987.2 Reduced Engine Power, PSM errors - Quasi stranded in FL

Hi gang - Greetings from South FL. Sorry to have been so quiet for so long. Currently in the middle of another crazy Road Feast road trip (more on that later - hence why I've been flat out so busy). My 2010 Boxster 2.9L has 267K miles on the odometer and "Cherry" is still going strong. I'm about 1700+ miles out and have another 1700+ miles to get back home to Boston. This being said, I've run into a problem on the road here, that I figured I'd run by everyone. I'm trying not to panic (which never helps anyone), and luckily I'm at my folks place down in South FL. Car is safe and garaged, and I have rudimentary tools on-hand that I packed. I can also hit a Harbor Freight, Costco, etc. if necessary. Worst case scenario, is I have to ship the car home to deal with it and take a flight home. Very Expensive and a trip home dashed, but certainly not the end of the world. Let's think this through together, shall we? Aside from an unresolved Bank 2 catalytic converter issue surfaced during my last trip (I'll deal with when I get home), the car has sat for a few days in my folks' garage. No big deal. To be on the safe side, mid-trip, I figured I'd plug the battery in to the trickle charger (3A Deltran) overnight; I feel like the battery isn't hanging out at 12.6+ I also vacuumed the car and opened/closed the soft top. Today, in order to wash the car (palm tree got a bunch of junk on it earlier in the week when parked outside), I started it up and got a " Reduced Engine Power " error. That's a new one. Also got the got the PSM error and the Drive-Off error, both of which happen when a battery is disconnected. I drove her around the block for 10 minutes, checked the oil, car sounds fine. Figured the drive would clear the PSM, but it didn't. Put the car on the PIWIS 2, and saw a bunch of errors: My gut? Electrical errors. Car was fine until I plugged the battery on the battery tender. What's interesting is that the voltage is 12.4V (battery is 3.5 years old) while on the battery trickler and in the PIWIS, but it hasn't been terrible. Pretty average at 75% for the battery's age, especially with the car having been resting much these past two weeks -- but not entirely. Cleared all the codes, but the PSM (C200) and the P0122 Throttle Pedal persist and can't be cleared. Disconnected the PIWIS, and all three errors came back. No, I'm not comfortable driving another 1700 miles home until this is sorted. Yeah, I'm getting kind of anxious here. But I've got P9 here, so we'll see what's up. The first thing I'm going to do, before anything, is for me to try to temporarily remove the Pedal Commander, which has been rock solid since I got it. I love it so much, that I got one for my 981 Outlaw. Just a small PITA to remove given the difficult connector and the tight space. Next up? The car's battery. I had dropped in an H8 in there for extra reliability and CCA (especially as a winter car). Never a problem cranking the car, except for a brief misfire back in icy February up in NH where the car was left out overnight -- which quickly cleared itself. Car has cranked just fine in hot or cold -- so there's plenty of juice. But a low battery could indeed throw weird errors. Worst case scenario, is that I could go to Costco very nearby, and grab another H8 for $180. (Hell, I have to go grab one anyway for my folks' S550 Merc.) Screw the out-of-warranty DieHard from Advance Auto; the battery is 3.5 years old with just a 3 year warranty. They won't honor it, and now offer 4 years. Do I just drop $180 just to be safe? My gut is that a higher resting voltage isn't going to clear anything here. Meanwhile, none of this is giving me the good feels -- especially being so far from home. Anyhow, let me know what you think. Again, the only state change here was the 3A battery tender that I've used a ton over the years. I didn't even start the car. Thanks and hope to be able to get back on the road.

They are so voltage sensitive I’d be tempted to swap the battery. no rain and no wet floors?

Hi @Ric_in_RVA - Good to see you my man. Was typing the below while you posted the above. A huge thanks. It rained but car is bone dry. Drains are just fine. Okay - I'm not going to say it was premature to post this (as such threads helps the next person), but I'm guessing it's the Pedal Commander as I had suspected. Just removed it, no PIWIS yet, and turned on the car's electrics without starting the ignition. Reduced Engine Power Warning immediately removed, so I bet that's the issue and I'm tentatively optimistic for this being a quick fix. I suspect with a quick drive around the neighborhood, the other two errors will go away as usual after a battery swap. Methinks everything got confused. Wondering if it being on the battery trickled caused it to fail, but that would have been the state change. I doubt that vacuuming would have knocked anything out. Car had literally not moved. Next steps are to drive the car for 10 min, throw the PIWIS on it to clear any remaining codes, and then I'll be fine. But alll this being said, given I have such a long drive home, I'm half tempted to just say screw it, replace the battery at Costco (to rule any screwy low battery issues out), and then see how things go. If I'm feeling ambitious, I could then reinstall the Pedal Commander to see if that causes it to fail again. I'm almost wondering if the Pedal Commander is fussy with lower voltage. Who knows. Either way, the battery and the Pedal Commander is out of warranty. Finally, if I do replace the battery, it begs the question of H6/H7/H8. I modified the battery tray to accept the H8, which gives me extra insurance with the motorized top and other electronics, etc. But H7/H9 adds more weight to the car. Any strong opinions, let me know.

