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Battery/Alternator or something else

Horsesoldiers

Horsesoldiers

New member
Haven’t used my 997.1 for a few weeks. Attempted to get fuel earlier and battery/alternator warning came up along with PSM failure. Started first time, as always, drove to an empty fuel station and on my return home, it then wouldn’t turn over. Battery now charged and running again but lights and warnings are still on. Looks like i need a new battery and maybe a new alternator but would this affect the PSM, sports exhaust?
 
Do you have a battery conditioner? If not most of us leave our cars on a Ctek conditioner or similar. Worth getting a voltmeter too - they're not expensive - and you can have a look at the voltage across the battery with and without the engine running. Fully charged the battery alone should be around 12.6v and around 14v with the engine running. Worth trying these before splashing out on a new battery and the Ctek will come in useful in any case!
The faults do sound battery related and should clear themselves.
 
It needs to run with no faults and on third run faults will clear if ok. Needs to go through proper heat cycle each time so 15 mile run each time.
 
PSM warning is typical of a discharged, disconnected or very low battery - there is a "reset" procedure ( can't remember it verbatim - but it's something like centre steering, turn more than 15 deg left, back to centre, turn more than 15 deg right, back to, drive forward 5 meters above 3mph or something like that) - but in reality - a slow drive round the block usually does enough - last time I had to do it - by the time I had reversed of my drive, and moved forward enough to pull up the other side of the road the light went off.

More concerning is the alternator/battery light - if that stays on its because the alternator itself ( or rather the regulator/rectifier black box part) thinks there is a charging problem.

Check the voltage across the battery without the engine running, then start it and check again - you should see around 14v as others have said - if there's no increase between not running and running, then it's not charging so you need to look at alternator or belt.

Original cause of flat battery could be a sign of battery age, or not quite good enough charging, but could also be a sign of something being left on, or not powering down correctly ( have heard of trackers going bad ( 3rd party or Porsche VTS), or the PCM unit etc.) but baby steps - see if its charging, make the lights go out and see if it holds charge.
 
Sounds like your battery is old and having stood for those weeks has finished it off.
Rule of thumb is that you'll get between 5 to 6 tears out of a battery, regardless of use, mainly due to the load the battery is subjected to when the cars running, as well as when it's left (The alarm and tracker - if installed - drain a lot more than people realise.)

The Bosch battery on my 997 was new - with an alternator - when I bought her in 2010, and I replaced it with a slightly larger version after six years despite it having been on a Maintenance Charger the whole time. I was lucky, as I went to head out one day and there was enough juice to unlock and bring up the ignition, but nothing on turnover.

 
Thanks to everyone for their replies. I have ordered a new battery and trickle charger, battery is 7 years old according to the history file. Hopefully this will cure it, i will update once i find some fuel.
 
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