shldrdoc993

My 98 cab has only 23k miles now, I bought it 3 yrs ago with only 8. K and replaced battery at that point with porsche battery. I have noticed this past winter that my porsche trickle charger would never say it was fully charged but never had prob until last Friday when it had only sat for a week and wouldn't start. There seemed to be usual power when I got into car but when I turned key only heard click,click without starting car. I plugged in trickle and few hrs later with a struggle it started. It then sat for two full days with charger on but today had power in cabin but just clicking no reasonable effort for car to turn over. I figured I need new battery or dme relay or both. To confuse things even more tonight I went into garage for one last try and noticed the overhead light and light above key hole on without any door ajar????I have never noticed this before. Any suggestions on what to replace first? Thanks. Dave

ironimages

Take a look at the battery ground strap, that might need replaced.

JM993

You may have 2 problems. First, your battery is probably bad. Give it a full charge and see if it will start the car easily. I'm guessing it won't. Second, the reason you may have a bad battery is because you may have a draw on the electrical system. Once you have a fully charged battery, disconnect the negative battery cable and connect a multimeter set to ohms between the negative battery cable and the negative battery terminal. If the draw is significant, begin pulling fuses (start with the interior light fuse) to determine the source of your draw. You may have a bad door pin switch.

Cheers,
Joe

MDamen

I'm pretty sure Joe meant to have the multimeter set to DCA or DC amps, not ohms. Amps will give you the current draw. Ohms would show infinite, or open circuit without the battery connected.

I'm going to go with a bad battery. If you don't use them much, batteries get finicky, even with a charger. You may want to check the electrolyte levels in the battery. It is probably a sealed battery, but some trickle chargers can put out enough juice to boil off some water and leave you with a less than full charge.

JM993

Thanks Mike for catching that. You are of course correct. And I need some rest .

Cheers,
Joe

2Many Cars

Trickle chargers won't properly charge a fully discharged battery so I'm not sure you've yet given the current battery a fair test. Buy/borrow a decent charger that will put out at least 2 amps and let it charge fully over 24 hours or more - and definitely check the electrolyte levels in each cell before you charge it.

As to the lights being on remember the interior lights will stay on if the front trunk is ajar as will the engine compartment light anytime the engine lid is ajar. It's very easy to leave those on by accident.

FisterD

When charging the battery you can manually activate the hood latch while it is open, this will turn the lights off. Just stuff a rag in the latch so you won't forget and try to close it. Remove the rag and pull the trunk release inside the car when you are ready to close it again.

shldrdoc993

Guys awesome the inside light mystery is solved thanks to 2many cars and darin. Now still need to address battery but curious if guys have better trickle charger brand rec other than one from porsche??

shldrdoc993

Should I just try to jump my battery and if it starts then give it a long run to see if it will charge any better from alternator? Also has anyone ever started vehicle with trickle charger still in?

coltj

FWIW, my mechanic at EPE has recommended NOT jumping a 993 and I've followed his advice. Others may chime in otherwise.

Good luck. Hopefully you won't have to deal with resetting the readiness codes!!

gwc

Get a new battery. even if you get a charger and even if you get it charged, it is damaged goods at this point. Get a new one and go from there. I have had good luck with battery maintainers (batteries lasting 4 to 6 years) on my seldom used cars, but have no experience with the porsche unit.

shldrdoc993

thanks for advice I know when I bought my car the thought was that my convertible top motor ecu was fried from multiple jump starts in a show room. I'm going to get new battery tomorrow and hope for best.

ppashley

Charger-wise, I use one of these. CTEK. Modern technology for battery charging.

http://smartercharger.com/

mjsporsche

Great recommendations on chargers. But do not toss the Porsche model you have as I have used the same one for over 12 years and have maintained my batteries without issue.

Mark

shldrdoc993

Guys thanks for advice! Removed old battery and went with interstate mtp91 fit and worked great. Car back on road and I'm much happier. Dme fine. My porsche charger is a ctek