997 Won't start! - Page 2 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

I wonder if anyone can help? September 2007 997S, 23K miles, serviced annually, always mollycoddled! When I went to start it about 3 weeks ago, first turn of the key brought just a click from the starter. 2nd turn started as normal. It had done this on a couple of occasions at the end of last year too. Same thing happened the next time and again last Tuesday when I used the car. Today, all I get is a click when I turn the key. My thoughts: Battery? It is the original so coming up to 7 years old. It's always been kept on a CTEK, and this does show the green light though it seems to go back on to the red light occasionally when just standing. After it failed to start today I connected a booster to the battery but this made no difference. If I turn the headlights on and try to start the dim very significantly. The doors open and close fine with the key and the dash lights up as normal, as far as I can see. Clutch switch? This was changed last year after I had the first inkling of an issue. I don't remember if it was then but today I don't get the 'depress clutch pedal' message so I don't think it's that. Earth lead? I understand there is a lead that can get corroded and cause no starting, but not sure which or where it is. Any help would be appreciated.

Sounds very much like the battery. Seven years is well beyond their life expectancy. If you are in the AA, RAC, et al, they will check the battery before replacing anyway. If the car is not a daily drive and is left somewhere secure, it may be worth popping the front trunk while there's still enough power to do so - bit of a hassle otherwise.

Trev450 said: Sounds very much like the battery. Seven years is well beyond their life expectancy. If you are in the AA, RAC, et al, they will check the battery before replacing anyway. If the car is not a daily drive and is left somewhere secure, it may be worth popping the front trunk while there's still enough power to do so - bit of a hassle otherwise. Thanks, Trev. Not in the RAC etc but the car isn't a daily driver by any means and your tip about popping the front lid is a good one. At the moment there is no sign of any difficulty in unlocking the doors or popping the trunk, and as I said the CTEC indicates the battery is OK some of the time, at least. If it were the battery, why wouldn't it start when I connected the booster?

REALIST123 said: Thanks, Trev. Not in the RAC etc but the car isn't a daily driver by any means and your tip about popping the front lid is a good one. At the moment there is no sign of any difficulty in unlocking the doors or popping the trunk, and as I said the CTEC indicates the battery is OK some of the time, at least. If it were the battery, why wouldn't it start when I connected the booster? If a battery is in a high state of discharge then often a booster is insufficient to provide enough cranking current. Since you are not dependent on the car for everyday use, it may be worth checking the main battery earth lead for corrosion and/or deterioration before proceeding with a new battery.

Trev450 said: REALIST123 said: Thanks, Trev. Not in the RAC etc but the car isn't a daily driver by any means and your tip about popping the front lid is a good one. At the moment there is no sign of any difficulty in unlocking the doors or popping the trunk, and as I said the CTEC indicates the battery is OK some of the time, at least. If it were the battery, why wouldn't it start when I connected the booster? If a battery is in a high state of discharge then often a booster is insufficient to provide enough cranking current. Since you are not dependent on the car for everyday use, it may be worth checking the main battery earth lead for corrosion and/or deterioration before proceeding with a new battery. Thanks again. No, the car's a toy really, so no dependency on it! I've just been out and disconected the CTEK and put my regular charger on to the battery. At the moment it is charging at 1 amp, which, in my experience doesnt indicate a fully charged battery, so you may well be right in your diagnosis. I am going to give that 3 or 4 hours and try again, assuming the charge level falls. I guess that would confirm things if it starts then. If not looks like I'll have to get someone out to test the battery and then see. Anyone know a good indie around Norwich? As far as the main earth lead is concerned, where is that located and does the battery need to be, or is it, disconnected when that is disconnected for cleaning? If its the one on the battery under the front hood, then it all looks like new. I had heard this in connection with an earth lead from the starter, I thought? Thanks again for your help.

Sticking starter solenoid.

WinstonWolf said: Sticking starter solenoid. Could be? Might explain why it would stick, then start next time. (why would it do that with a duff battery?)

REALIST123 said: WinstonWolf said: Sticking starter solenoid. Could be? Might explain why it would stick, then start next time. (why would it do that with a duff battery?) It doesn't sound like a battery failing to me, modern ones seem to die without warning. Symptoms certainly match a sticky solenoid. I used to keep a hammer in my old MKI Fiesta and give it a little tap when it stuck. And yes, I'm aware that sort of behaviour will probably be frowned upon by Porsche purists

Here's the latest. Went out to the car, after about 40 minutes on the charger and the charge is now showing 0.2 amps. Disconnected charger, and tried to start. Started perfectly, no clicking or anything else. Turned over on first twist, but I stopped before it caught, then started perfectly, so no sign of sticking starter, if it was that. Could a battery have a fault that would be temporarily corrected by a 40 minute charge? Anyway, at least I can take the car to have the battery checked tomorrow! So, just need a local indie. Autowerke, anyone?

Starters tend to stick randomly, my money is on that...

