Arbee is stuck in Leeds and requires assistance

ArBee · Apr 26, 2009

Hello All,

Need a bit of help. Just arrived in Leeds after a brilliant 300 mile drive from East Sussex. Well it would have been brilliant apart from the fact I stopped for fuel and when I tried to start the car it just about turned over. Then the alarm came on managed to silence it and I was able to drive on. Pulled up in my hotel and the thing just about started again on the key and the alarm went off again.

So it looks as if I need a new battery right? I'm her for 3 days so:

Anybody in this neck of the woods know if the local indies would come out with a new battery for me and fit it "" or does anyone know anywhere close to the Armouries that I can pick up a new battery and I can get Porsche Assist out and I will get them to fit it. I am assuming that the alarm will drain the battery and as I have had to lock the car because of where its parked so can someone remind me of the fuse box method of using jump leads to activate the bonnet solenoid when the battery does give up the ghost

Cheers

RB

Richard_Hamilton · Apr 26, 2009

Ron, haven't you got the warranty, and hence Porsche Assist? They will come out and fit a new battery, and it will be the Porsche one too. I believe it is cheaper to buy one this way than going to an OPC for them to fit one.

When you remove the fuse box cover you will see a terminal next to the spoiler switch. Connect the positive of a jumper battery to this terminal, and the earth to the door striker bar, and you should be able to pop the bonnet.

Mark_Bennett · Apr 26, 2009

Does sound like the battery. Very sudden though!

The instructions should be on a little leaflet in the lid of the fusebox, but if not then there is a terminal that pulls out from the fusebox - this is where you connect the +ve jumplead, and the -ve jumplead goes to the door striker.
Then you can open the boot using the keyfob or the switch in the sill.

ArBee · Apr 26, 2009

Thanks dudes,

Going to phone Porsche Assist right now and see how I get on.

RB

silvermilnec · Apr 26, 2009

Rb my work is about 1/2 mile from the armouries. If you need a lift or anything don't hesitate to give me a call 07946 463156.

My indi is only 1/2 mile away they would have you up and running in no time. I would think Porsche assist will be your best bet.

My other is genuine so give me a call if you need any help.

Chris

adrian996 · Apr 26, 2009

Hi Ron. Your battery is obviously dead but surely this is only the result of something else? Your alternator might be playing up too? If it was giving out a charge then a 300 mile trip should have beefed your battery up a bit!

Adrian.

ArBee · Apr 26, 2009

Thanks everyone for the support.

Adrian, Whilst driving I did think long and hard about all the reasons the battery was dying. The amps were healthy on the gauge and I had no warnings on the dash unlike when I did have an alternator failure before on my previous 996 and it was very different. The Amps drop away and there was an array of warning lights pop up.

The battery was on a trickle charger last week and I noticed but thought little of it that the battery full light was on one minute and a while later I would see that the battery was charging again. The alarm was off during this period so I can only asume that when the trickle charger automatically switched off the battery started to discharge.

The car is 5 years old and this is the original battery so no great surprise it is giving up.

adrian996 · Apr 27, 2009

The car is 5 years old and this is the original battery so no great surprise it is giving

I see what you mean, Ron.

For what it's worth, when mine did the same I replaced it with an Exide battery and not one of the Porsche ones as the general consensus of opinion was that they are/were not the best ones to get. Not sure if they've improved them these days, though. The Bosch ones always seem popular and I've heard that you can sometime get some cracking deals on them from Costco...?

Adrian.

gresley · Apr 27, 2009

....and Costco is only about 1 mile away in Hunslet - if you are struggling for a card mail me direct - I live c. 20 mile S. of Leeds but can be around the area tomorrow.

Andrew W.

Richard_Hamilton · Apr 27, 2009

Totally agree that there are better batteries around, but you MUST have a Porsche (Moll) battery to renew the warranty.

NXI20 · Apr 27, 2009

And (according to a thread on PH), Porsche are using the "non-standard battery" excuse to refuse to fix a blown 997 engine [8|]

silvermilnec · Apr 27, 2009

How can a battery effect a £70000 cars engine? My warranty runs out in June and can't be renewed due to age, I can't help thinking i'll be more relaxed just dealing with my indi. I just constantly worry each time my car goes to my OPC that they will make any excuse not to repair under warranty!

By the way i'm sure my baaery is non Porsche but it was on the car when I bought it!

tscaptain · Apr 27, 2009

It must put an extra strain on the alternator which in turn overstresses the engine - which then blows up.

Diesel130 · Apr 27, 2009

ORIGINAL: silvermilnec

How can a battery effect a £70000 cars engine?

Well, of course it can't ... just a feeble excuse from Porsche to restrict the terms of the new warranty - hence why they're £1350 poorer as I didn't renew mine back in Jan.

On another note, batteries can die quickly. Friend of mine had driven from Ipswich, stopped at South Mimms services on the M25, got a coffee, came back out and nothing! Completely given up the ghost.

NXI20 · Apr 27, 2009

ORIGINAL: silvermilnec

How can a battery effect a £70000 cars engine?

Ah, but that's not the point. If you read the warranty T&C's you'll find the magic get-out "fitment of non-standard parts either before or after the warranty is granted invalidates the warranty". Nowhere does it state that the non-standard part had to contribute to the breakdown.

Neat, huh?

