dead battery on a CPO car, very long warning...

One of the reasons I bought this car was because it had a CPO warranty (2003 w/6k miles). I assumed most of the 100 (?) point inspection was done. Wrong. I will not name the dealer but have decided to post the story because I figure there are learning points here for others. Got stranded at LGA airport Thurs night in a monsoon with a dead battery, 11pm. Was not a happy camper. I had power to unlock the doors/trunk and got the normal panel lights when the key was turned (doing the oil test I seem to do more often). Engaging the starter, however, all I got was a rapid clicking down to single clicks on the next couple of tries. After getting completely, and I do mean completely, soaked walking to the guard shack (employee parking), I got a jump. Now I do read owners manuals carefully, I have been a pilot for 30 years, but I just defaulted to jumping via the battery up front. More on this later. It worked and I got 13.8-14 volts charging. Good deal. Not a single switch had been left on and it had sat for only 3 days. As I let it warm and charge I wondered what could have caused the discharge. Off I went 10 mins later. Drove 30 miles totaling a 40 minute charge. Everything looked normal and I stopped for coffee at midnight on the Hutchinson River Parkway, Westchester, NY. It had been a long day, coffee was a neccessity, trust me. Before shutting down I ran it with all systems off for a few more minutes. Jumping back in- it was dead again. I mean dead. One click on the starter dead. Nice. Got a fellow traveler to jump me in the rain and in NY- trust me, that is unusual!!! I could not get it started this time- battery to battery again (I know, it's coming up..). They were driving a little junker so maybe that car did not have the juice to do the job but at the time I was thinking we have something more here than a battery issue. Called Porsche roadside while drip drying inside. They said they do not service the Hutchinson Parkway. We discussed how the roadside agreement states "anywhere in N. America" but she could have cared less. No and "we will not cover it" either. A "high risk" not covered road. C'mon, one of the only two southern highways going from CT-NY and you don't cover one of them??!! As you can imagine, I am not happy now. Called the cops, they come, I got more wet, he verifies my position and calls the tow company that has the secret handshake in that town. This took 2 1/2 hours. At 2:30 am the truck shows up. Time to get more wet. Now I am shaking like a drowned rat and tired beyond words. Having nothing to do for hours I had reviewed the whole mess and manual and now knew precisely how to unlock the hood and engine compartment via the fuse panel. I was expecting to have to do that, my last failed start attempt left me with virtually no battery at all. I also now had refreshed my memory on the engine compartment terminals and that is what we used for an immediate start. I drove home arriving at 4am parked it, jumped it in the am and went to the dealer. I showed them the CPO checklist where they had never done the battery checks and got some bs about we did it just didn't log it. They said it couldn't be a bad battery, we checked that, must be something else. One hour later I left with my new battery. I just looked at the guy like half the cells are dead in the 4 weeks since I bought it right, but you swear you checked it out. Right. Now the part that ties all this together- this was the 4th issue since I got the car that this dealer had not actually addressed before pencil whipping the CPO checklist and selling me the car. Here are the others. RMS leak, wheels out of balance and the required 12 month service (oil change etc) never done prior to delivery (to me). All of these have stories too. Most of the stories surround me questioning them, being fed a line of bull and then having to go back and do the actual service later. If anyone has a question about these other three issues I will gladly respond. The point of the whole deal is that I learned something about jumping, something about our trusted raodside service and a lot about the dealers and what they really do for the CPO warranty checks. All of the above work was done for "free" (warranty) if you call the first month of painful ownership free. PS, I still love the car...

CTO - I had the same issue with my battery after flying back in from Las Vegas. 3.5 year old car. Sorry about the other issues.

Tough night. In my 29 years of returning to airport employee parking lots after 3-4 day trips, I, too, have had a few of these nightmares .... only those were in an old pickup truck, or something similarly unreliable. The ultimate was when the guard shack guy shrugged his shoulders at 1 AM and reported his jumper cart didn't work (after I trekked across the 100 acre lot to find him). Once I bought my 996, I certainly never expected to come back to anything like your experience. I would have been bummed beyond words. The only point I would make about your story is that the pre-sale inspection nightmare does not apply to all "dealers", as you seem to sum up. It certainly does to some, as stories here show .... but I was on the receiving end of much higher quality service in my PPI (not even with a warrantly), and I truly appreciate the effort the dealer (Park Place in DFW) put into it. There are still some good guys out there among the dealers.