What’s the weight difference? Gas is about 7 pounds per gallon. When you think about it that way it’s not a huge deal.

The random nature of the codes you first read out certainly point to the not-uncommon low voltage bizarre error codes 987's are known for. Good the removal of the pedal commander cleared the remaining codes and error messages.. I was going to suggest that you try doing a "handover" reset if they hadn't cleared. New battery ? I'd do it. You have the luxury of being able to shop for one right now, something you probably wouldn't be able to do if the battery crapped out somewhere in MillTown GA.. there you'd take what you could get, and that usually results in a premium price. My experience with batteries of late is 3 years they're OK, 4 years you're pushing it. I suspect the quality of the recycled lead being used to make them has much to do with the issue. Keep us up to date on your adventures... your absence has been noticed.

Since the first sentence reads “ everything was great till I put it on the battery tender ”, the battery is the number one suspect. Hope that’s all you need..

Well, I'm pretty sure it's the pricey Pedal Commander that is malfunctioning, but thankfully it's largely fixed (or so it seems). I'll be taking it for a spin, popping it on the PIWIS to check for codes to clear, drive it around for a few days, and I'm likely good. Short version : If one disconnects the accelerator pedal, leaves it disconnected, and turns the key in the ignition to the accessory "on" position, you'll get the "Reduced Engine Power" message. Same if this Pedal Commander is connected in series. I'm guessing there's a likely a short or a bad contact somewhere with it. Too bad, as these things are very expensive and it's out of warranty. I love mine and bought another one last year for the 981 Outlaw. FWIW, I did go to Costco today on @deilenberger 's advice, which I was leaning towards doing, and got another H8. I saved the core and pack it in the frunk for my drive home. Figured it's still in good enough shape for the 981 Boxster, which surely needs a new battery at this point. Meanwhile, better safe than sorry. Curious if an extra ~60 lbs in the frunk will change the handling, and I think it will. Not too concerned about it. Thanks for the help/suggestions, and I'll check back if the final steps don't fix it. Cheers.

I don’t think you’ll notice the battery in the trunk in terms of performance, just make sure there’s no way that it’s venting or movement can cause damage. I totally understand on the additional device. My 944 came with a very expensive alarm and it ended up causing a drain on the battery , it took a while to chase it down to that. Good luck. Strange how the pedal commander was not an issue before given that you have used the trickle charger in the past with it installed.

@Boristhespyder - Thanks. Yeah, I'm puzzled but I'm almost certain it's the Pedal Commander. It has been rock solid. Brief test drive yesterday evening, and all was fine. A bummer is that for the 1700 mile drive home, I definitely notice a difference without the Pedal Commander. It's now sluggish, and literally requires more physical effort to jam the pedal down to get it to do what I want it to do. Not great for longer trips. I'll live. If this isn't a case for something like this in a 2.9L base, I don't know what is. Again, it doesn't improve the car's performance, but makes it "feel" better with more effortless driving. The other thing that was interesting, is that I set the original (spare) battery in the frunk, which is over the front axle. I definitely felt like something was different, to the point where I was wondering if the power steering was off, or if I've just been used to driving my mother's Mercedes this week. Definitely makes for heavier steering. Interesting. Clearing the codes today and more test driving before the drive north. Stay tuned.

Unless you plan on some sequestration, I would continue to use the front trunk. Or just ditch it for the core money, it is used right? Pedal commander = placebo, nobody neutered your torque and hp, use lower gearing when you need a shove in the back. Given what could’ve happened losing the magic pedal seems like a great day…

