Over the last 5 days I've experienced an intermittent problem with electrical power.

I was fueling the other night and left the key in the ignition and the door open. When I was nearly finished filling the car with gasoline, the radio and all other functions went black.

I got in the car and turned the key to start... Nothing. I turned the key back and tried again. The car started and everything appeared normal except the radio required me to input the CODE. It was clear to me I'd lost electric power for some reason. I checked the battery and it is strong. The connections are very tight.

Tonight my car began stalling when I depressed the clutch. Similar to an RS flywheel equipped car except mine is stock flywheel. I also noticed that the radio AGAIN required that I enter the CODE to play. Another sign that the system had experienced a power interrupt.

Anybody eles experienced similar problems? Any solutions?

Thanks,

Matt

 

Dare I say it about a '98

It sounds like since you are loosing total power that it might be a major electrical connection is loose. If not the battery, where else, the alternator? Not sure.

E. J.

 

EJ,
Wiring harness?.....*ack*

 

I hope not Phil.

 

H20N00,

Did you wash your car recently ???

I've learned recently that one of the causal factors in wiring harness problems may have to do with geting water on/in the control box on the left side of the engine bay. This water can lead to shorting and arcing if it is mineral rich, as it breaks down the insulation of the harness.

Water gets in through the cooling vent in the decklid during a car wash. The best way to prevent this is to place a towel over the engine when washing, but I'm looking into waterproofing the box more completely.

The wrench that gave me this info (Texas German Autohaus in Houston) stated that they have replaced harnesses on cars 95-98 (though mostly 95) and that his thought was that it had more to do with the placement of the control box than the harness itself.

More fire to the flame I suppose,

sean

 

Matt,

It could be a loose battery cable connection. Please check the tighness of the bolt on both the ground and positive cable and see if there is any corrosions on the connection itself. (Any corrosion will apprear white)

Also check the the water level in each of the cells of the battery.

 

Sean,

I washed my car just a few hours before the problem started. I'm pretty careful about spraying water directly into the vent but I'm sure some got in.

Yesterday the car ran fine, the idle was perfect and the radio didn't have any issues.

I'll follow your lead and cover the electrical components prior to the next wash.

Hopefully, that will do it!

Thanks,

MC

 

Robin,

The battery and/or connections were the first place I looked as I've experienced similar blackouts on other cars. Everything appeared fine but I went ahead and disconnected the leads, cleaned the terminals, checked the fluid level and reconnected.

My car has a quick-disconnect device mounted to the battery. The previous owner only drove the car 2400 miles in 2 years so I think he had the device installed to save his battery during extended storage. I doubt he installed it himself and it's not mounted to anything, just hangs there.

I'm probably going to remove it since it is just 1 more thing that can cause problems. Does anyone else have one of these? Is it a Porsche part? Just curious.

MC