Drew_K

Just wanted to pass this along. I think it further shows that 964's are sensitive to a weak battery.

For the past month, I was having a strange hum from the dashboard, and my stereo wasn't working properly. I go to start the car this weekend and the battery was dead. I replaced the wet cell battery with an Optima Red Top 75/35, which is a drop in replacement, and the hum is gone and the radio works again. Go figure.

When I first bought the car 3 years ago, it had a rough idle that was also fixed by a new battery. Seems like our cars, or at least mine, is very unhappy with a bad battery.

Drew
92 C2

TMH

Good to know, Drew.

I replaced mine with an Optima red-top a couple of months back. Never had any issues with the car, other than it wouldn't even turn over one morning. No issues since the red-top went in. Here's hoping for long life out of those.

Tom

gpallem

I'll just chime in: the Optima red top is great. Direct bolt-in with much more power to swing the starter. Car used to start with some trepidation--pretty much gone now. Convertible top is quicker, and I never worry about having enough reserve to get on the road again. I posted their name and number before, but if you need a good address for the Optima then Mick Michelsen's Chatham Motorsports is a great guy to deal with at (540) 981-0356 (no affil. just happy customer).

Geert
90 C.2 Cabrio

Drew_K

The local Autozone had the Optima in stock at $109 (with exchange). I thought that was pretty reasonable. I had to fiddle with repositioning the Optima b/c the posts aren't in the exact same place as a regular battery. The Optima is also smaller, so I was able to get it to work by placing it toward the rear, driver side most position. This also allowed for reinstalling the battery tiedown clamp.

gpallem

I had no such problems with the 75/35 model (which the locals didn't carry here). The battery is smaller but for me that also did not pose problems. I placed it right in the middle of the tray/space and clamped it down with the original clamp. The original wires go right to it with no problem--again for the 75/35 model.
Geert
90 C-2 Cabrio

Cuppie

I have just had a loose earth strap tightened and cleaned -symptons?? Rough running, oil pressure guage droppd, temp gauge rose, wouldn't tick over, wouldn't charge battery (after a 250mile run), wouldn't start -phew! Thank goodness it was that easy!!

Mel

Drew_K

I installed a 75/35 as well. It wasn't a 'problem' at all, but just pointing out that I had to fiddle with it a little for the reasons above.

Mel: I had a rough idling problem a while back that was also cured by replacing the transmission ground strap. Glad to hear your issue was resolved so simply and cheaply.

Wachuko

And people laughed at me when I did the same... the first day, driving back home from purchasing the car... all the lights came on... I stopped, checked everything (oil, belts, whatever...) and kept driving.

I replaced the battery and all that went away.

This has been discussed here in the past. Glad to hear you car is back to normal

Stephen Smith

Yeah
I totally agree a strong fresh and fully charged battery can make a considerable difference. I recently replace my battery which was going flat after a few weeks, with one that has 660 cold cranking amps and not only does the car start faster, but it seems more responsive under acceleration. In that regard, I'm considering it may be worthwhile to purchase one of those trickle chargers which plug into the cigarette lighter to keep the battery in top shape. Evidently, there is a proprietary Porsche unit.
O.K. hope this helps
S. Smith
93 C2 Tip