wtfpenguin

I've had the car parked for the past 2-3 weeks, I don't drive it very often, but it starts up fine every time with a jump.

and it's been working fine the past few days (with no jump) and I finally washed it yesterday. I drove around town all day and no hesitation on the start up or anything. I removed the stereo and navigation and there seems to be less of a draw on the battery during starting up.

I went to a movie last night (saw the tourist, I'd give it 8.2/10) and I get out to the car and it won't even turn over. The lights don't even dim in the cockpit when I try to start the car. Which leads me to believe it's the ignition switch. And the steering lock doesn't engage until 30 seconds after I've taken the key out.

So I'm going to try and find that diy that uses the vw ignition switch and hopefully fix it today, I left the car at the theater and took a taxi home.

However if that doesn't fix it, what should I look for next?

I was thinking starter, but I thought a starter goes out slowly over time and won't work when the engine is hot, but will work when it's cold.

Attempt to jump the car, just in case it's the battery, although the gauge reads 12.

I was reading on renntech there are grounds behind the rear wheels, to check and see if those came loose?

TIA!

ivangene

Ferd (redridge) has swapped the ignition switch in a parking lot, says its an easy job - I dont know about a VW part I would try and get a genuine Porsche part - they are only $35 or so

if the entire assy is worn, those cost about $3-400 and are way more involved to change out - hope the switch fixes it, sounds like it will

Schützenweber

Sounds like you need a new battery.
The ignition switch gets sticky before it starts to fail.

bkjwhipple

I would give the starter a tap with a small hammer, if it starts after that you can deduce its the starter.. thats where i would start out as its simple and cheap.

Ahsai

Also don't forget to check the (light grey) clutch switch first if it's a stick shift (you can just short the two wires going into the switch when you try to start the car).

Macster

Battery. No healthy battery requires jumping to start the car and repeated starts requiring a jump suggest the battery was allowed to discharge quite a bit.

This is hard on a lead/acid battery and in colder weather it can take out even an otherwise healthy battery.

When you get the new battery installed if you can't drive the car often enough to keep the battery fully charged get a battery maintainer.

Sincerely,

Macster.

redridge

If it's a dead battery it should at least click on start up....

Banging on the starter would be very difficult since it is hurried under the plennum....

Ignition switch usually shows signs of electrical gremlins and difficulty in taking out the keys....

I'm thinking if it's not a dead battery, then the ground straps is the culprit.... My .02

Tom M

I've had batteries dead enough to power the lights but not click the solenoid. Not sure if the lights would dim in that case or not but it seems like they wouldn't since there's no additional current draw. However turning on the headlights would likely be a good test.

bkjwhipple

what? its easy to see....

Pac996

Batterys suck. Even a newish battery goes bad after jumping once or twice or just from luck of the draw. Throwing a new battery in is the easiest trouble shooting you can do.

wtfpenguin

changed the switch, no luck...

And the key still feels very sticky and hard to take out, It actually feels harder to take out now... would spraying wd-40 in there be bad?

Headlamps turn on, battery reads 12volts, hooked up a new battery, no luck. Didn't check the grounds behind the rear tires, not sure where those are located.

I'll check the clutch switch after work tonight, how do you know if it's bad? It clicks when the clutch is depressed right now...

Nico Jones

Sounds like your ignition switch needs to be replaced. My key wouldn't even come out of mine and had to get it replaced. Was about $350 on an '02.

Ahsai

Mine still clicked when it failed. Just remove the two wires from the switch and short them out with a metal paper clip. Very easy to test. Just make sure you put it in neutral before you try to crank.

Macster

My 02 Boxster exhibited a similar no start behavior. Everything looked normal but the engine would not crank.

Took the car to the local Porsche dealer. Tech tried to reproduce the no start symptom but of course the engine fired right up every time.

Even though no clear diagnosis I directed him to replace the ignition switch, the whole thing save the part the key fits into. He said he's never seen one of these go bad. But the mechanical switch assembly and the electrical switch box on the back.

At the same time I had him replace the clutch interlock switch and the cruise control disable switch. I bought these along with the brake light switch after it was clear the brake light switch was worn out. I replace the brake light switch on my own but never got around to replacing the clutch or cruise control disable switches. The tech's pre-ignition switch testing didn't turn up a clutch interlock switch problem though.

After the ignition switch replaced the car started just fine. Also, the tech told me the switch didn't look that bad, he's seen much worse.

Ok I took a shot and maybe it was the wrong shot. Still the switch had a lot of starts under its belt: The car had about 220K (or more) miles at the time the switch was replaced so I had gotten my money's worth out of the switch.

Anyhow, months and months later the same symptom reappeared. Not nearly as bad as before.

I spoke with him recently about this and he said it may be the clutch hardware (pedal hardware) has worn enough (car now has over 238K miles on it) that even though the clutch interlock switch is ok (it was replaced when the ignition switch was replaced) the clutch is not going down far enough to always close the switch.

He said it is not hard to bend the switch holder bracket a bit to make the clutch pedal lever or whatever contacts this switch to cause the switch to be more fully depressed and thus fix a marginal or intermittent clutch interlock switch contact problem. That is the switch is ok it is just the hardware that contacts the switch is not fully contacting the switch. IOWs, it is a mechanical problem and not an electrical problem.

I have not done this yet but in the meantime I have made a conscious effort to be sure I do fully depress the clutch pedal.

After doing this I can't remember the last time the engine failed to start right up.

Sincerely,

Macster.

ivangene

often times removing the floor mat cvan give you a tiny bit more distance for the clutch pedal to travel... worth a shot.

so are there just 2 wires on the ignition switch? - above said to jump them, not sure which ones, better know before doing that