I am about to be on my 4th battery since February in my '09 2.9. One of those failures was my fault having left the radar detector on. The rest have been something of a mystery. Most recently the car had not been started for three days and when I attempted to start it the battery was completely dead. I charged it to 100% and it seemed fine until two days later it was completely dead again. I charged it back to 100% and took the vehicle to the dealer. They are now telling me they have detected an intermittent but substantial draw on the battery that they have not been able to duplicate twice when all systems should be shut down. Thoughts or ideas?
Well--my car has now been at the dealer for one week without a definitive answer as to what the problem is. When I spoke to them yesterday they said they were removing fuses one at a time in an attempt to isolate the intermittent draw. Very frustrating.
Hang in there, they'll get to the bottom of it for sure!
They are testing for a parasitic drain. Pulling fuses is the only way. I had an 09 Cayman that had a pass. window motor/control unit killing the battery
I feel your pain (4+ weeks at the dealer for my mystery CELs
).
This is good to to know to validate what they are doing as a solution. Thanks everyone for your input.
This is why I love this forum. It's the best accessory for our cars!
Well after almost two weeks in the shop I have my car back. After the dealer determined there was an intermitent electrical draw when the car was shut down they replaced the computer. They were not able to replicate the condition consistently so after talking with Porsche North America they decided on the computer replacement. I hope this takes care of the problem but I'm not 100% convinced. They also didn't replace the battery after it has been drained completely-- twice now. They did say they would consider replacing it after it's determined that the computer replacement fixes the problem. I really hate leaving my car at the dealer for any length of time. When I got it back the interior was covered in a thin layer of dust----as if the doors had been left open in the shop the entire time; the front trunk had dusty foot prints all over the carpet where they had stood to lift the battery out of the compartment; and worst of all there was about a 1" scratch on the driver door sill--almost like a gouge. Very iritating.
DWF:
Yeesh! Nice dealer! You have any others around? This shouldn't happen at a service. I don't have that problem at any dealers I've ever been to. I do most of my own service for just this sort of reason.
I would check the button in the trunk that shuts off the trunk light when you close the lid. Once whatever this is is fixed, know that the anti theft alarm uses a bit of juice, so if you park your car for long periods in the garage, leave it unlocked.
My doorsill, the black piece that's next to the door carpet is really scuffed up. Someday, I'll just replace it. If you use the car a lot, there's no good way to avoid scratching it. It may be possible to buff it out, but if they don't cost a lot, replacing might be easier and better.
I'd call them out on that scratch. My dealer put some gouges into my door sills and they paid to have them recoated. A scratch is a little tougher, but they should at least pay a detailer to touch it up.
I am not sure if Porsche has the specs.... but hooking a meter up to each of the fuses will determine if a subsystem is draining to much current. This will narrow down the search.
To your other situation regarding getting the car back with scratches and the like. In the future, when you "drop off" your car for servicing, please make it a point of asking for one of the service people to inspect your car prior to repairs... for dings and the like.
My dealer in Naples, Florida makes it a practise and I will walk around with the service person and inspect the car with him or her. And, clearly state that there are NO scratches, dings and the like on the car and ask them to please make note of it.
When I pick up my car, I do a through inspection to make sure ALL is OK. If not, that is the perfect time to walk back in and log your complaint.
All good ideas. On the battery drain--I believe they have attempted something similar to what you describe. The problem has been that it is intermittent and difficult to replicate. I plan to mention the scratch to them--I need to take it back as the garage door opener no longer functions after they installed the new computer nor is it allowing me to re-program it.
i would also look into the door locking or not. I have a recent ford and a dodge and both of them had the same curious thing happen. First, the ford went dead in the garage for no reason, fresh by a few weeks from the dealer. Boosted it and not even a week later, was dead again. Replaced the battery, but yet again it went dead. So I decided to track down the issue.
Really simple. I sat in the car and waited and listened. after a few minutes, a small, really low fan like noise started, then stopped and after a few minutes, it could be heard again. I let this go on for about a half hour, then , and I don't know why I thought of it, I locked the door and sat there some more. Sure enough, no more noises. I went to the dealer and told them what I found and they treated me like a fool, saying there was nothing in the design that would do that. Bull***t I say, I head it myself. Less than a year later, i left my dodge parked for three weeks in the garage when I went on vacation, and when I got back, that had a dead battery. Thinking it was a little old, I replaced it with a fresh one and about a week ago, it went dead again. I boosted it and went to sit in it as well and low and behold, the dodge was making strange motor solenoid type sounds every couple of minutes. I locked the door and sat listening again for another half hour and never heard a another sound. It looks like the two vehicles are trying to shut down or ventilate but since the door is not locked, it thinks you are still near and will be needing a fresh and wide awake vehicle to use. I have read quite a few post about other people never having that problem, but I wouldn't think for a second, having had this unsolvable issue myself, that it can't exist. It does and it drove me crazy for months until I solved it. So, the ford has been close to 2 years with a good battery, never going dead because I obsess about locking the doors, even in the garage. The dodge, I really was in denial, but it seems to have solved that issue as well. Time will tell.
Welcome to the forum! You may want to check the date on this old thread. It's from 8 years ago and almost 2 years since the OP even logged in to the site
