islaTurbine

Yup it can be done in the engine by removing the alternator. There’s a guide or two here on RL.

SoCal911t

I bought 996.607.019.03 based on an old thread here. The parts websites say it's not compatible with my ' 99 C2 but I can't see any difference except the '03' part has a plastic mounting clip in the middle of the larger gauge wire.

DBJoe996

As is usual with Porsche, the 03 is an upgrade to 01 and should work without any problems. I think I read in this thread that a side-by-side comparison showed the 03 to have thicker cables, and that is better.

Boris1

Can someone measure the length of each cable (the part going from starter to alternator and starter to the plastic joint box) and how thick each wire is (The thickness of the conductor). I was thinking that instead of installing a crappy factory cable that seems to last only a few years before resistance increases, a better solution would be to make 2 separate cables and joint them at the starter. At the starter can use two 90 degree lugs like this (
). They can be stacked at the starter and tightened together. With a good crimp or solder joint this should work much better than Porsche factory cable. I know that these tinned cable lugs are frequently used in marine applications and as long as you use a good heat shrink tubing with adhesive on the end to protect the connection, they tend to last a very long time even in heavy salt water environment.

JohnCA58

This is what I did, ordered cables made up from Battery Cables USA using Single Odd wire with 5/16 hole ends, ran the alternator charge cable to the post and one from the starter to the post, 2 feet long for both, then order a single Odd cable with 5/16 hole ends for my ground cable 1 foot long., 3 cables cost me less than 30 bucks delivered.


https://www.batterycablesusa.com/?gc...BoCJd0QAvD_BwE

rabi

I don't know how old mine is (2001 C4), but it's at least 15+ years old (I have service records since 2004).

I just had it all apart as the slow crank symptom from a few months ago eventually progressed to no crank; it would just click. Fortunately, it turned out to be a loose nut on the starter side (my fault for not torquing it properly a few years ago when I serviced the starter). While there was no need, I refurbished/regreased the starter and cleaned up the alternator terminals while I had everything apart.

The infamous Y cable looked fine--like new--no discolouration or heat marks whatsoever. To be safe, I sprayed some deoxit into the lugs, recrimped them with a punch and hammer, and liberally coated all the connections and crimp areas with silicone grease for good measure. I get 14V at battery terminals on cold start, and 13.4 when the car is hot (with a/c and headlights on).

The crank is strong, starts right up, and the voltage drop from engine bay to +ve battery terminal in front is 0.1V when hot.

Rabi

Boris1

JohnCA58,
Thanks for the info, very helpful. With 2 feet length, was there a significant amount of slack left on either cable? In doing this over, does it make sense to make one cable longer/shorter than another? Also, when stacking the 2 cables on the post, did they stack "nicely" or do they have to go crooked somehow since the lugs don't seem particularly stackable to me.

JohnCA58

its been 2 years since did the job, cables did fit nicely, I did cover both cable with high heat split loom, I did fabricate a new bolt for the post, original just didn't have enough thread since there 3 cables at the post now,, did reuse the plastic housing removed from the old Y cable using hot water to remove,

SoCal911t

These are the measurments for cable # 996.607.019.03



















This is a new cable so I wasn't cutting the insulation off wire to see the true diameter.

This is the smaller cable dimension with insulation









And the large one...

Boris1

SoCal911T, thank you very much for the measurements, very helpful.