Porsche 996 Turbo - Morning blast,
Discussion
Two weeks of not driving the porker, die to appalling weather and being very very busy with work, managed to get the Turbo out this morning for an amazing country lanes blast in the sunshine, then off down to the sea front, tide in, sunshine glinting off the water, Turbo sounding superb and pulling strongly, love it what a car!
Out of interest the battery was very very low, and nearly didn't start, pretty crap the battery life isn't it....
Out of interest the battery was very very low, and nearly didn't start, pretty crap the battery life isn't it....
dank said:
Out of interest the battery was very very low, and nearly didn't start, pretty crap the battery life isn't it....
It's the one thing that proper pisses me off with my car. New battery 18 months ago but this time of year, if I leave it for more than a week, have to put it on trickle charge to make sure I've got enough juice to turn it over, otherwise it's that annoying click, click, click!Mine's getting a thorough clean this afternoon and a decent drive out tomorrow.
Glad its not just me. It also resets all the trip/mileage/speed info too when it gets low.
Early days but I connected one of those solar chargers to my cigarette lighter on Monday and didn't use it until today. Last few weeks the starter would have been decidedly lethargic but it burst into life this morning.
Early days but I connected one of those solar chargers to my cigarette lighter on Monday and didn't use it until today. Last few weeks the starter would have been decidedly lethargic but it burst into life this morning.
I got told this when i bought mine - the previous owner put a nice new Bosch on there but he said it used to go down every few weeks unless it was kept on trickle charge.
i keep mine in dehumidified storage whilst i'm away so the battery gets looked after fortunately, but yes, im told the same!
i keep mine in dehumidified storage whilst i'm away so the battery gets looked after fortunately, but yes, im told the same!
Bosch is the word. . . I had a new OE Bat fitted in my car as a replacement (FOC ) for another that was useless after less than a year. The replacement was however similarly useless after leaving the car on about 3 occasions for a fortnight , so I demanded my money back (which didn't work, as I hadn't paid for the replacement , only the original that they had replaced FOC . . . shysters 
The OE battery is totally useless, unless yours is a "daily driver".
How Porsche can have fitted such a chocolate teapot of an original battery to a car that will (in many cases) be a weekend toy fathoms belief. If you have your own garage & can leave it connected to a charger it just about passes muster, but anyone in a communal garage with no power point & unable/unwise to leave the car open to connect the CTek is going to have a flatty sooner or later. My current Bosch seems to have less grunt than a previous one I owned & I wouldn't leave it longer than 2 weeks. . . . . the previous one would start 'er up after 1 month as if only a day had passed.
Best solution that I try to "impose"
on myself is to drive it more often, but time (rather than the weather, which isn't a problem here in Spain) sometimes scotches my best intentions.
The OE battery is totally useless, unless yours is a "daily driver".
How Porsche can have fitted such a chocolate teapot of an original battery to a car that will (in many cases) be a weekend toy fathoms belief. If you have your own garage & can leave it connected to a charger it just about passes muster, but anyone in a communal garage with no power point & unable/unwise to leave the car open to connect the CTek is going to have a flatty sooner or later. My current Bosch seems to have less grunt than a previous one I owned & I wouldn't leave it longer than 2 weeks. . . . . the previous one would start 'er up after 1 month as if only a day had passed.
Best solution that I try to "impose"
on myself is to drive it more often, but time (rather than the weather, which isn't a problem here in Spain) sometimes scotches my best intentions. Edited by the other me on Saturday 1st February 15:57
I usually drive mine every day or couple of days, but it depends on where i am working, lunch time blasts if i am working from my studio are common, but if I am in London it does get left for weeks at a time... driven it plenty today to try and get some charge back into it, seems ok, more driving tomorrow then! 
Sorry guys but it's NOTHING to do with the battery.
There is a constant drain on it and ANY battery you fit will eventually go flat.
1) Always always remove key from ignition, else battery will last days, not weeks.
2) Having done that, lock the car with the remote to set the alarm even if it is garaged.
If car is going to be unused for more than 4-5 days, just disconnect the battery completely, assuming car is garaged and you can leave the boot open. Otherwise you will need jumpleads/another battery to get the boot open again.
When you reconnect, just reset the idle speed (simple, RTFM) ideally.
With the battery disconnected, it will retain it's charge for several months.
There is a constant drain on it and ANY battery you fit will eventually go flat.
1) Always always remove key from ignition, else battery will last days, not weeks.
