freeman727

So I parked my car in the garage and turned off the engine but forgot to put the car in park. Its a bad habit because my M3 automatically puts the car in Park when I turn off the engine. Well the battery completely drained.

Finally after many attempts at jump starting and using the Porsche battery maintenance device I was able to start the car. I initially got a lot of error messages but on the second start I was able to start without an error message. I also had to restart the window to get it to regain the auto-up and auto-down function.

KWP1911

Manual transmission FTW. :lol:

J/K, glad you got it figured out.

freeman727

Thanks. A manual may have been easier because I could pop start it but if that didn't work then I'd have to call Porsche Roadside Assistance and embarrass myself.

matt997

We used to be primarily a BMW family and I've daily driven BMWs for years and their push button start/stop feature that puts car in park with the press of the button is awesome and a hard habit to break when moving to other cars.

I've done exactly what you've done multiple times. Pull the 911 into garage, turn key off while still in gear BUT in my case our 911 won't let you pull the key out of the ignition without putting the car in gear so that always saves me.

I'm surprised your car let you pull the key while not in park.

Porsche_nuts

Little confused - how does not having car in Park drain the battery with the car off?

KWP1911

We had that in our X5, but the M3 with the DCT doesn't really have a Park button. It's kinda weird, so I understand the OP's issue.

freeman727

The car didn't power off and was running the electronics from the battery. I hope I was able to revive the battery. It started and stopped a couple times after driving. We'll see if I'm stranded at work tonight.

bwiele

If you have the Entry & Drive package you don't take a key out, just turn the blank. I did this the other day, and right away a message came up on the screen reminding me to put it in neutral. So, I did as I was told!

Needsdecaf

Totally overridden by the maddening need to press stop / start twice.

freeman727

One of the few things I like better about the M3 is the star/stop button and the Auto Park. I don't like the dummy key. It feels so pretentious. I do miss a manual transmission but it does feel nice to just stomp and go.

bkrantz

Not to be (too) snarky, but the problem seems to be car technology that does almost everything for the driver, but not quite enough.

texasviany

I just bought a '18 991 and it was my first automatic transmission ever. Twice I left the car in drive, but the battery did not die. However, when I went to start the car and it would not turn over and it took me a minute to figure out why. I have also gotten in and pushed my left foot down on an imaginary clutch pedal.