Porsche OEM Batteries Suck !!
Discussion
Having owned my 997.2 GT3 since new in 2010, it's churned through two OEM batteries at £280 a pop !!
Admittedly i don't use the car that often, but it sits on a battery conditioner when in the garage. For about the last couple of years it has always had starting (cranking over issues) The OPC were convinced it was the starter motor. Anyway yesterday it went on its third battery. This time i decided to save myself £200 and get a Bosch S4 110 (80Ah). Wow what a difference the car now fires into life the instant you turn of the key. It's never done that on the crappy OEM MOLL batteries. In addition the Bosch is a maintenance free battery with a three year warranty.
Happy end I hope to my constant starting issues, which often resulted in me rather embarrassingly sitting there for about five minutes trying to start the car.
For reference my factory OEM batteries were also 80Ah, as I read somewhere that lower specced GT3's often had a 60Ah to save a bit of weight, which in that case could cause starting issues.
What I still can't get my head around is the "If you don't waste your money on our Battery you don't get your warranty" argument, especially when the battery isn't covered in the warranty !
Admittedly i don't use the car that often, but it sits on a battery conditioner when in the garage. For about the last couple of years it has always had starting (cranking over issues) The OPC were convinced it was the starter motor. Anyway yesterday it went on its third battery. This time i decided to save myself £200 and get a Bosch S4 110 (80Ah). Wow what a difference the car now fires into life the instant you turn of the key. It's never done that on the crappy OEM MOLL batteries. In addition the Bosch is a maintenance free battery with a three year warranty.
Happy end I hope to my constant starting issues, which often resulted in me rather embarrassingly sitting there for about five minutes trying to start the car.
For reference my factory OEM batteries were also 80Ah, as I read somewhere that lower specced GT3's often had a 60Ah to save a bit of weight, which in that case could cause starting issues.
What I still can't get my head around is the "If you don't waste your money on our Battery you don't get your warranty" argument, especially when the battery isn't covered in the warranty !
S5 in mine and it's brilliant, even in the worst of highland winters. Had the usual disbelieving run-in with OPC over fitting a Bosch (The OEM Moll was completely dead) wherein they told me that it wouldn't be approved for warranty extension. That came atop the "you've got a nail in one N0 tyre, which we can't get any more, so we'll have to replace all four with N1s" moment. At that point, I decided to let the warranty lapse and have the car looked after by a proper specialist.
What is it with Porsche and batteries, I have 2 friends with 911s (996tt and 997s) and myself 997tt and all have battery issues when left for a week.
I had my OEM one replaced by the far superior Bosch, but my car rarely starts first time as it is unable to cope with only weekend use and mainly shorter journeys.
Never had this problem with other car marques
I had my OEM one replaced by the far superior Bosch, but my car rarely starts first time as it is unable to cope with only weekend use and mainly shorter journeys.
Never had this problem with other car marques
The_Doc said:
Bosch S5 in mine S5010 85Amphours and 800A £86. fitted it myself, took 5 minutes in the dark
never looked back
and if you really trust t'internet, buy the Varta 110 (F18) which is a rebadged S5010 they say for £75.
The F18 is indeed the same as the S5 (the Bosch and Varta battery operations merged a few years ago). The RAC also carry a branded version of it sometimes (that still has a small Varta F18 label on it, and is where mine came from when I last suffered the curse of Moll Kamina).never looked back
and if you really trust t'internet, buy the Varta 110 (F18) which is a rebadged S5010 they say for £75.
I've had 3 Porsche OE batteries over the years. All failed between 2 and 3 years old with little or no warning to total death (the latest one died after a 20 minute break at the end of a 100 mile drive). I have nothing good to say about them. Meanwhile - I have never had to replace a Bosch at all.
csmith319 said:
The OEM battery is awful but why the he'll do the cars drain batteries (OEM or other) when left for such short periods? Most cars don't, what are they doing to take so much current when left?!
This really. Admittedly I had a tracker fitted which I did not know about and have not "tested" the battery since, but prior to removal of the tracker, the car would drain the battery in around 4 days if left unlocked, and around 2 weeks if locked. Nothing wrong with the battery itself (non OEM btw) as I occasionally don't use the car for extended periods and if I disconnect it it's perfectly fine to start the car up on the first cranking.krallicious said:
I've had the battery replaced at the OPC but I am tied into the warrenty ATM. I find that if my car is left for a week or longer the key blip does not open the car. The solution seems to be unlock and then relock the car with the key and then the remote will work.
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