2) Having done that, lock the car with the remote to set the alarm even if it is garaged.
If car is going to be unused for more than 4-5 days, just disconnect the battery completely, assuming car is garaged and you can leave the boot open. Otherwise you will need jumpleads/another battery to get the boot open again.
When you reconnect, just reset the idle speed (simple, RTFM) ideally.
With the battery disconnected, it will retain it's charge for several months.
996TT02 said:
Sorry guys but it's NOTHING to do with the battery.
There is a constant drain on it and ANY battery you fit will eventually go flat.
1) Always always remove key from ignition, else battery will last days, not weeks.
2) Having done that, lock the car with the remote to set the alarm even if it is garaged.
If car is going to be unused for more than 4-5 days, just disconnect the battery completely, assuming car is garaged and you can leave the boot open. Otherwise you will need jumpleads/another battery to get the boot open again.
When you reconnect, just reset the idle speed (simple, RTFM) ideally.
With the battery disconnected, it will retain it's charge for several months.
fThere is a constant drain on it and ANY battery you fit will eventually go flat.
1) Always always remove key from ignition, else battery will last days, not weeks.
2) Having done that, lock the car with the remote to set the alarm even if it is garaged.
If car is going to be unused for more than 4-5 days, just disconnect the battery completely, assuming car is garaged and you can leave the boot open. Otherwise you will need jumpleads/another battery to get the boot open again.
When you reconnect, just reset the idle speed (simple, RTFM) ideally.
With the battery disconnected, it will retain it's charge for several months.
k me, seems a bit over the top 
Mines parked in garage, always on trickle charge if I know its not to be used for more than 4 days, battery works perfectly even after 2 years ownership! simple
car kept outside, no garage, no power point... not a practical solution for non garaged porkers 
Agree though that surely these should have been designed to have longer life in the batteries, esp as they are to a lot of people weekend toys, I can understand a Ferrari or Lambo having this issue, but thought Porkers would have been more useable and 'practical'
Agree though that surely these should have been designed to have longer life in the batteries, esp as they are to a lot of people weekend toys, I can understand a Ferrari or Lambo having this issue, but thought Porkers would have been more useable and 'practical'Mine is on a trickle charger as it too goes flat in a couple of weeks. I haven't driven it for at least two months due to being abroad, weather or just needing more space when we've been off somewhere. Can't wait to give it a blast, but the roads are beginning to flood again around here
acf69 said:
Mine is on a trickle charger as it too goes flat in a couple of weeks. I haven't driven it for at least two months due to being abroad, weather or just needing more space when we've been off somewhere. Can't wait to give it a blast, but the roads are beginning to flood again around here
I quoted you but also referring to another post -Disconnecting the battery takes seconds.
Generally less time than it takes to set up a trickle charger. Something you won't need at all if the battery is disconnected.
The only "thing" I have about trickle chargers is that with my car at least, when the battery is on charge and connected, the car never seems to go to sleep, the bonnet lights front and rear are always on. And due to the drain, there is generally far more than just a "trickle" of current flowing, I don't like hot electrical accessories permanently connected, but that's just me!
Sorry to contradict/offend anyone, but. . .the original battery is unfit for purpose. A 996turbo was a 100grand + or - when new. Shouldn't I be able to drive it to the airport , go on holidays for a couple of weeks & expect it will start when I come home to the car park with the stunning brassy blonde I picked up on the beach in Barbados (well, just joking, but you get my point)
As I said, for a car of this price, which must be assumed in many cases to be a "toy" as opposed to a "daily driver" shouldn't they have fitted a battery that accepts the drain associated with what ? alarm/immobiliser/some memory in the computer/ what else ? for say the best part of a month.
My previous Bosch managed a month, and I thought this one was the same Amp/Hrs as I had before, but it sound less willing after 2 weeks than I would like.
Disconnecting batteries/attaching chargers ? FFS we are talking a bloody expensive car manufactured from 2000 to 2006 , not a 1963 Ford Anglia here
As I said, for a car of this price, which must be assumed in many cases to be a "toy" as opposed to a "daily driver" shouldn't they have fitted a battery that accepts the drain associated with what ? alarm/immobiliser/some memory in the computer/ what else ? for say the best part of a month.
My previous Bosch managed a month, and I thought this one was the same Amp/Hrs as I had before, but it sound less willing after 2 weeks than I would like.
Disconnecting batteries/attaching chargers ? FFS we are talking a bloody expensive car manufactured from 2000 to 2006 , not a 1963 Ford Anglia here
In my experience, well maintained cars don't experience starting problems if not used for a while.
