HalfGerman

Yesterday my car had a slight sulphur smell, thought maybe gas. But today, stunk really bad, like you could almost taste it at the back of your throat. Arrived at work, 3 hrs later could still really smell it. I had 2 codes before this happened, fuel temp and shift solenoid. Was read with OBD reader, not Pcar specific. I reset to see if would cone back, will post the numbers when I get home late tonite.

Was raining so I did not check to see if performance was down. Right now I am thinking partially blocked CAT, 130k miles on car. Will peek under car when I get home. Hopefully no glowing cat, 25 mile commute.

HalfGerman

Got in the car to drive home and try to turn on the headlights, no go, WTF ? No problem, turn on the fogs, only driver side working, great. Low beam fuses were fine. So at least I can make it home at 1:30 am. Pull in the garage and hear bubbling / gurgling noises?

Definitely from the front of the car. Oh crap, pop the hood and see the battery venting, some thru the vent hose and other side, must have blew the plug out on the other side of battery. Proceeded to remove the battery as quickly as I can and put about 10 ft from house.

Then get a bucket with some water and baking soda, rag and wipe the condensation down in the car. Only under where the battery sits is where I got some fizzing / neutralzation.

Bad battery ? Voltage reg overcharged battery? I remember checking the voltage last year both with the car running and not and it was fine. This was before I parked it for last winter.

Oh yeah and the OBD codes that I had were P0181 fuel temp sensor and P076D shift solenoid ( mine is a 6 speed?).

Guessing the two issues are unrelated? Any pointers appreciated.

AOW162435

Harold,
That's a close call - glad you were able to pull the battery when you did. A weak battery can cause all sorts of seemingly odd behaviors on these cars. That said, I would think a shift solenoid code only pertains to a Tiptronic transmission?



Andreas

jrmdir

This happened to my 75 Targa years ago. Driving on a long trip, smelling noxious fumes and then finding the battery fluid boiling when I finally stopped for gas. In that case it was simply a defunct voltage regulator. Hope it's the same for you. Not sure about the errors. Might want to see where the fuel temp sensor is located and see if it's close enough to the battery to be impacted by the heat or the fumes?

EDIT: That sounds wrong. Don't mean to say I hope you have a bad VR. I'm sure it's a pain to replace on 993's. Just meant that I hope it's nothing more difficult to trace with the electrical system and error gremlins

HalfGerman

Will start by getting a new battery, probably Interstate. Checked the records and it looks like the old battery was installed in 2011. The alternator was a remanufactured Bosch put in July last year, just before I bought it.

Andreas, yes suspect the code is not correct due to the generic OBD reader. Rennlist needs a "map" of who has a Porsche code reader and is willing to help out. Like this for the VW guys: http://www.maptive.com/ver3/VCDS_Locator

I need to work on my Passat this weekend, so the 993 will have to wait until next weekend.

Harold

AOW162435

I have the VCDS cable (USB), should you need it for the Passat.




Andreas

Marine Blue

That exact scenario happened to me years ago with an old Mercedes I had, turned out to be the voltage regulator. It was cooking the fluid in the battery and I killed a couple batteries before figuring it out.

I would chase that first if you haven't already

HalfGerman

I ended up getting O'Reilly battery Super Start Platinum, same as Deka Intimidator. Store is just down the street from me and it was in stock.

Put the battery in and had 12.5 V with engine off.

Started the car and had 17.8 V ! at idle , put the blower and headlights on ( main beams did not turn on) and the voltage was 17.5 V, did not check voltage at 3k rpms.

At this point saying voltage regulator, correct? Guessing there is no easy way to get at the back of the alternator, like simply removing the shroud?

KNS

Definitely overcharging. You'll have to pull the alternator, good time to check the alt bearings while your in there.

boman993

I had this happen to me with a faulty trickle charger years ago...so this can happen in storage too for those that store over winter!! Keep an eye and nose on the car...I smelled a nasty egg smell in the garage over a day or so and couldn't figure out where it was coming from... Then I realized the battery was overcharging on the tender! Luckily no spills and no damage to anything, but scary!!!

bobbyp

Had the same thing happen on my boat last month.
A couple of batteries had some internal shorts (INTERSTATE - 3 years old) and the battery charger kept charging them. Had to get rid of 3 batteries.

The thing that alerted me was that my carbon monoxide detectors went off even though they weren't anywhere near the batteries.
Searching the internet, it seems that boiling batteries will set off CO detectors, so if you are paranoid, keep one under your car hood or at least nearby. :-)

This is what I have onboard:
http://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/.../kn-copp-b-lp/

996scott

Same with me on my boat last year. I could smell sulfer every now and then and could not figure out where it was coming from. Finally after tearing everything apart on the boat I realized it was one of my batteries.

sacman

I haven't come across a Bosch re-manufactured replacement parts that works beyond the first year on my 3 cars for the last 10 years. Just saying.