bigger issue then I thought - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Ok this is a long story.... Last fall when I was going to prepare to put the car away, I tried to start it to get her warmed up for an oil change. Long story short, she wouldn't start, so I changed the oil and pushed her into her spot for the winter. Fast forward to spring, I check the fuses, check and swap some relays, and of course check the battery. No start. I change out the electronic part of the ignition and bypass the clutch switch...still nothing. So I dig deeper, and get a new battery since mine was old....nothing. So now I decide to go for the starter after checking the forums. I order a replacement while I tackle the job of removing the starter. Turns out my starter is fine, so I re-install and return the starter. Now when I reconnect my negative cable to the battery I get a huge spark and the ground wire gets hot. So I recheck connections, I do a continuity check of my grounds and positive wires and all is good. I am told that it is the alternator, so that gets changed. No luck, but now when negative is connected the battery drains along with the ground wires getting hot. I've called my mechanic that is renowned in my area for Porsches and he is stumped also. Any ideas? The car is sitting with the top in maintenance mode obviously and I don't know what else to do....HELP!!!

Did everything else on your accessory belt seem to move freely when you did the alt?

Wow. Went about this all wrong. Never throw parts at a car like this. The no start is easy to TS. Does the tack move when cranking? If no, it's the CPS or crank position sensor. If yes, go through fuel pump diagnosis. As to the electrical short now, you've shorted hot to ground somewhere. You need to check all parts you bolted on for a pinched wire or swapped wires or battery backwards.

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I don't even know where to start to discuss with this. I think you need to do a better job describing your problem. You seem to be mechanically inclined with what you've done but the steps you took and why you took these route is beyond me. Why change a battery because it's old then change a starter because a forum said so and after bypassing safety switch to start a car? No start is too vague. Does it crank but will not start? Does it crank normally like before or is it slow cranking? Does the starter only clicks when you turn the key? Your issue with bad ground is probably from your starter wires not connected where they need to be.

Ok let me rephrase or explain...originally there was no cranking at all. Dash lights would come on and that's it. The only sound was the fuel pump activating. So the first thing I checked was the clutch switch by bypassing it. Problem remained, so I reconnected it. Then I replaced the electronic part of the switch that supposedly fails often. That didn't help either. Then, I did the starter, which I ended keeping the old one. I've checked continuity and all is fine there too.

Come to think of it, the shorting out problem started after I installed the starter....there is only 3 wires to connect. I can't see that I wired it wrong and they didn't seem to be pinched. I've searched for a good pic of the wires attached to the starter, but can't see any. If anyone has one, can you share it with me? I'm doubting myself now....

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Sounds like maybe two different, but maybe related issues. If I understood correctly -- turning the key only gets you the sound of the fuel pump, no cranking at all. General Question: Does the fuel pump activate with Key On but ignition off, if it does -- then maybe the problem is the ignition switch not energizing to Key On Ignition On. Might also be a problem with your immobilizer -- not sure if the fuel pump is done separately than the ignition/starter. Now why your getting such a spark and battery drain? Maybe it too is related to the ignition switch. Maybe somehow its internally stuck in an on (but not ignition on) state. Mike

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OK, you have recently had both your starter and alternator out of the car, and now have what sounds like a dead short situation. I would bet you either wired the starter wrong, or have pinched a wire somewhere. Before you incinerate the car and give it a viking funeral, I would disconnect the battery and check for continuity between the battery positive cable and the ground with a multimeter. If you have continuity, you need to disconnect (one at a time) the alternator and starter leads until the continuity goes away. Then the last wire is the shorted circuit. If you don't see any continuity with the battery disconnected, you have wired the starter incorrectly.

Thanks for the responses everyone. JFP, yes my battery is disconnected, and I just checked the continuity between the positive and ground cable and it's good. The shorting out happened after I uninstalled and re-I stalled the starter. According to this test, the starter is installed correctly. Any thoughts.

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My point was that if you have continutiy between the postive cable and ground, you have a continuous dead short in the system, which is not good. You need to now isolate that short.

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Sounds like you got your positive crossed with your negative. was the battery a mirror image of your old one with the positive and negative terminals reverse?

We've had this battery incompatibility issue before. The replacement battery is identical in all respects EXCEPT one little item - the terminal polarity is reversed. Lots in Search. Mark the ground/negative cable with marker paint pen to avoid confusion.

I haven't had time to look at it due to work, but the battery is the correct one and it hasn't been connected backwards. I will work on it tomorrow and give some updates. Thanks guys…

Ok so I've had time to look at it, and I'm still at a loss. The dead short started when I removed and re-installed the starter. When I remove the bigger wires from the starter, I don't have continuity. So now what? Forgive my ignorance.

Actually if I remove any one wire from the starter, I no longer get the continuity from the battery cables. I don't see any wires that are pinched either....any suggestions?

With the battery cables off the starter, test the post the positive battery cable bolts to and to the case or ground. Maybe the starter is bad?

Thanks for the reply 911monty, but I've tested the starter already. I took it out and tested it. I got this big dead short after I reinstalled the starter. I just don't know how to go about finding which wire would be causing the short. I don't see no kinked wire, and the wires all seem good. I want to use my baby this summer!