We run 2 cars. Mine is a 20-yr old 993. Hers is a 13-yr old audi TT.
Both live outside on the driveway.
Never use a battery conditioner or charger on either.
Our normal pattern is to use mine for a couple of weeks, then swap over to hers for a couple of weeks. Both cars start 1st time with no problems after their 2-week lay up. We also leave either car at airport carparks for 2-weeks with no issues.
We run 2 cars. Mine is a 20-yr old 993. Hers is a 13-yr old audi TT.
Both live outside on the driveway.
Never use a battery conditioner or charger on either.
Our normal pattern is to use mine for a couple of weeks, then swap over to hers for a couple of weeks. Both cars start 1st time with no problems after their 2-week lay up. We also leave either car at airport carparks for 2-weeks with no issues.
996TT02 said:
acf69 said:
Mine is on a trickle charger as it too goes flat in a couple of weeks. I haven't driven it for at least two months due to being abroad, weather or just needing more space when we've been off somewhere. Can't wait to give it a blast, but the roads are beginning to flood again around here
The only "thing" I have about trickle chargers is that with my car at least, when the battery is on charge and connected, the car never seems to go to sleep, the bonnet lights front and rear are always on. And due to the drain, there is generally far more than just a "trickle" of current flowing, I don't like hot electrical accessories permanently connected, but that's just me!Boo152 said:
In my experience, well maintained cars don't experience starting problems if not used for a while.
We run 2 cars. Mine is a 20-yr old 993. Hers is a 13-yr old audi TT.
Both live outside on the driveway.
Never use a battery conditioner or charger on either.
Our normal pattern is to use mine for a couple of weeks, then swap over to hers for a couple of weeks. Both cars start 1st time with no problems after their 2-week lay up. We also leave either car at airport carparks for 2-weeks with no issues.
Not sure how a well maintained car (mechanically) has to do with the battery to be honest (apart maybe from alternator health). Batteries are consumable items and do over time need replacing - the OE battery (at least in the 9x6 and 9x7 cars) is not very good - and seems to lose the ability to hold charge after not very long. Cold weather only seems to amplify the issue. I've not heard or seen of the number of issues on other makes of car!We run 2 cars. Mine is a 20-yr old 993. Hers is a 13-yr old audi TT.
Both live outside on the driveway.
Never use a battery conditioner or charger on either.
Our normal pattern is to use mine for a couple of weeks, then swap over to hers for a couple of weeks. Both cars start 1st time with no problems after their 2-week lay up. We also leave either car at airport carparks for 2-weeks with no issues.
When I got my car I spent the first 16 months with slow cranking in cold weather and slow cranking if I hadn't used the car for a few days - it was less than 2 years old replaced by an OPC.
In the end after a couple of close shaves in the cold weather I replaced it with a Bosch S5 - the difference was and is remarkable - the cranking strength in cold weather is bteer than I ever saw in any conditions with the OE battery and in cold weather there isn't a perceptible difference. I've been able to leave it for well over a week and again no perceptible difference.
So - a few things - if your battery is a few years old, it is likely to have lost its ability to hold its charge for as long as it could when new. ALso, if its gone completely flat then I believe it will never perform like it was when new. Lastly, the OE battery is a piece of crap and they should approve better models to be fitted under the OPC warranty.
Boo152 said:
In my experience, well maintained cars don't experience starting problems if not used for a while.
We run 2 cars. Mine is a 20-yr old 993. Hers is a 13-yr old audi TT.
Both live outside on the driveway.
Never use a battery conditioner or charger on either.
Our normal pattern is to use mine for a couple of weeks, then swap over to hers for a couple of weeks. Both cars start 1st time with no problems after their 2-week lay up. We also leave either car at airport carparks for 2-weeks with no issues.
That might be your experience in a 993 & non Porsche but from the posts above obviously not the experience of 996 owners! It's nothing to do with well maintained from my experience. My car is lavished with care, always serviced on time and anything need spending on it it's spent! The Battery I fitted is a Bosch. We run 2 cars. Mine is a 20-yr old 993. Hers is a 13-yr old audi TT.
Both live outside on the driveway.
Never use a battery conditioner or charger on either.
Our normal pattern is to use mine for a couple of weeks, then swap over to hers for a couple of weeks. Both cars start 1st time with no problems after their 2-week lay up. We also leave either car at airport carparks for 2-weeks with no issues.
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