Took my car to body shop to have work done and now it doesn't run!!!!!

For those of you who don't remember, a few months ago one of my Porsche indy's rolled my 996 into a garage door, scraping the side of my car and smashing in the edge of the door. I finally dropped it off early last week and when I picked it up today they said that the car had not been running the entire time it was in the shop and that they had to push it around the entire time. Now, I have a racing battery (Oddsey pc680) and it dies if you don't drive it for 4-5 days, so I can understand that it might have died while they were waiting for my insurance company to come out and inspect the car. But still after jump starting the car and charging the battery it's still a no go....... What happens is that the car turns over and starts, but dies right away. If you give it some gas the engine will stay on, but it eventually stumbles and dies. Now my question is how is it possible that I drop my car off in 100% perfect working order, and then the car won't hold it's idle? This seems very strange to me........ Does anybody have any ideas on what could be causing this? Thx

Are there any diagnostics codes from the car? Could be the fuel is stale/bad depending on how old the gas is. Even with a jump that doesn't mean the battery is fit for service again, I would test it, and if required put in another battery, even if temporarily to eliminate that as a possible cause.

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It is unclear if the car was used up until you dropped the car off. But with logray I have to think 'bad' (stale) gas. Or the battery is or has gone bad. Maybe it simply does not did not like being allowed to discharge. Even though the battery appears to take a charge it may just be bad. A relatively easy test would be to try another battery even if it won't fit in the car arrange the test battery so it is secure, hook it up to the car's leads properly and see if the 'new' battery makes any difference. If the engine starts and idles and shows no signs of the earlier symptom.. battery! (Most likely.) If the same symptoms appear... Oftentimes cars in the body shop get washed and the engine and its electrics may just be wet/damp which based on my limited experience can at least result in a rough running engine along with a check engine light (sometimes flashing) and misfire error codes. The only time I had this happen -- once in each car -- the symptoms were fleeting. Might as well point out that if the car sat a while unused there is always the possibility rodents have been at the car. That this may have occurred may not be that obvious so you really have to check the car over for signs of rodents. Last but not least what was the extent of the repairs? Last thing touched and all that... Sincerely, Macster.

Diablo...this has been a long road for you. Are you telling me the insurance company took this long to settle what I recall was a very straightforward claim? You need to catch us up on what has transpired since your last posts.

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Nah, they were quick to settle and raised no issue whatsoever. The only reason it took so long for the repairs to be done is because I was traveling the last 6 weeks and didn't have time to turn the car in, etc. I had already arranged to have the car repaired at my specific body shop looooooooooong ago so that was never an issue, and my insurance co. said I could take as long as I wanted..... Btw, an update from my new Porsche tech. Apparently the intake hose (underneath the car) has completely disconnected and that's the reason for the problems my car has now. My only question is how the hell does that happen? When I dropped off the car it was running 100%, so that must mean that the body shop did something....... Do I just have bad luck or do these things happen randomly? Now I'm looking at another $500 to have the work done (re-connect the air intake and to tear everything down to make sure there isn't some other problem). I just don't get how I was able to drive the car to the body shop, pull into a spot, and them have them tell me 5 days later that my car won't start...... I love my 911 but now I'm wishing I would have just kept my factory warrantied SC430. It seems like every time I take the Porsche in for a repair or upgrade something else manages to pop up

DIY is a fine thing. Stay away from them repair shops. So you are saying that it is not the battery? Air intake hose to what? Photos would be a help.. I think they are still pulling your chain and ripping you off. $500 for what?

You said they pushed it around the whole time so in theory there should be no additional miles racked up. Did you check the ODO?

I've started vehicles with gas that's over a year old without issues. Condensation is another matter. If in a high humidity environment with great variances in day to night temps this can be a big problem. It's aggravated if your fuel level is low, your tank has water in the bottom the the pump picks up first.

