Battery dead

[Guest]

Hi - Ive had my Boxter (2001, 2.7) for about a year now, bought it when it was 5 years old. Ever since day one I have had to fight to keep the battery alive. Ive bought new batteries for it, Ive had things disconnected on the vehicle to stop the battery draining but STILL the battery drains. When I had the car serviced at Porsche the official line was "this is a car that needs to be run". I ran it for 2 hours 4 days ago and today the battery is dead again. Does anyone know if this is a common problem with Porsche Boxters ?
I regret to admit it but today was the final straw, I shall be selling the car in the next few months, Ive had nothing but trouble with it.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

You are not going to like this, but I've not heard of that short a life on a Boxster - no it's not common.

I have heard of cars being left at airports for a couple of weeks that won't start, but they are usually loaded up with trackers and all sorts of stuff, they've probably only driven 5 miles to get there as well....

Are you sure that everything is actually turning off when you leave the car? I had a 944 that turned out to have a dodgy ignition switch - this would randomly "make" and the passenger compartment fans would come on and drain the battery.
Of course this was totally random []

 

[Guest]

I've put it in twice with two seperate mechanics (one local, one Porsche dealership) and neither oudl find a thing wrong, just said it must be normal. As far as I know everything turns off. Ive had the tracker disconnected as well. Very annoyed with it, I doubt anythign coudl convince me to keep the car now unfortunately!

 

[peanut]

i'd take it somewhere where they know what they are talking about . Certainly not to a mechanic for crissakes. Take it to an auto electrician like Lucas
It certainly is not `normal' for a battery in good condition to go flat in a few days from non use. That is cr*p
There is something wrong with the car and you need to identify what is draining the battery. It only takes an amp meter .
Personally I would start with the Battery then the alternator . Make sure the battery cells are good and the electolyte level is ok then check the alternator is charging properly using a multimeter and checking the voltage and amperage
Then check the battery is not draining down through the alternator. (just disconect the alternator for a few days when you are not using the car and see what happens .

Simple test If you pull one lead of the battery terminal with the ignition off and reapply it slowly and you see any sparks or arching you can be sure that something is drawing current from the battery with the ignition off. Then its just a case of tracking down the culpret. If you put an ampmeter in circuit it should be easy to pull fuses until you find the culpret.

 

[Goher]

I've had a boxster s from new previously, even after three and a half years of ownership, only using the car approx once a week, there was absolutely no problems at all with the battery. Fully agree with the previous post, on tracking down the problem, good luck.

 

[daro911]

ORIGINAL: CRB

I've put it in twice with two seperate mechanics (one local, one Porsche dealership) and neither oudl find a thing wrong, just said it must be normal.

With the greatest of respect you fell for that old one "IT'S NORMAL" [][][]

The only normal thing about that statement would be the "Normal" bullsh*t given when limited talent goes to work on a problem they are clueless about IMO

If your problem was "normal" Porsche would have long gone been out of business and the Boxster would have never been the best 2 seater roadster in its class for over a decade.

I fully understand your frustration and hope you can find the right person for the job there must be an auto electrician out there who could get your car to behave in a "normal fashion" like all the other Porsche owners take for granted [&o]

 

[Black80XSA]

It'd be a long process but you could try removing the fuses, one at a time, to try to tratck down a potential electrical circuit breakdown - one of the front or rear trunk lights would drag the battery down in four days, so maybe removing the two bulbs is a good place to start.

On the subject of bulbs check all the ones in the rear light clusers - i know of one 996 that had all sorts of issues when one bulb started to fail and set up some sort of short circuit that left the brake lights on with the ignition switched off !

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the advice guys. The car does get little use - only weekend drives mainly. Ive spoken to an autio electrician since starting the thread, he advised me that the Boxters and other such cars will commence a battery run that last approx. 45 mins even after jsut opening the door with the electrics. This run many times over will drain the battery. He advised I get the most powerful battery installed in the car (a brnaded one this time !) and the change will be noticeable. On my previous post it sounded like the car runs down every week - it donest. Its been fine for about 4-5 months now, then just this happened last weekend. I'm still tempted to trade it in for the new SLK though.

 

[daro911]

ORIGINAL: CRB

On my previous post it sounded like the car runs down every week - it donest. Its been fine for about 4-5 months now, then just this happened last weekend. I'm still tempted to trade it in for the new SLK though.

Buy a battery conditioner and keep it charged 24/7 and lengthen the battery life too apparently.

SLK being face lifted next year but even after its face lift it won't be a Boxster to drive [8D]

 

[edgiee]

I had that problem with a Mini back in the 70's (1970's that is) and it turned out to be a faulty regulator. It basically just drained the battery whenever the ignition switch was on ! I don't know whether there is any such thing as a regulator on a modern car, but it's worth looking at.