I particularly like the one where people are refused a warranty based on having a dealer-fitted non-VTS tracker in a car that's too old to have a VTS tracker - classic!

adrian996 · Apr 27, 2009

ORIGINAL: silvermilnec

How can a battery effect a £70000 cars engine? My warranty runs out in June and can't be renewed due to age, I can't help thinking i'll be more relaxed just dealing with my indi. I just constantly worry each time my car goes to my OPC that they will make any excuse not to repair under warranty!

By the way i'm sure my baaery is non Porsche but it was on the car when I bought it!

I wouldn't lose any sleep over that if i were you, Chris. It's got to be the Indi every time, hasn't it...?

...Ahhh, but if only I could practice what I preach!: Haven't been near an OPC for over two years with my car. All servicing has been taken care of by my fantastic Indi. So why on earth when I recently had to buy two new rear tyres and get the geometry done did I choose an OPC?! I had three options on the table to get the lot sorted. This comprised of two very reputable independent tyre places who both also had the Hunter four wheel geometry gear that the OPC use......and an OPC. The OPC was the least recommended and the most expensive option - and it was the one that I chose to go with. Why? Because I haven't really given them much of a chance to prove themselves recently and thought that it might be time to take off my cynical hat.

So off I went to my OPC and asked the service manager if I could have a quick word with the technician that would be doing the work on my car. This was no problem at all (something which has seemed like asking for next Saturdays Lottery numbers in the past for me!) and I explained to the chap that my car had the 030 (-10mm) lowered suspension fitted from new and could they make sure that they take this into account? The tech guy gave me a wry smile, waved one of his oily hands at me and told me that all the VIL numbers on my car would be entered into the geometry equipment which would then automatically set the car up correctly and that I really shouldn't be concerned as my car was "in the right hands now".

To be brief: I collected my car two days later and asked for a copy of the pre and post readouts of the geometry to keep with my records. I immediately noticed that the geometry had been way out on the pre-adjustment figures and that they had now set the car up perfectly - for an X74 (-30mm) lowered suspension car (which I believe that you get on the GT2/GT3...?).

As I drew breath to ask the service manager why this had been done I realised that I might as well have been asking my car itself - regardless, I popped the question. I think that he might have mentioned something about there being an "r" in the month and that "the engineers [sic] couldn't find the 030 code in the geometry equipment so they set it up for the nearest one to it" (You might want to read that last sentence again).

Now. If I'd gone out and got some back street guy to fit some Carlos Fandango lowered suspension to my car all this would have been fair enough. But the 030 settings were 'invented' by Porsche! How on earth could they not have the settings?!

A very nice man on this forum gave me the correct settings for the 030 and X74 suspension and I discovered that my front and rear camber had been set almost 70' out to the -ve.

The upshot was that I got them to transport my car from my home back to the OPC and back again in their covered transporter whilst I drove around in their BMW. I asked the driver of the transporter how much it would have cost the OPC to ferry my car back and forth if it hadn't been their transporter. He told me that it wasn't their transporter and that it would be costing them between £300 and £400.

Just to reiterate - I actually asked to see the technician so that I could be sure that they knew about the suspension set-up. If I hadn't known the first thing about my car then what would have happened? When my inner shoulders on my tyres had worn away they'd have probably told me that I'd hit too many pot-holes..?!

Needless to say....etc....etc....

Rodney Naghar · Apr 28, 2009

ORIGINAL: adrian996

"the engineers [sic] couldn't find the 030 code in the geometry equipment so they set it up for the nearest one to it" (You might want to read that last sentence again).

I've now read that sentence 3 times.
I believe my eyes are deceiving me.
There is no other explanation.
Shocking.

juliany27 · Apr 28, 2009

A formal written complaint, compensation and/or refund in full - or a visit to your local trading standards officer?

adrian996 · Apr 28, 2009

I know what you mean, Julian - and I should and would normally be like a dog with a bone when it comes to issues like this but I think that I've just given up hope with them![&:] The irony is that I was really looking forward to putting a post on this (and other) forums to say that I'd had a good experience and a good deal too! But, alas, it wasn't to be.

I know that there are far worse things that can happen to your car (RMS, ILS, IFA, RSPCA, etc[

]) but it was the fact that if I'd not known any better I could have been taken to the cleaners. I guess that it's a matter of principal. I made the effort to know that the car had non-standard suspension and then made the effort to find the tech and tell him - and yet........[

]

There are, however, positives to been taken from this: if I hadn't had the help that I'd had from this forum (thanks again, Richard[

]) then I'd have been non the wiser for some time. It's taught me a lot about my car and ....well... other things too...

The bottom line for me is that this could have been a very different matter - and I'm of the opinion that there may well be people on this (and other) Porsche forums who may have been treated unfairly and that mistakes may have been made - and not admitted to by some OPCs. It annoys me that I've sometimes been berated by some users in the past for taking a cautious/cynical approach toward OPCs and yet, for me at least, examples like this are hard to believe....!?

But I'm afraid that it is all true. I gave them a chance to change my mind and they managed to balls it up.

ArBee · Apr 30, 2009

Just wanted to public thank all who came to my aid when I was struck down with a Swine battery - It was as suspected and confirmed by the very nice man from Porsche Assit who tested the battery to find that a cell had died. He fitted the new MOLL Porsche battery (as required by the warranty) and the local OPC relieved me of £157.00 (ker-ching!!!!)

I was all done and dusted by 10.30 the next morning and made it back without drama.

Thanks again.

R.B.