This morning the Cayman wouldn't start. The battery was dead.
I hooked the battery up to a charger, got enough juice to get the car started and drove over to the Porsche dealership. The service department went through a bunch of checks and found that everything was fine but the battery. It had a few dead cells. So a new battery was installed and codes and faults were reset and I was on my way :burnout: with a much lighter wallet.
So here's my question.
The car now performs 100% better.
Of course the car starts much easier but it is more than that. For example, the (manual) transmission shifts are so much smoother and the accelerator is noticeable more responsive. That makes no sense to me whatsoever.
I am not one of these people who think a car runs better after it has been washed and waxed. :crazy: What's going on? Any theories??
Maybe the low juice has some negative effect on the car's electronics governing engine management and handling. I recently let my battery run down pretty far and when I tried to turn over the engine, I got various flashing lights and swinging needles on the dash, and the spoiler went up by itself and stayed there. I tried again and got nothing. It was dead as a doornail.
BTW, batteries are easy to install in these cars and you can save a whole load of bucks with a Die Hard or something else that fits. When I replaced the battery, all of the car's normal functions came back.
I wish I had known that. Oh well.
I guess they charged me $100 to set the clock. The invoice said that they removed the fault codes. I'm not sure what that means. They didn't install a Porsche battery. They sold me an Interstate instead.
I had the same thing going on that you did. My gauges were also going crazy. The windows were going up and down. Things were chiming and dinging. I didn't look at the spoiler but I'll bet it went nuts as well. It was quite a show.
Apparently the car registers fault codes whenever the battery goes dead or is removed. That's probably what they reset. Not everyone has had it as easy as I have in replacing the battery. Some have had problems with windows and other electronic bits not working as before. That's when you head off to the dealer. I had a "system fault-visit workshop" message on my screen several months before the battery crapped out. This was apparently due to my polishing the headlight covers with a microfiber rag. They charged me $125 to reset that.
Are you out of warranty? Does Porsche cover the battery under warranty?
That's a good question. When I called the service manager he said that I should be under warranty. When I left the dealership they charged me. I had to get home, change cars, and get to the airport to pick up my son and his family. I was in such a hurry that I didn't challenge the charge. Dumb.
But apparently batteries are a "gray area". In my case I think I had too few miles (17,000 in 3 years)
and since my car is kept in a warm garage I didn't keep it on a battery tender so maybe I didn't qualify. I'll call when all the chaos of three little granddaughters dies down.
Either way, a battery tender is my next order of business. All of my bikes are kept on tenders. I just never saw a need to do that with a car. I had a three-year-old Boxster that had 6,000 miles on it when I traded. The battery on that car was fine. Go figure. :crazy: Live and learn.
Most likely what was going on is that the dead cells were causing the battery to put a much higher load on the alternator. This saps horsepower, and will also have the effect of causing engine rpm drop faster during shifts, making it more difficult to shift smoothly.
Don't be surprised if sometime in the future you have a failed alternator, sooner than you would expect. If I'm correct about the cause of the performance difference, there's a good chance you've also been overheating your alternator.
Thanks. All of what you say makes real good sense. They did check the alternator and said it was fine but I will keep an eye on it. We'll see what happens.