Anyone who doesn't replace an original factory battery within two years or buys a car used not knowing the car's history without replacing the battery immediately just isn't thinking straight As we all know, batteries over two years old can go bad overnight.

Batteries fail randomly, often. The battery could have been checked thoroughly and still might have failed, maybe even as high as 50% of the time. During use metal sloughs off of the plates and settles to the bottom. Once it accumulates enough height it shorts out the plates at the bottom. A sudden "jar" can also result in shorting the plates as a result of the metal debris piling up on one side of the battery. This is also the time of the year, spring, when poor (dirty, corroded) terminal connections seem to become more prevalent. The symtoms you experienced can often be resolved simply by cleaning and burnishing the battery posts and connections. All that being said the 996 series (at least my 99 and now my 2001) does seem to have a problem sustaining battery charge over a period of days. Having had your experience, luckily always at home in my garage, I have discovered that if the battery is deep-discharged it seems it must be recharged over a period of hours not minutes. What I have noticed is that my charger will only "trickle" charge a deep-discharged battery for the first few hours and then the charge rate goes up dramatically and onc ethat happens the battery will be fully charged within 20-30 minutes. Discovered the above the hard way. Deep discharged battery wouldn't seem to take a charge during a decent drive distance so I bought a new one. Put the removed one on the charger and noted only a trickle charge going into the battery so I assumed the battery was toast. Inadvertently left the charger connected and then the next day discovered the battery was fully charged. Not by any means making excuses for the dealer, ANY dealer, I don't even like having to buy a car from them, let alone service it.

My car is a MY00. The present battery was installed some unknown time before I bought the car, 16 months ago. I weekly park the car for 3 days at the airport, and, addition have had a number of 6 day periods there, along with two, 2-week vacations in which it sat in my garage. At no time during this period was there any problem with the battery upon my return to the car. Is it an over generalization to say the 996s have the problem as you state, or is my car the serendipitous exception?

Batteries can be unpredictible--2 year old batteries die and 7 year old batteries function well and both are treated properly. My recently acquired 2002 C4s turns 4 years old in a couple of months and although the battery seems to be fine I'm tempted to replace it in the near future just to play it safe. What is especially troubling is the report that 1/800 PORSCHE does not service the Hutch Parkway. Incredible! I'm going to call tomorrow to double check that and if true I'll contact Porsche USA. Other owners in the area should do the same. West Coasters may not understand that this is indeed a major thoroughfare and it goes through Westchester County, a pricey suburb and not some blighted ghetto area.

CT03911 How about the town where the car was purchased? Was it Ct or NY. I was fed a bunch of crap when i bought my 02 CPO in october 04 from Roslyn, NY. Thankfully, the car has been good, but they lied about bodywork that had been done. The GM who was responsible has moved on i'm told to Legend in Amityville, NY. BTW PCNA could care less.

I got my battery checked a few days ago -- and I'm in the same boat. Nice 13.6 V alternator voltage, but weak battery charging voltage. I also have after market navigation and a big CD amp. Is there any recommended battery as a replacement?

i am sorry to hear your story, but dont trust CPO, just b/c the car came from a dealer. i know of SEVERAL dealers that cheat the system. here are some personal (first hand exp). i crashed a car, 15k to fix, i sold it cheap to dealer disclosed what happend. they turn it around CPO'd and sold it. porsche doesn't not certify cars that has had accidnets, certainly one that had 15k of damage. i know of a car that had been CPO'd (supposedly). yes, the car was warranted by CPO, but the dealer NEVER laid a hand on it let alone 100 point check, i know b/c the car had a lug bolt fused in the lug hole, you need to weld something to it and crank it off. they told me they CHK'd it. hahahah, the same damn lug bolt is STILL fused in there? so.... they pass the car with CPO when they didn't take wht wheels off and the rotors was crack to the point that i am scared to drive it (trust me, crack are at least 1/2" in length, multiple holes connecting i can go on) and that needed NO replacement?

Sorry to hear about your troubles. But please, please, please, hit the occasional return key and create a few paragraphs. My eyes are burning

cpo checklist is a joke. cpo merely give you add'l partial warranty. do not rely on cpo to ensure services are done up to date and all issues are corrected. ppi, service history check are your best bet. as for battery, it's best to replace it every 4-6 yrs. there is usually some signs of battery drain such as dimming light, fast battery drain with key in ignition's off position. replace the battery immediately when this happens. keeping a jump start pack in car would be a wise choice for anyone not driving their car often. pcna service is really bad. don't rely on them for roadside. get roadside coverage thru insurance co instead or get AAA.