987720

Went out to look at the battery more closely.

This is how my battery looked connected:

Top View:


Ground Connection:


Positive Connection:


Positive Cable connection to the Car:


I disconnected the Ground then the Positive from the Battery and removed all the electrical tape and found this:


I followed the cable and disconnected it from the car:




It looks like one of the previous owners replaced the battery with an aftermarket battery and did a mod to make the cables compatible.

I wonder if this is affecting my voltage messing with my rear control module throwing the "Spoiler Failure" message code.

What does everyone think?

blue44

any chance there was a lightweight battery in this car ?

Donn

987720

Not according to the VIN... Doesn't mean it wasnt fitted afterward

Marine Blue

That pigtail can definitely be the source of the problems. It looks like the clamp has some corrosion which can make it worse.

I took a few shots today but I don't think they're going to be much help. I can try to take more tomorrow.

ForceReconTrojan

Exactly right! There is a different setup for those because the first Spyder I looked at had the LW battery option and I looked at it, it was much different than my current setup. Because you can sell it for 2k plus...any chance of speaking to the original owner.

BBA

That's bizarre. It looks like they used another negative battery cable, then spliced it into the previous positive harness. I really wonder why. Even an aftermarket battery would not require that, you can easily find an aftermarket battery that fits exactly like the OEM battery. The battery shows a 5/14 sticker, so it's reasonably new. I would replace the hack job with the proper positive cable, then see if that helps.

ForceReconTrojan

Hi

One thing I am curious about, you have had 3 Spyders including the elusive and EXCLUSIVE PTS Spyder Riveria Blue....I can't imagine anything getting by you on these cars...how did this happen?

Also if you don't mind why did you get ride of the PTS Spyder that is a rare bird.

Skibum1963

Wonder if the terminals on the original vs. this aftermarket battery were of slightly different diameter. Maybe they spliced a new cable to accommodate for that?

987720

That is exactly what they did.

WAILN6

Battery cables can "look" tight and cause all sorts of problems. Any corrosion at all or looseness and your voltage can drop. You can use dielectric grease on the connections to ward off any future corrosion if that floats your boat, but as I look at that photo, it appears they chopped the factory cable and crimped on an aftermarket copper lug. Complete garbage. I would replace the cable.
Honestly, lifting that sucker into the well is probably the most difficult portion of that battery swap. Sounds like you'll need the correct computer module, but with the cash you save on the battery swap, you should feel a lot better about springing for that. As others have mentioned, I would be more concerned with how this came to be....looks a lot like a body shop or local garage hack. The orginal owner probably didn't even know this had been done, but probably knows where it was done.

New Cable for far less: http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/..._pg1.htm#item1
Control unit: (verify model with yours) http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/..._pg1.htm#item5

Marine Blue

I still don't understand why you would need a control unit for the rear wing if it doesn't actuate. Did you ask the dealer about that in more detail?

I wouldn't trust the dealer at all based upon the prices they gave and overall diagnosis, it looks like they through every possible part at the diagnosis without consideration of the car they are working on. I had a similar incident at my local dealer here in KC, they tried to tell me that they needed to do a service that also included mechanical top adjustment and inspection. Needless to say they won't be seeing my car again.

BBA

Amen.

Regarding post size, the negative cable appears to still be OEM. I've installed a number of aftermarket batteries over the years and never had an issue with post size. If it were me I would keep that battery as it is nearly brand new, it's not as if Porsche actually makes their own batteries anyway. There are only a few battery manufacturers in the world, most batteries are identical internally with different labels.

the_vetman

My WAG is that the previous owner had a very small aftermarket battery installed necessitating elongating the positive connection line. I have Braille 21 lb. and the cables barely fit. Any smaller battery and the stock cables would not reach. My guess is that this is why the positive cable was "spliced" - to make it longer.

I also agree that needing a new control module sounds like a bunch of baloney.

BBA

Any update? Just curious if you resolved the issue.

987720

Getting there

First thing I did was buy the factory battery and the positive cable repair harness. I wanted to see if the stock set up would fix my Spoiler Failure Code Error. Unfortunately this did not resolve my issue. So I ordered a replacement rear control unit. Today I installed it (been away for work travel and couldn't do anything until today) and I have resolved the Rear Spoiler Failure code. Now my rear lights are throwing codes. After doing some research, I need to go to the dealer to have the rear control unit recoded to my specification. Porsche uses the same control unit for multiple models which then needs to be coded. So once I get this done, I should be good to go! All back to factory spec!