11 captured repliesDiscussion pagination complete · Source accounts, not a confirmed diagnosis
THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHHard to start. Insight needed.
Leading reported evidence
Inspect clamps and posts and everything looks nice
Performed · outcome unconfirmed
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
I went out and took the battery cables off the battery and inspected the clamps and posts and everything looks nice and clean.
Leading evidence: 'Inspect clamps and posts and everything looks nice' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Check connections' (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.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
The battery is 1 month old and was tested yesterday to ensure that it wasn't the cause of the issue.
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Suggestion
After the battery connections check the connections at the starter...
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Suggestion
It very well could have been something as cleaning a connection.
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Suggestion · Original poster
The battery test reported that the battery was low on charge and needed to be charged up in order to be tested, which makes me suspect it's the alternator.
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.
11 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
Rennlist: 1 discussions
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Generation: 20261026T155324Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
My 996 has started to give me trouble with starting recently. I've done many forum searches but can't seem to find any posts matching my issue.
When I start my car, whether it's hot or cold, the starter engages but sounds like it barely has enough electrical power to start the car. One time it failed to start the car and started making clicking noises and I had to jump the car to get it going. Otherwise on the rest of the starts it simply sounds like it's struggling.
At idle, the battery is getting 13.2 volts from the alternator. The battery is 1 month old and was tested yesterday to ensure that it wasn't the cause of the issue. The battery test reported that the battery was low on charge and needed to be charged up in order to be tested, which makes me suspect it's the alternator.
At highway speeds, the voltmeter in the car reads around 13.5 volts. Service history on the alternator, starter, and ignition switch are unknown to me. Accessory belt is about 4 years old and appears to be in good condition.
Any thoughts?
It is not unusual for the "Y", cable from alternator to "+" and the starter, to corrode at the terminals under the insulation resulting in the symptoms that you report. IE: low charge and slow starter speed.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...07-019-01-M100
Ok this all very helpful.
I went out and took the battery cables off the battery and inspected the clamps and posts and everything looks nice and clean. I firmly put the clamps back onto the posts and tightened the nuts a bit more than maybe what I normally would. I started the car and she appeared to fire up with no issue or hesitation as before.
I noticed that the bolt on the negative clamp is bent a bit where the threaded section meets the non-threaded section. Maybe it's possible that this slight bend reduced the ability for the bolt/nut to completely seat the clamp onto the negative battery post? Maybe my extra torquing on the nut was just enough to do it.....but again, I'm not convinced that I'm not simply having a placebo experience. I find it really hard to believe that the fix was that simple and I'll continue to keep an eye on her.
As an EE I can assure you that any electric circuit is only as good as the connections between junctions. Poor connections = resistance which in turn = voltage drop. Corrosion at any electrical joint that carries substation current will cause issues. It very well could have been something as cleaning a connection. The best way to tell IMO is to monitor the voltage at the battery terminals with a multimeter while someone else is cranking the car. If the voltage drops low at the battery then the battery is at fault. If it does not then the circuit is at fault.
When starting the car, is it normal for the voltmeter on the dash to go from just above 12 before engaging the starter to down to 10 (Orange line) after starter engagement and then back to around 13 after the engine fires and idles?
What you described is normal except the last part. Once fired up, the voltmeter should read about 14v at cold start, then it should taper down to about 13.5v-14v as you drive the car. You need to measure the voltage generated by the alternator, it should generate at least 13.5v even with a/c and low beam on.
