SonnyV

Hi guys,

It has been a long time since I post anything on here. I used to read this forum everyday but did not post much, and then I slowly stopped reading all together in the last year or so due to family and job.

I am looking for some help.

My car, 1992, has been parked for almost a year and with battery maintainer connected the whole time trickle charging at 2 volts. I have done this everytime the car parks for more than 3 weeks at a the time.

The battery is old (about 8 years old). My car is due for a smog check/test here in California. I went to start the car today (after disconnected the trickle charge). Put the key in, turned and got nothing, no lights at all.

I took a battery starter (portable), hoooked it up, got all the lights like normal, tried to start the car, first I heard a few cranks (turns), after that nothing, just a click.

I also tried to start the car with a different charger (connect to the wall) in start mode, got the same thing, just a click.

Questions:

Do I have a bad battery? Plan to pickup a new battery later today.

The click when I tried to start, what does it mean? It did turn over a couple of time at first, but after that no more cranking, just a click. Starter issue?

Any information is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Sonny

theporscheguy

Did you check the voltage at the battery? 8 years is pretty good life, even with a battery maintainer. I would start with the battery and go from there. Hopefully your 964 was placed into hibernation properly as a year is quite a while.

Sharker

Usually a click when trying to start is the starter trying to engage, but not having enough juice to go. Have you tried jumping it with another vehicle (jumper cables)? I just had the same thing happen with an old van that had been sitting.. Click, then nothing.. but when jumpered, it started right up.

Frank 993 C4S

8 years on a battery is pretty good but it's probably pretty much dead by now. These cars don't start up well with jumper cables or a battery starter. Get a new battery and your problem will be solved.

SonnyV

Thanks guys,

I got a new battery last night and will install it later today. From the look of it, I will need to remove the spare tire. Any tip on how to install the battery? Last time, it was installed by a pro shop. I looked around on the 964 forum a little but did not find anything usefull specifically to installing a new battery.

I did try to jump the car with 2 separates systems (charger with start car function, and a battery operated jumpers, portable) and got nothing but a click as described in first post.

I'd love to hear more opinions or comments from you all.

Thanks and appreciated.

parsecnc4

+1 on battery. I had the exact same problem last night with my 964 Roadster and swapping a known good battery from another 964 I have started it right up.

Max964t36

I had the same symptoms ad it was definitely the battery ...

ralt

make a note and write the date on your new battery. Plan on five years of battery life. Thats it!!

SonnyV

Thank you for all your help. A special thanks to Bob (Parsecnc4).

I did the battery replacement in just about 15-20 minutes. Once the spare tire came out, the rest was just straight forward.

The car started right up on first try after new battery installed.

It smoked quite a bit since it has been parked for months. I think I killed a lot of mosquitoes today.

Gotta love Porsche. This car has never missed a start, except for when I had a dead battery, of course.

I drove it around the neighborhood a bit to clear it up. I will drive it more tonight and more tomorrow, and to the smog test center for its test.

Thanks again for all the help.

rstarga

It would be a good idea to change the oil and filter after the long sitting. I'd probably run some techron through a full tank before the oil change to get any moisture out of the fuel too, maybe a new fuel filter too.

SonnyV

Great idea on writing the date on the battery. Thanks.

Yeah, I had the oil and filter changed this morning. Drove it a lot to clear out any moisture in the exhaust system.

New full tank of gas after I burned off the what was left of the old gas. I've always used Chevron gas only on all my cars, techron is already in it.

Did the smog check this afternoon, passed without any issues on original exhaust system.