REALIST123 said: Here's the latest. Went out to the car, after about 40 minutes on the charger and the charge is now showing 0.2 amps. Disconnected charger, and tried to start. Started perfectly, no clicking or anything else. Turned over on first twist, but I stopped before it caught, then started perfectly, so no sign of sticking starter, if it was that. Could a battery have a fault that would be temporarily corrected by a 40 minute charge? Anyway, at least I can take the car to have the battery checked tomorrow! So, just need a local indie. Autowerke, anyone? Battery either on its way out. Too many short journeys means battery not getting a good charge. Alternator starting to die, as such not charging power. If you ever get a fault whilst driving about power/charge get it home or parked up ASAP, as you will have 5-10 minutes before the car leaves you stranded. The alternator failed on mine and I had to get it on a load as when the alternator fails, the car is driving on battery which is good for about ten minutes, once battery is flattened you loose throttle and the car will struggle to idle. Give the battery an over-night charge, see how you get on, if more issues, get a new battery. Then if you get the power/battery message on dash your alternator has gone, about £400 fitted at a specialist or around £800 from Porsche.

And you'll still have a dodgy starter IMO

Gibbo205 said: REALIST123 said: Here's the latest. Went out to the car, after about 40 minutes on the charger and the charge is now showing 0.2 amps. Disconnected charger, and tried to start. Started perfectly, no clicking or anything else. Turned over on first twist, but I stopped before it caught, then started perfectly, so no sign of sticking starter, if it was that. Could a battery have a fault that would be temporarily corrected by a 40 minute charge? Anyway, at least I can take the car to have the battery checked tomorrow! So, just need a local indie. Autowerke, anyone? Battery either on its way out. Too many short journeys means battery not getting a good charge. Alternator starting to die, as such not charging power. If you ever get a fault whilst driving about power/charge get it home or parked up ASAP, as you will have 5-10 minutes before the car leaves you stranded. The alternator failed on mine and I had to get it on a load as when the alternator fails, the car is driving on battery which is good for about ten minutes, once battery is flattened you loose throttle and the car will struggle to idle. Give the battery an over-night charge, see how you get on, if more issues, get a new battery. Then if you get the power/battery message on dash your alternator has gone, about £400 fitted at a specialist or around £800 from Porsche. I think it might well be the battery, but only because of its age, coming up to 7 years, as I said. The car is never used for short journeys. I doubt it's ever done less than 20 miles once started and usually a lot more than that. Besides that it has, since new, always been on a trickle charger when garaged. I'd be disappointed if the alternator failed after such a low mileage, and have never seen such a fault shown. Now that it's started I'll get the battery checked. If it is low, it has to be a battery issue, as even if the car wasn't charging it, the trickle is. I'll get the charge rate checked at the same time, and the earth lead.

WinstonWolf said: And you'll still have a dodgy starter IMO Point taken, Winston, or is it Wolf? I will have that checked too!! Don't think I'll be carrying a hammer, wouldn't know where the starter is to hit it, in any case. Thanks to you and everybody, I will let you know what the outcome is.

Just get it properly diagnosed before you replace functioning components I can't remember if you've got a voltmeter, assuming you have and it shows about 12.5 with the ignition on and rises to circa 14 with the engine running the alternator is fine. Slow cranking is more symptomatic of charge/voltage issues. Rocking the car in gear can also free a sticky starter if you get stuck

WinstonWolf said: Just get it properly diagnosed before you replace functioning components I can't remember if you've got a voltmeter, assuming you have and it shows about 12.5 with the ignition on and rises to circa 14 with the engine running the alternator is fine. Slow cranking is more symptomatic of charge/voltage issues. Rocking the car in gear can also free a sticky starter if you get stuck I take your point there for sure. I'm not going to go changing things unless there is a positive diagnosis. Just been out for a look and the CTEK is showing green, indicating a full charge. Not sure how accurate that is, or whether it might do that with a faulty battery anyway.

Any decent auto sparks will be able to test the battery and alternator in moments, doesn't need to be Porsche specific They'll pop something like this on and give you your answer http://www.workshopping.co.uk/product/carbon-pile-...

I had similar issues with mine a couple of weeks ago - turned out to be a dead cell in the battery. It was getting lazy starting, then wouldn't start at all. Then it started fine after an overnight charge, then it wouldn't start even with a jump. RAC got it going with their jumper (wouldn't jump from another car).

So, today, first two tries just resulted in a click, then it started 3rd time. Test on the battery showed it was a bit low on voltage but not much. Have fitted a new one (old one over 6.5 years old, original fitment, so not too extravagant) and it has been fine since then. Been running around and stopped started 6/7 times, no issues and does seem to crank with a little more enthusiasm. I'm not convinced the issue is solved but time will tell.

had similar problem .. took a while to get to the bottom of it: http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/997-gt2-gt3-...

SFO said: had similar problem .. took a while to get to the bottom of it: http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/997-gt2-gt3-... Thanks, that was interesting. The click faults sound exactly like what I get, so it may well be an ignition switch issue. I shall see how it goes. Is there any part of a car that Porsche builds, or has made for it, properly? Everything seems to fail well before it's time these days.

Well, it isn't the battery! Went out to the car just now. Click. Click. Wiggle the key in the ignition switch, push in and out. Starts fine. So, the ignition switch? Whilst I can see how that could be an issue I can't fully understand why it does what it seems too? What is happening when the starter, if that's what it is, clicks and how does a switch fault stop it completing its operation?

In simple terms the switch activates the starter solenoid which is a big relay. Where do you hear the click coming from?

WinstonWolf said: In simple terms the switch activates the starter solenoid which is a big relay. Where do you hear the click coming from? Somewhere at the back, where the starter is, I would say but I haven't paid that much attention. Is there something other than the starter solenoid that could click?