Battery Blues

After giving it the big one about how good my battery has been (still on original), I went to start my car this morning to get 1.5 engine cranks, then the click,click,click...but fortunately no alarm sound! Left the car in the morning sun to warm it up, in the hope that it wouldn't need quite so much amp-age to crank it and had another go and the alarm went off, god that's loud, really loud. I guessed I should have heeded the warning of sometimes taking 3-4 turns to start the engine, rather than the normal sprightly 2! Now my car has a rather annoying habit of somehow discovering when I've come into a bit of cash and then promptly going wrong, thus forcing me to redirect funds to repair it. Everyone says that the Bosch Silver is the one to get, but seeing that my warranty is up in December, I don't want to aggravation of Porsche refusing to extend the warranty, due to a non-Porsche approved part. So, my dilemna is: a. Do I get Porsche assistance out to start it b. Do I get RAC out to start it c. Do I charge it myself I don't fancy c), because I don't want to risk damaging the alternator and losing my hearing at the same time. I'm sure that a) will say, need a new battery and we've got one here ready charged at the cost of ???? <- could someone please clarify how much a new Porsche battery is (I'm thinking about £250?) b) could be an option? At the back of my mind, I'm thinking that the new warranty includes the battery, unless I'm mistaken, so if I could limp on for a couple of months, then I could get it replaced FOC (well, not exactly FOC, but you know what I mean). However, with the cold months and the short journeys, I'm not sure this is going to work. Don't fancy trickle charging it (although I could do this)....and I take it this is via the cigarette lighter, but I still have to get the car started in the first instance. Any thoughts?

If you can get into the boot then trickle charge it yourself for as long as possible (i.e. something like 24hrs). A good trickle charger will condition it. But this might only be a temporary solution. If its dead, its dead. I dont know what to tell you about the new wrty and batteries. I do know that I have a Bosch silver on my car and OPC Chiswick never complain. I doubt they even know its there. But obviously a 111pt check would flag it up. Why not give it a good charge now, charge it weekly (much better charging it for 12hrs than driving it for 1hr) and limp along until your new wrty? That wouldnt be my choice (I dont like alarms), but its an option. TBH a Bosch Silver is £90 (OPC batt c.£160 I think, but £220 fitted!). Maybe just put the £160 cost down to consumables? (a battery is consumable).

Sorry to hear about that. Battery problems are a real headache. I had issues with mine last year but invested in a Porsche trickle charger/ conditioner. It's ccalled a Porsche Charge-o-Mat and it is a really excellent piece of kit. Costs around £50 from your main stealer - so, surprisingly good value really. You keep it plugged into your cigar lighter all the time and it just kicks in and then switches off as and when required. If you are not using your car every day it's pretty essential. I have always had Bosch Silver batteries on other cars and they are quite superb - self-discharge is very minimal indeed. So, I would charge your Porsche battery up yourself - leave n trickle overnight - then go fo a nice spin and use the Charge-o-Mat going forward. That should sort things out for you. Hope that helps.

thought porsche assistance was the rac and apparently you can get the charge o mat from costco for cheaper than the main stealer

Hi, Thanks for the replies. Looks like I need to get a new battery then. QQ - the battery still has enough power to arm the alarm, but will it go off in the middle of the night? I have the fear that the sodding thing will detect the voltage below a certain point and will just set the alarm off. This concerns me for two reasons: a. It's the middle of the night and will p* everyone off, including me and wake up the children b. I'm going out this evening for a party and I worry that I'll get a call from the bb sitter saying that my car alarm's going off. I'll call OPC out tomorrow and they can put a new battery in it and I'll just pay the £220, or whatever. Cheers, GD

PS - is there any way to disable the alarm, either proactively or reactively? When it was going off, I tried locking/unlocking the car, putting the key in the ignition and using the remote...nothing worked at all. I'm not too bothered about leaving the car unlocked TBH.

On the warranty issue... I've got a non-Porsche battery, had the 111pointy check done and warranty issued with it in place. Since then I've had it serviced with them noting it as non-Porsche battery but not flagging it...

battery blues Just changed the battery on 993 TT - took me 20 mins no problems Best of all bought correct bosch silver battery from my local Costco (they had loads in stock). Cost was £70 and the battery comes with 4 year bosch warranty hope this helps

My first hour of ownership include a complete battery failure, and is a thread on here somewhere. If you have Porsche Assist you can ask for the "Premier" RAC van to come out to you who carry the correct battery and can fit it for you for about £150. I ended up getting the RAC to jump start me and then driving to OPC and getting fleeced the full £250, but at least I had the car for the weekend (I had Porsche Asist but the Premier RAC van was not available until after the weekend). I now have a CTEK 3600 XS to trickle charge the new battery which works a treat and should mean it lasts many years...

Changing the battery is an absolute doddle and I cannot believe it could interfere with the warranty if you have the correct one. If you leave the key in at position 1, no alarm sounds and Costco offer a lifetime warranty and at £79.88 was a lot cheaper than Porsche. I changed mine on site and they disposed of my old one...

Thanks for the replies. I'm not one for DIY and as the cars completely flat, I don't fancy a) trying to get into the bonnet and b) trying to replace the battery So this looks like I need to go down the RAC premier route (which if I've read this correctly is £150, rather than the OPC 'menu' price of £250). I read some other threads on the subject and it appears that the OPC prices wildly vary, but my OPC is Guildford who will charge the full amount, no doubt there. As I am in no immediate rush to use the car, I can wait for the RAC Premier van to be in the area....so, the question is, do they fit an official Porsche battery, or is it something else? I'm struggling to understand why there's a £100 difference, as both procurement methods are through Porsche (ie. either PorscheAssist, or Porsche OPC). Cheers, GD

There is only one Porsche OPC warranty i.e. not a different one from each centre. When you come to claim, the specific dealer might interpret it differently - but that is not how it's supposed to be :wack: If you have a non Porsche original part (i.e. battery) and a related item fails, this could be used as an excuse to reject a claim if the deem it as a possible cause. I went down the route of the RAC call-out for £150 because I didn't have the time to drive to the OPC to pick one up. Fitting is not a big deal.

Cheers. Just spoke with Porsche Assist and confirmed that if the RAC service comes out, they have a Porsche approved battery which can be installed for £150. Problem is that the man has installed 3 this weekend and doesn't have any left, so is coming out first thing Monday (as OPC parts is shut). Can take it to OPC, to get exactly the same battery installed, but for another £100.

Got the battery fitted and have the answer to the price difference. The battery is picked up by RAC Premier from OPC parts department. RAC don't charge to fit it, but OPC do (and charge 1hr for a 10 minute job), hence the £100 difference. OPC call you later to take payment over the phone. Excellent service TBH.