to Ford. We always had to make sure the above scenarios could never happen, so I'm pretty surprised something as simple as battery replacement can elicit that behavior. Next time I replace my battery I'll definitely make sure I have my maintainer connected.

Hoping that a simple reset from the dealership will cure it. Already bought a NOCO battery tender . They are actually having an awesome sale on these today if anyone is interested. Woot! Coupon Code | 80% Off Coupon | Aug 2021 Use our valid Woot! 80% off coupon code today. Get great deals on clothes and accessories with Woot coupons and promo codes. slickdeals.net I'll update this post if I can work out a solution

Have you tried disconnecting the battery for 15 minutes or so then reconnecting. This will allow all the capacitors in all the control units to discharge and then allow the them to reinitialize when you reconnect the battery. Maybe during the battery change there were some glitches created by a not so smooth connection process and one of the control units didn't initialize properly and got some garbage data stored inside.

Going to keep the terminals disconnected overnight and see if that fixes it in the morning. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Did you purchase this car in this condition? If not, then it was running at some point and all these issues are new and unrelated to the battery change. Help me understand.

I bought it recently already like this and was only told that the seat heaters didn't work. Unfortunately, the other issues didn't become apparent till I digged a little deeper and against my better judgement the previous owner had very little service history that he could prove. I assume the battery was recently replaced because it has a date stamped on it for March 2019. This is going off what the seller told me since he only owned the car for 2 months. He bought it from the original owner but was unable to give me the contact info. Other than these minor issues it drives great and has done very well during 4+ hour trips. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Now I understand. Thank you.

Do not let the electronics drain down during a battery change... use a trickle charger. You will need to have a dealer or shop with a Porsche PIWIS Tester to re-activate certain items (i.e. hand-over). For the windows (auto up/down), you have to re-program them manually .

And you need a trickle charger that doesn't disconnect when the battery voltage goes away. Most modern chargers detect that fault and disable. The CTEK Multi US 7002 charger will maintain voltage, the others will not. Otherwise, you probably need a portable power pack or another battery.

My research led me to the conclusion the handover reset is the fix. My car sat for a long period without battery. The seat heat buttons are dead. My headlight washers don't work. But through the durametric I can run the headlight washers. Bougie if you do visit the stealer I'd be keenly interested in your results.

Will do. What type of durametric do you have? What does it show for the seat heaters? Does it show any of the other functions that don't work for me like homelink, rear spoiler, and the PSM. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Pelican history says I have this one: Durametric Diagnostic Tool for Porsche (1996-2015), Professional Package Option 3. I have to go off memory for now, the car is off in a barn at the moment. I know it recognizes the seat heaters, but no control offered. Homelink I don't recall. The rear spoiler, new paragraph. Let's agree my car was less than pristine as purchased. It ran, but dead battery off the truck. Owing to my keen sense of observation, I noted the reverse lights were on when I hooked up the charger. Car wasn't in reverse. No key in ignition. Spoiler didn't work. Rear hatch didn't open. Google suggested the rear body control module was at play. I picked up a used one. On install tail light functionality good, spoiler same, rear hatch ditto. The donor car was apparently a boxster as the rear wiper didn't work or show as present via durametric. I added/enabled rear wiper, checked the box or whatever and it came to life. It's been a regular driver for more than a year, sans seat heaters and headlight washers. btw less than pristine was not a surprise, price reflected a compromise.

I'm with you she's not perfect. But at 12k I'm willing to compromise with sorting out these minor issues. Mechanically, everything checks out. Will be doing the CV joint boots soon and all fluids, filters, etc. I could care less for seat warmers but the homelink, wiper fluid, and spoiler functions would be nice to have. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Update for anyone having similar issues. My local Porsche dealership was able to reprogram the battery fixing the seat heaters and homelink garage. The spoiler was fixed with a new module..apparently the switch was broken and the lack of windshield wiper fluid is due to a broken pump. Easy and cheap enough fix. Now have a 150k mile Cayman that is fully functional! Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk