At a loss. 05 Boxster with electrical gremlins

Hey all, looking for wisdom here. I recently purchased an 05 base to fix up and I am at a total loss. I have been chasing this starting gremlin to no avail. I go to turn the key, the car won’t start. I depress the clutch and the message is telling me to depress the clutch. I do so and nothing, I put a meter on the switch and it registers as good to go. I bypass with a 10amp fuse as a jumper and still gives me the depress clutch message, I then check the opposing ratcheting button and everything works there. I still get that message. All new fuses front and back all tested before and after install. Brand new battery. Lives on a tender. i don’t know what else it could be. Another thing, I plug in my icar euro reader and the reader won’t read obd diagnostics either. Could it be the ignition switch? I mean it goes through all of the readings but nothing. Not even oil level would read. So any sage advice would be very helpful.

I have a 2005 Boxster Base and the FIRST thing I would do is make very sure that the battery is as fresh as a new one. It's amazing how crazy this car behaves with a weak battery. And by weak, I mean charged enough to start the car, but not charged enough to keep the electronics from acting like it is haunted. The second thing I would address is getting your ODB diagnostics sorted. I don't know why your icar isn't behaving properly. I have the IcarV2 with the Porsche license and it is a necessity for troubleshooting the various issues my car came with. I eventually addressed EVERY issue the car had, including that pesky clutch (and brake) switch, and now have 100% functionality Porsche . Amazing car. Incredible value equation. I hope you get yours sorted. Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

One quick check if you can do it is check the ground wire going to the clutch switch. One of the wires should go to ground. These cars are notorious for having grounding issues as they age. Here are some diagrams that may help.

Why wouldn't you just replace the clutch switch? They are inexpensive and uncomplicated to install. The switch may appear fine under testing but if there's any problem depressing the switch on the floor when you depress the clutch, it very well may show up with the symptoms you describe.

When I first acquired my car, I could depress the clutch and try to start it and would get the message "depress clutch" I then would do so again, or twice more, until the message went away. That $22 switch can be inconsistent. And beware that I couldn't get the alternative brand (made in Italy) to work well because the adjustable plunger wasn't robust enough to plunge without losing the length required. Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

The reason why I didn’t replace the switch is because it works. I took it out, then apart and cleaned it threw a tester on it it works every time I hit the switch. I was trying to find the reason why the message would appear even after I jumped the switch.

I find it odd that the reader would not read the obd but works on service and diagnostics. I have another obd reader that won’t read the car either. I can read problems but it just won’t communicate with the obd side? Make sense? It’s the icar euro model. I’ll throw it on another car to see.

I wonder if Porsche specific, rather than Eurocar makes a difference? Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

I went ahead and bought both switches for the clutch and replaced them. And I am still getting the same message and the car isn’t turning over. Also I plugged in my icar euro into my Land Rover and it worked fine. Read obd and diagnostics.

Sounds to me like you have some bigger wiring problems. Maybe as simple as grounding issues, but could be more complicated. The only recommendation would be to trace out the wire for the clutch switch all the way back to the computer. Along the way, you may discover the cause of the other symptoms. For simplicity, I might suggest putting in a fuse/jumper at the clutch switch, and then tracing that wire back. I think you might need schematics to help make this possible, but you could just work carefully and figure it out on your own as well. Not a fun process... might be easier to visually check all the bulkhead connectors, cable harnesses, etc for breaks, burns, cuts, etc. Then you can try the probing... but none of this sounds fun to do.

If you have access to the TSBs (like Alldata), TSB 941/14 relates to a corrosion problem on one of the power leads through the front bulkhead for 2005-12 Porsches. Looks like the battery positive cable connects to it in the power distributor box? "In the event of complaints relating to the overall power supply on the vehicle and if a "corroded pin in the power distributor" is determined as the cause of the problem, the pin (--> Item 1 is old style) must be replaced. Complaints can include various malfunctions in the vehicle electrics (fault in PCM, failure of power windows or similar problems) or various error messages displayed in the instrument cluster."

Actually here's a link to the PDF: https://rennkit.com/wp-content/uplo...content/uploads/2018/10/Power-Distributor-Pin-Technical-Info-Bulletin-41_14.pdf

Hey all, Thanks for all of your responses. I was able to get the car back up again after removing all fuses and following an altered fuse diagram. It is back up. Unfortunately. I went to get the car registered this past weekend and get it to the shop for other diagnostics. (Cylinder missfiring. Wet plug in cylinder 6 after changing all coils and plugs.) Since the car had a bonded title out of state I would have to jump through a lot of hoops to get it registered correctly. So, I think, I will just have to be forced to part it out. I will be posting the car on the classifieds side. If you have a part you need reach out and I will see what I can do to get it to you.