Recovery from a flat battery

[roundincircles]

I stupidly did not lock my 2 year old Boxster S and it ran the battery flat. I tried to charge it whilst connected to the car and the lights intermittently flashed quickly and the alarm went off. So I disconnected the batterry and recharged it.

Now the starter motor just clicks and does not turn plus the door windows remain down.

Any help as to the next step before I get the dealer involved?

 

[Geoff_Fields]

Sounds like the battery has not accepted the charge and is unable to provide sufficient current. New battery?

 

[BartyB]

I agree with Geoff. Sounds like it is a knackered battery.

The open circuit voltage of a fully charged battery in good condition should be around 12.5 - 13v. If it is reading anything less than 11v, after a prolonged (16 - 24 hours) charging, then one of the cells is probably shorted which definitely means a replacement battery.

Sadly, Porsche insist on fitting Moll batteries which, in spite of being German-made, are not up to much - they seem to have ridiculously short lives compared to the premier league brands such as Bosch, Exide and Varta, as well as being twice or even three times the price. If the battery is under 2 years old it should be covered by the maker's 2 year warranty otherwise your OPC revieve you of £220ish + fitting for a new one.

BTW, if your car is covered by a Porsche warranty then the terms of the warranty require that you replace it with a genuine Porsche / Moll battery.

 

[roundincircles]

Well it was a dead battery, after 2 years and 3 months so I bought a Bosch, 5 year guarantee, from Halfords. It cost £139 and is a similar ah. to the OE BATTERY.

Halfords charge £4.99 for fitting and £1.49 for disposal.

5 year warranty, no brainer!

 

[Geoff_Fields]

Yep, the Bosch silver is the way to go. Glad to hear you are up and running again.[]

 

[BartyB]

Pleased to hear you're back in business. My last Porsche battery lasted 2 years 3 months too. A conspiracy perhaps?

It would be good to think Porsche will soon wake up to the reality that the Moll Kamina batteries are absolute rubbish, vastly overpriced and the warranty sucks. On the other hand, it's a nice little earner for them so guess there's no incentive to improve the product.

With Porsche's track record on batteries, God help anyone who is daft enough to buy a hybrid or electric Porsche!

 

[jdpef356]

ORIGINAL: roundincircles

£1.49 for disposal.

Good choice of Battery but you should have taken the old one to the local scrap yard - you should have got approx a fiver for it - so your approx £6.50 down[&o]

Next time you know what to do - no brainer[]

 

[roundincircles]

jdpef356. Good point but somewhat contestable. I have completed 6000 miles in my Boxster so it has cost £3 per mile in depreciation and the local scrap yard is 10 mile return journey[]

No Brainer, now come on..........compared with a Porsche centre who sell inferior batteries at significant cost![8|]

 

[Buddy]

As BartyB says if you have a Porsche warranty, fitting a non-Porsche branded battery will void your warranty.

It even applied to a Boxster S my son had bought from Porsche as one of their approved cars when they changed the terms of warranty and he wanted to extend the warranty, he actually bought it from them already fitted with a Bosch!

 

[London987]

to your first point - mycar locks itself after a minute of the key being out. not sure how this can have caused your battery to go flat, sounds like it was just a bit old.

 

[Buddy]

London987, your car must have been programmed to do that as it isn't the way most are, on mine if it's locked and I open the boot at either end when the boot is closed it will relock the car, this is quite normal.

On mine it does vary on how quickly it locks it ( sometimes immediately, sometimes a minute ) so I have to be aware of where my keys are and be sure they're not in the pocket of the jacket I'm putting into the boot!

Locking/unlocking off the remote can be reprogrammed to different requirements.

I renewed my battery after 4 1/2 years from new. Now I use a trickle charger if it's not going to be used for a couple of days.

 

[36270k]

Not sure if a Boxster uses the same battery,
but a Bosch 075 for a Porsche 924 is listed at £63.54 + VAT from Eurocarparts.

Paul

 

[heathview]

I've owned quite a few cars in my time from mini cooper "S" to Fiat Abarth original types to my last classic car a Ferrari 308 GTS for 18 years. About 12 years ago my local battery shop in Blackheath adised me to use a Varta battery. I've one fitted to my wife's 22 year old MB 230 E for atleast 10 years and the car is parked on our drive in all weathers, we've had this car from new. I had a Varta battery on the Ferrari after having 2 batteries in the space of 5 years. I used a battery conditioner clipped to my side window for the last 10 years which i know have transfered to my Boxster 3.2s. When i bought the boxster in August 2010 the previous owner had just fitted a new Porsche battery. A quality battery makes sense and a Varta is not that much more expensive.
Regards,
Martin

 

[Buddy]

True, it's about time Porsche started to sell quality batteries! Either Bosch or Varta.