car died on the road

If anybody saw a silver C4 on the sunset strip (Los Angeles) today in the center divider waiting for a flatbed for 3hrs that was me. My car died all of a sudden, it would turn over then go out. I am not mechanically inclined but after a search here I figured it is probably the alternator? The car has 70,000 miles on it and is a late 1999 model. Has anybody else had this problem? Could it be something besides the alternator? When I turned the ignition the voltmeter was barely at 12V whereas it usually runs near 14V. The car will go into Beverly Hills Porsche on Monday but any advice would be greatly appreciated so I will know what to expect. Thank you in advance. Raffi

My alt on my 99 ws just replaced. No big deal; $780 including tax et al. I would replace the battery if you already haven't since that is on limited time. Philip.

Thank you very much Phillip. I hope that is the only problem.

If you don't already have a service advisor, make sure you see Larry. He's top notch and takes care of everything well.

I have a huge problem with my 993 that sounds almost like yours. It dies all of a sudden and refuses to start, the engine turns over but the fuelpump doesn't do it's job. Then the car starts after a couple of minutes. I've been having this problem for 2 months now and Porsche doesn't know what to do. The only thing left to do now is to change the ECU. I would appreciate if you contacted me with the solution to your problem when it's taken care of Raffi.

Miraculix, Have you tried changing your DME relay? This controls the fuel pump and they can be know to fail causing cut out & starting problems. I carry a spare one at all times! On my 964 it's Relay R41 in the front fuse box. It's worth a try & very cheap too! Andy

This happened to me with my old 80 911SC on a trip from MA to Ohio, in the middle of summer. It would die, but after a long wait, it would start again. In Dayton, Ohio, I brought it to the dealer (this was back in '88, forgot the name) and after a couple of days, they still couldn't find it. I told them to keep it until they found it since I didn't want to try driving back and end up stranded. So they let it run and run and run. Finally, they found it. I forget the actual name of the part but it was a "computerized" box located in the engine compartment. That fixed the problem. For what it's worth, the module didn't last very long, a few years later, the tach was going "screwy" and it was replaced again with a non-Porsche module which lasted for years until I finally sold it. Charlie

miraculix, I will definitely let you know the outcome. When the problem first occured I thought it may be something like a fuse for fuel pump or engine electronics like you and the others say. I had previously had problems with blown fuses for other things like cluster illumination... Fuses checked ok this time, I wonder if the dme or ecu will prove to be the culprit though.

They've almost changed every part there is to change in the car except for the ECU. I'll make sure to talk to my dealer about that box in the engine room Charlie. The strange thing is that the ECU was replaced with a new one by the past owner, 2 years ago..

Well, the problem turned out to be the fuel pump. I guess they already checked that out on your car miraculix. Sorry i couldnt be of any help. The dealer charged me $375 for labor, found the fuel pump online for $270 so I guess I still can survive with a porsche out of warranty. Thanks for the help guys.

I'm glad your problem got solved raffi Me on the other hand, might just be Swedens unhappiest Porsche owner.. But, looking at my avatar makes me feel better, hehe I'm thinking of selling that old damn 993 that no one seems to be able to fix and then buy a 996 instead. I'm sure I'll be more happy with a newer Porsche. I just thought Porsche was a good quality car... I was obviously wrong...

hey miraculix, with 996 prices dropping so low, you cant lose by picking up a nice clean low mileage that may even have a couple of years of warranty left. good luck

Well your avatar was fun while it lasted.