Ahsai

jump the clutch switch, not the ignition switch

CarlosR

I'd bet on a bad battery. I had this last week -- dash readouts and headlights would light, but no click or any sign of life from the engine when the key was turned to start. Jumping the battery would not start the car. Bypassed the clutch switch and tried a new ignition switch, neither did any good.

Replaced the battery, and problem solved!

These newer batteries don't necessarily behave like the old ones did.

ivangene

DOH - that makes more sense!

ivangene

I think this is your next step since you say the battery has been giving you problems for a while anyhow, fix the thing that has been telling you its broke

wtfpenguin

what did the volt meter in the car read? I guess I'll try the clutch switch tomorrow, and new battery. If that doesn't fix it I guess I've got to take it to a shop.

How should I maintain my battery. My car lives in a carport with no electrical outlets within 100 feet. Should I remove my battery every time I plan to leave the car more than a day?

redridge

Is there a light bulb in the storage? You can unscrew it and put one with a plug socket?

CarlosR

The voltmeter was reading 12 volts, approximately.

I wouldn't remove the battery. I've gone away on 2 week trips and not had any problems starting when I got back. But your mileage may vary.

function12

Does you horn work? The horn will draw lots of amps. You can easily hear the health of the battery.

wtfpenguin

horn works fine, tried to short the clutch switch, no luck.. I called a tow truck and they're going to be picking up the car and taking it to the shop

StephenB

If you battery is only reading 12v on a voltmeter it is dead. A fully charged battery should be 12.6v, 12.45v is 75% charge, 12.3v is 50% charge, 12.15 is 25% charge. Please note you should measure the voltage only after the surface charge is dissipated (turn your lights on for 15-20 seconds first)

Pac996

One thing to know is if there is a bad cell the battery can read good all day but when you go pull the amount of amps the cell or cells fall on their face at you don't get the amps out of the battery that are needed to crank the car.

wtfpenguin

I went back to the theater today and see this


Grr, I wait for the tow truck


Took the tow truck driver about an hour to put it on the bed



I did try to jump the car, and that didn't work, I don't know if a bad cell would cause that. I just wanted to get the car out of the parking lot. Hopefully the shop can tell me whats wrong with the car. They said it could even my key that went bad.

ivangene

gawd people suck !!!

what an ***!

anyhow its safe and at the shop, let us know what it turns out to be

nick49

Even with a low or bad battery as long as there is minimal current, you should hear an audiable click from the contacts in the relay and solenoid when turning the key. This is true even if the starter motor is bad (solenoid good).

CarlosR

In theory, that's absolutely right. In my case however, that didn't happen. My mechanic told me that he before he replaced the battery he checked the OBDII codes and an "immobilizer problem" came up. His theory was that the bad battery caused problems with the immobilizer, which then kept the car from starting. This might be an alternative explanation as to why the car didn't start even with a jump.

Initially, he thought we might have to replace the immobilizer control unit, which could have been a huge headache because Porsche doesn't like to give out the codes necessary to program a new unit. But after replacing the battery and clearing the trouble code, everything has been fine, so I apparently dodged that bullet.