So I've had the croc for a few months now, and I am of course over the moon with it.
Then soemthing weird happens ...I fly a bit with work and prefer to use valet parking so I can just get straight out of the airport and jump in the car and head home. I did this twice with the new car with the BA people at Heathrow and it all went smoothly (I've used them a lot before and all fine!). Then I fly a different airline and used CPS from T2.
I get off the plane and phone, and then I hear the words "oh yes...er...we have a problem with your car" - I guess you guys can imagine how I'm feeling at this point.
To cut a long story short, the battery is flat. Totally. It's been four days. The car is less that 3 months old. They *say* it's because it was parked next to the runway and the alarm *may* have been going off constantly. Seems unlikely to me, and I reckon that they left the lights on....
Well, eventually they jump start it and now it's all fine again. Just wondered if anyone else had had the same issue?!
There are several topics about batterys all pointing to the fact that the Cayman electronics use a lot of juice. Failure after four days points to any number of things that could cause the problem such as leaving the key in the ignition, not closing a door or hatch, leaving the lights on, having electronics connect to a hot switch (cell phone chargers, radar dectors) and so on. The problem is increased if the car is not driven enough to get the battery fully charged. That is a factor of speed and miles and if the car only gets occasional use the battery will not get to a fully charged state and any of those things mentioned above can do it in.
Given the complicated process to get to the battery once it loses its charge I'm surprised that they had the knowledge to jump start it.
It is probably the valet. If the lights or turn signal is on, you battery will be dead. I have left my car in the garage for two weeks and it is still fine.
same old story; which is, do a search on this site for lots of previous discussion re batteries. I recently posted that i left my cs for 5 1/2 weeks (unlocked) and it started ok. I seem to recall that leaving the car locked can drain the battery faster. Also there have been some defective batteries replaced in near-new cars. Four days seems problematic, even locked. If nothing was left on, sounds as if your dealer should check it out. I doubt many of us would have entrusted our Cayman to an airport/valet/parking service but, after all, the car should work properly, even used in that way.
Since the key is sensitive it would also be easy for the valet to accidentally open the hood or hatch so always use the plastic valet key and caution the person not to leave the key in the ignition.
Thanks folks - sorry for being the noob and not searching, it was more of a sulk that it had happened rather than a genuine request for info....
