leeshephard

my uk car also has the 'crude' led in the center console...I was told by someone at Porsh-Apart that all uk cars had the alarm retro fit mentioned by Steve above.

Garth S

Ok - I was referring to the sequence of starting the car that has had the door unlocked for some time, and the key just inserted - ie., the immobilizer is armed .... and then must be disarmed after the key is turned to the run position, lighting all the dash icons.

I now see that the UK has some added delights to this already system. G'luck

shamrock

Hiya Lee,
Is yours a PA1000 and if so , does the immob light on your clock annunciate?

Slow Guy

I think someone else mentioned this before but in addition to the ground strap at the battery you also need to check the ground strap from the motor to the frame. Just from what you've written so far I would be looking at the battery, cables (and ground straps) and the starter. Just my .02.

henkinc

Shamrock - you may of course simply have a bad solenoid on your starter motor - hence the clunk.

shamrock

Did further 'starter motor' searching on line last night and this thought struck me too .. I'm hearing it's pretty unusual to have a starter go at sub 50k miles (No??)

If the solenoid goes , will it give trouble first or will it die end of story? .. The car has been running perfectly for the last two days ..

Slow Guy

I don't have any experience w/ Porsche starters but I've had a great deal of experience with American car starters. They usually give you a warning that they're about to fail but not always. If there's built up crud on the windings in the motor and the brushes are on that spot you'll have problems getting the starter to turn. Sometimes a good wack with a hammer will let it turn over and it will continue to function until the brushes fall on that bad spot again.

As for mileage that has little bearing on whether the starter is bad. A lot of short trips with lots of starts would obviously be harder on a starter than one that's driven for long distances each time.

I'm not saying your starter is bad, I would check your cables/ground straps first.

shamrock

Thanks Bill , the battery ground strap is perfect , but that's the end of my knowledge I'm afraid . Is there a way of checking the starters earth connection besides getting up close and personal with it ? Ie would it be possible to detect a bad starter by unusual draw on the battery during starter engagement? I could pull the dme relay and turn the car over while checking batt voltage.