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THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHCharging system suddenly not working - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Reported or suspected cause
battery, a connection or the alternator
Reported cause
No successful repair reported for this finding.
1
Identified cause
0
Suspected cause
0
Reported fixes
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Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that report identifying a cause
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Reported cause
Right now, you haven't really determined weather your culprit is the battery, a connection or the alternator.
Charging system suddenly not working - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Leading evidence: 'battery, a connection or the alternator' (1 discussions report identifying this cause; no attributable repair resolution). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'battery, a connection or the alternator' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Run very slowly' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
Source reports, not a diagnosis or a success probability. Counts refer to discussions and can overlap.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that suspect a cause
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suspected cause · Original poster
I called my mechanic and he says likely the alternator failed, but will check it out tomorrow.
Charging system suddenly not working - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Run very slowly
Suggestion or failed attempt
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
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Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
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0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion · Original poster
You could hear the motor for the top was running very slowly.
Charging system suddenly not working - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Coverage and how to read this overview
Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
4 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
986Forum: 1 discussions
0 evidence records excluded for query context · 0 excluded by outcome qualification · 0 adjusted by outcome qualification.
0 acknowledgements have no verified action link; they do not establish a repair result.
Generation: 20261026T203514Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
My wife and I took our '03 Boxster S on a 300 mile round trip today. At almost exactly the 1/2 way point, on the top of the continental divide in Rocky Mountain National Park, I pulled over at a scenic overlook and the car would not restart when I was ready to go. Just clicked rapidly and the dash lights would flash on and off as it clicked. Luckily, I was able to roll start it from where it was parked and drove it all the way home without shutting it off.
As I got close to my house I put the top back up and it barely made it closed. You could hear the motor for the top was running very slowly. As soon as I got home I put a volt meter on the battery terminals while the car was running and it showed 10.71 volts. Then I shut the car off and it still showed 10.71 volts.
After partially charging the battery, it now shows 12.46 volts, I'm still charging the battery so I haven't started it again, but I know it's not going to show a charge from the alternator. I called my mechanic and he says likely the alternator failed, but will check it out tomorrow. He said he can't believe I was able to drive it at least 150 miles without an alternator and with it showing that low of voltage by the time I got home. I feel extremely lucky that I was able to get home. Thank God it wasn't at night as I'm sure I wouldn't have had enough juice in the battery to get back.
The car only has 32,000 miles on it (I've owned it since 2008). I get that it is starting to get old, but is it common for the alternator on these to go with that low mileage? This is the very first time anything has actually failed on the car. And, there was no idiot light or other indication when the charging system failed, so the first indication was when the car would not start. Is that normal?
Glad you made it home safe!
I agree that 32K miles is not a lot on an alternator but things do happen.
Right now, you haven't really determined weather your culprit is the battery, a connection or the alternator.
How old is your battery? Is the water level correct (no such thing as a maintenance free battery)?
Need to read the output voltage from you alternator, as you mentioned.
I wouldn't loose confidence in your car from this incident, nor would I expect other wear and tear item to fail.
I feel pretty confident from my voltage tests with the car running and off, that the alternator has completely stopped working. My battery was all that got me home, so it's doing better than I thought it would be as I planned to replace it as a preventative maintenance item this season. It's about 8 years old.
The car is going to my mechanic tomorrow so we'll see what happened.
Buy one of these and keep it around, not a replacement for a true system check out....but will tell you a lot quickly for 7 bucks
New Easy Quick Battery Alternator Tester 12V 12 Volt System LED Cars Trucks | eBay
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