Ok, here is a recap so far. The battery is 100% fine, and the gas is fine (I drive the car every day), and it is not that humid in Miami this time of year. I dropped the car off on Monday March 12th and the insurance adjuster came out that following Thursday. It then took another week for the body work to be done to my car. So on the 23rd, I call to pick up my car and they (the body shop) inform me that they the car never started and that they had been pushing it around the entire time. BULL****. When I pulled into the parking spot at the body shop the car was driving fine, and it was driving fine weeks and weeks before that. Now my Porsche tech says the problem is a disconnected intake hose (where it connects to the engine). How the hell does that happen when the car is sitting? FML......... Somebody is pulling my chain and/or has made a mistake and is covering it up......

What shop in Miami? Keep us posted... Always good to know who the responsible shops are/aren't in our area.

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Yes, I will do for sure. I'm just waiting to hear back from my indy on a 100% diagnosis so I can find out for sure if there is a reason why my car should not have started after I parked it at the body shop. Sometimes things seem too random and coincidental, but I want 100% assurance before I start making accusations.

I agree completely. Sometimes we are just unlucky. It seems absurd that someone would have moved or shifted your intake. No reason to even open the trunk.

I don't know, but it sounds like the bodyshop is yanking your chain, or pulling your hose.

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Is this diagnosis coming from the same shop that did the body work or a different place? It doesn't make any sense.

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+1 Did you take note of the odometer readings? Is the shop accustomed to doing high end sports cars? If not, I'd be very suspicious that they were out having fun at your cars/your expense.

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Sorry for the confusion, the shop that did the body work is denying responsibility for anything mechanical, so the diagnosis came from a Porsche indy right down the street. I had the body shop guys push it down the street for me...... The body shop that I took the car to works on VERY high end cars; mostly Maserati, Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes, etc. You won't find one single "normal car" in their shop. They take in a lot of cars from "The Collection," which is one of South Florida's largest luxury car dealership collections....... As far as odo readings I was stupid not to write it down. I have a feeling somebody in the shop drove it around, as the gas was completely empty when I picked up the car, and I NEVER let the gas get that low. The needle was literally as low as it could go.

Now for the most painful part I got a call from my Porsche indy this morning and he told me the problem was the impulse sensor and that is why my car wasn't starting. He said that when the body shop jump started my car that it could have caused the sensor to go bad via an electrical shortage. So now for the bad news, the cost of repair was almost $300 for the impulse sensor, and $700, yes, $700 for labor. My indy told me that he had to take out the entire intake manfold, air box, etc. FML......... Total cost of repairs was $1067 for the body shop jump starting my car (either inappropriately or too often or just once and that's my luck). I feel like I've been screwed by a lot of people in this long chain of events, first starting with the initial indy who f**ked up my car in the first place and who dicked around and didn't repair it for 2 months, causing me to have to take it to another body shop. Because of his dumb *** I now had to shell out over $1000 for this recent repair. This entire chain of events has now pissed me off to the Nth degree and for those of you in South Florida I will name the initial shop who set this whole chain of events in motion, just shoot me a pm. What an F'n nightmare......

Sorry to hear this. I can certainly understand your frustration. Best of luck getting this whole mess resolved. If it were me, I'd seriously consider small claims court. Probably not worth hiring a lawyer, but just filing a complaint in small claims court may prompt the shop to agree to a settlement. If, when you picked up the car, the gas tank was completely empty you can be sure someone at the shop was driving the car.

PM sent

2 words for you......Small Claims... sounds like my luck mostly not to my advantage

A few years back I took my Mercedes for detailing and someone at the shop spilled a drink on the shifter module and the car then ran like crap. They denied doing anything, but paid up promptly ($700) after filing a small claims suit.

Just want to say that I am really sorry for your string of bad fortune. I hope you resolve the issue and I can understand how frustrated you are. There are some ******* in this world and you certainly know a few by now. A lesson learned. Get some of your frustration out by walking in on them and calling them for everything under the sun. Put a web page up blasting the place down. See how they like that. Tell them you are going to do it and take photos of the front of the place. Then let us all know where this place is and let us know on these forums so we know where not to take our vehicles. Name some names.

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The body shop, right?