Interesting, hearing about your experience with the Pedal Commander . I have the Sprint Booster in my 987.1 and absolutely love mine. And I’m with you on the feel it gives you while driving. Even though it does not add any hp, it certainly feels like it does, placebo effect or not. One thing that came to mind, when I installed mine a few years back, there was an admonition in the instructions to never change any of the settings while there was an input from the throttle, i.e., foot on the gas pedal. My curious mind led me to think, what WOULD happen if one were to change a setting while giving it some gas. What would it lead to, what could happen? Would it be disastrous, permanent, could it be undone? I emailed the company inquiring as to what to expect, but never heard back from them. Disappointing, as a company should provide feedback when you have a concern. Annoying when a company will gladly take your credit card payment for a product but then ignore you after the fact. I should have been more persistent, but other distractions relegated it to the back burner. This is obviously not your case, but it makes me wonder if the message you received, ‘reduced engine power’ is what one would get if they did in fact change a setting while depressing the throttle. Perhaps your Pedal Commander just decided to go to sleep after years of use, triggering that message. Or could it have been some strange sequence of events, such as being on the trickle charger, vacuuming the car, vacuum nozzle hits the gas pedal…Although, this is a stretch since the key would have to be on, and you would have had to change a setting at the same time. But who knows, in our P-cars anything is possible. Seems though that it all points to the Pedal Commander in the scheme of things. Wonder if the company would bench test it to give you closure on your issue. And just maybe, in the interest of good customer relations, they would sell you a new one at a reduced price.🤞

@foodbiker great to hear from you again and (as you know) I did the 1,300 trip up to NJ from FL 3 years ago. At least you are not 7,000+ miles away from NYC like I am Got my 987B through the customs / inspection and registered. Kinda weird to drive around with an old 987 in central Seoul as most cars are relatively new (and modern looking), and many newer 911s

Hey guys, Thanks for your input and awesomely supportive thoughts! Update : Codes cleared again post H8 installation, went for a drive, no issues. Going to double-check the codes one last time and I bet I'm ready to roll again next week. @Boristhespyder - It's funny. Car definitely feels far more rooted and heavy with the extra weight on the front -- incredibly so. Not necessarily a bad thing, but just different and I hope it doesn't stress the car. Less sprightly handling and harder to move steering. Given that the voltage of the previous battery was 12.4V and the new H8 was 12.3V, I doubt the battery is far from trash yet -- but not good enough to take a chance. Back home, I think the battery in the 981 Outlaw is surprisingly the original from 2013, and has been well maintained, so I'll likely dump that one first for the core this summer and put this previous one in. I'm just so tight on luggage space now, so I'll be pushing my luck! Agreed - if this was the worse that happened, let alone at my folks' place, I'm quite lucky! @WTFChuck - You are absolutely correct. One isn't supposed change the settings up while accelerating, as it'll screw things up with the computer. In fact, I usually leave it in "Sport 1" position. In this case, the car just threw the error overnight. I bet the Pedal Commander just crapped out for whatever reason or there's a bad connection. I'm emailing back and forth to work out some sort of repair thing when I get home, but I'm likely going to be out $100+ for it and likely $50 for even just a bench test. If so, I'll deal with it later. It definitely makes a difference and I miss it already. Basically, I'm guessing I just lost what mimicked "sport" mode. @Hoster987 - Great to hear from you, and I'm so glad you made it to Korea safely with the car. Really hope all is well over there and customs was a breeze. It has to feel fantastic to be driving the car over there, and ideally you've found a place to store the hardtop for the summer. Cheering you on from 7K miles away! * ​ Anyhow, it is so great to see you guys here and thanks for chiming in. BTW, I haven't had time to make a formal announcement yet here on P9 (I'll do it when I get home), but go quietly check out Road Feast for a sneak preview. I kinda did a Food Biker rebrand over on Substack (which is white-hot right now), where's it's squarely cars and food (as opposed to motorcycles and food) and it's really taking off fast. Lots of P-car hijinks, food, crazy concours photography, and more to come and all that -- hence my 4250 mile trip last November and now this one that'll easily blow past 3K miles. I'll quietly invite you to subscribe to it; doing so is totally free. Details are over there. Any questions, let me know. @WTFChuck and @deilenberger - I'll reach out to you both when I have my return dates - it would be great to see you guys. Unclear what my route home will be, but at least the two of you are likely pretty certain if you're around. If others are reading this and want to meet up -- and my timing/location works out, I'd love to see you P9 peeps. I have lots of stops to make and must be back by 5/13 at the absolute latest, so it might not happen on this particular trip. Cheers, everyone.

Just seeing this. Sorry you had some issues with Cherry, but at least you seem to have it sorted. If you like the way the Pedal Commander makes your car act, you can always enable Sport Mode with your scan tool. It'll just be "permanent", ie, you can't turn it off again, unless you hook the scanner back up and toggle it.

Hey @theblooms - Sorry I wasn't able to swing by Chapin! Would have loved to see you, but the timing was stupidly tight on this run -- down to the hour. Next time! I'll have to look into that - I was never aware that Sport Mode could be permanently enabled! That's fantastic and a huge thanks.