New battery 997 GTS

[Berin]

Hello everyone, my first post up here. I have a 997 Carrera 4 GTS, in black, built 2011 registered 2012 - I've done a couple of PCGB track days and love it. I bought it to see how I would get on with Porsche (this is my first) think I would keep it 6 months and that was 21/2 years ago!

Anyway - after leaving in the garage while we were away for a month, it wouldn't start on the key. Electrics were still working so I could open the front boot, and started it with one of those pocket sized microstarters, all seemed fine. I put it on charge for a couple of days and the CTEK charger registered a full charge. I drove it once, about 20 miles each way, but didn't put it on charge afterwards. Went to start it 10 days later, wouldn't start, even with a booster, so I called Porsche Assist. In the meantime I put it on charge so by the time the AA van got to me it had been charging about 2 hours. The AA chaps tried it, and it did start but his battery meter said the battery needed replacing.

I checked various forums, which basically said the Porsche battery isn't very good but, as I have Porsche warranty, I have to have a Porsche battery. I called my dealer, who confirmed I do need a Porsche battery but that it doesn't need to be fitted by Porsche, so I got some quotes:

Porsche Reading: £418.46!!!!!
Northway Porsche: £259
WrightTune: £218

All for Porsche batteries. Is there any reason why I wouldn't just go for the WrightTune quote. Is there any resetting or removing fault codes or any such to do?

thanks,

Martin
ps sorry if this has been asked before

 

[tscaptain]

Hi Martin and welcome. The systems affected by battery replacement can be seen here on this thread in the tech section

https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=802733

The OEM Porsche batteries seem to get a bad press but mine (touch wood!) is coming up for 7 years old and still going strong - although it goes straight on the Ctek in the garage. If you buy from a PC you should get at least 10% off as a club member.

 

[angusc]

Hi Martin,

I went with a Halfords battery about two years ago and still going strong for £120 and that was the most expensive that I could buy on the day!

Battery conditioner is a must in the garage, I went for a Ctek

 

[Lancerlot]

You can't fit a Halfords battery and maintain Porsche's extended warranty.
If you go the WrightTune way, you need to ensure it is indeed a Porsche battery that is being offered. There are many makes that will fit a Porsche but only one that is OEM.

The battery will normally flatten over a 10 - 14 day period due to the electronic systems that are being maintained when parked up. It's useful to get into the habit of connecting up your Ctek whenever the car is being left for more than a couple of days at a time.
Regards,
Clive.

 

[angusc]

Oh Clive!

Not everyone has or needs a Porsche warranty.....It's not the end of life a we know it to be a free agent.

 

[Berin]

Thanks everyone, for the replies. The Wrighttune one is a Porsche one battery, like for like exchange. The price he gave me is the price of the battery, no charge for fitting. The price of the battery alone from the OPC was about £250, plus labour, probably plus vat. Porsche Reading said there are some resets to do and stuff to check. I've used Porsche Reading for everything till now, but this is just a battery change and I'm not sure how that takes over an hour

 

[Lancerlot]

Oh Clive!

Not everyone has or needs a Porsche warranty.....It's not the end of life a we know it to be a free agent.

OP says he has Porsche warranty.
Regards,
Clive

 

[MarlowCrew]

It must be all about the warranty I guess…..

Not having a Porsche warranty, when I replaced my battery some years ago I was face with the dilemma of which battery to replace with. There was a Bosch battery that had an uncanny resemblance to the Porsche battery being replaced and Bosch did a slightly better one (but neither were anywhere near £218-£418.46 [Reading…]!!!). I think I went for the Bosch battery looked identical to the Porsche one.

I took the view that Porsche weren’t best known as a Car Battery manufacturer and Bosch had reasonable reputation for batteries, and of course that the Bosch battery was ½ or ¼ of the cost depending on the yardstick used.

 

[777ism]

I had a very similar experience and had to opt for the Porsche battery otherwise my extended warranty would not be valid. The equivalent Bosch battery, apparently very good, would have cost half the price. I feel that Porsche don't treat us very fairly over these items. I would opt for the cheapest quote.

 

[spyderman]

What many people don't realise is that the Moll battery Porsche use is not maintenance-free or sealed for life - it's supposed to be topped up with distilled water like the good old days when there were only two channels on the TV!

 

[Rodney Naghar]

What many people don't realise is that the Moll battery Porsche use is not maintenance-free or sealed for life - it's supposed to be topped up with distilled water like the good old days when there were only two channels on the TV!

Exactly! The battery gets a bad press but actually if you top it up every year with de-ionised water and keep it on trickle charge it will not die. My previous Moll lasted me the entire 7 years I owned my last car (and how ever many years previous to that)

 

[JCX]

Ooh how does one top it up pls?

 

[ralphmusic]

Ooh how does one top it up pls?

Presumably through the vent caps if the battery is like this car's?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdHPo0MmKrI

 

[Rodney Naghar]

I posted up a guide with pictures last year around Feb. I'm on my mobile so can't search easily, but try a search and you'll find it

 

[JCX]

Thx chaps

 

[Berin]

Thanks everyone. I'm going with Wrightune, to fit the oem battery. I'm sure they'll know what to do to keep all the radio codes and avoid having to do all the steering, window and sunroof resets!

 

[Berin]

Well, new OEM battery fitted by WrightTune for £218. They were very helpful, fitted it in a few minutes whilst I browsed the early 911's they had in for engine rebuilds and restoration. For a variety of reasons I had to go in at around 12.30 and not 4pm, which was when I said I would be in, but they weren't phased at all and quickly fitted it. I'll definitely go back for stuff like interim oil changes ( i don't believe oil last 2 years or 20000 miles!) and brake and track day checks.

Thanks for the advice on the battery top ups too, I'll keep on top of that.

 

[JCX]

just checked my battery and i needed to top up all 6 ports with a total of 300-400ml of de-ionised water. quite a bit i guess.

i noticed that 2 of the 6 screw plugs/caps dont tighten to a stop. they get reasonably tight and then spin past the stop and retighten a bit again before spinning past the stop again. should i be concerned that they will 'blow' out? does the battery have big pressure inside? Can you buy spare plugs/caps? should i use a bit of PTFE (plumbers tape) on the threads to lock them down?

Advice welcomed.

 

[Lancerlot]

There's no pressure within the battery as this vents into the atmosphere. Acid leakage is the main problem, so using some kind of sealant on the filler cap threads should be adequate. Clearly someone has over-tightened and damaged them the past.
Regards,
Clive

 

[JCX]

fab thanks Clive. Without pressure inside i'd be very surprised if anything leaked out as the plugs are well 'in' just not 'tight to a stop. I may add a little PTFE just to firm things up.