About 45 minutes into my commute this morning I started having weird electrical issues.

The first time everything inside turned off for a second and the PSM and ABS lights came on for a second when everything came back (almost like the startup sequence, but just those lights).

Then there were multiple incidents where just the radio (after market) flicked off and on.

When I parked it the alarm chirped to tell me something was open and it was the driver door. It didn't want to latch and took a few tries. The window also wasn't dropping correctly (but not quite in a dead battery or regulator sort of way).

The motor didn't falter or seem to loose power during these incidents.

Towards the end of the trip I paid attention to the volt meter and it was steady just shy of 14 under power and bounced around between 13.25 and 13.5 while idling.

It had sat long enough that I had to use the key to get in. The last drive was a good long one that should have topped the battery off nicely. Up to the point of the first incident traffic had been crawling and I had only been about 7 miles in that 45 minutes.

Given that it had sat for a week and traffic was not conducive to charging the battery I suspect a low battery, but it didn't act like any prior charging issue I've experienced.

Anyone have thoughts on what might be going on?

 

Hmm, weird electrical gremlins. What could that possibly be? Hmm, let me think about it . . . gosh, I just cannot (cough ignition switch) imagine what could cause that in a 996.

 

Oh yeah, almost forgot: Freakin' noob.

 

Agree with KC but I would load test the battery and make sure the battery terminals are tight first.

 

My CD switched itself over to "TA" and started playing "Micky."

I didn't even know there was a tape in the player.

 

Low current from the battery can also cause weirdness (even when you are getting adequate voltage.) But it's probably the ignition switch.

 

Yep agree Ignition switch, mine had a whole extra position before I replaced it, all the internal stuff (radio fan etc) would be off while the car was running.

Once I pulled the switch out it was obvious why, casing of the switch was "worn" allowing over rotation.

Not too bad a DIY for a contortionist.

 

get your head out of your as

 

I guess nobody is thinking it's operator negligence? Someone will instigate this claim...Hurdi?

 

Ugh. Yeah. Why didn't I think of the source of all electrical pain in the 996

15.5 years is a good run out of an ignition switch right?

 

Try spraying some WD40 on it.

 

Never thought I would have ever put the words "screw" and "teabag" in the same sentence......and there you have it

 

Slow clap for me.

 

I'd like to say well played, but is it so if it was so subtle that you had to explain it?

 

No, it wasn't well-played, but it was fun and less irksome than our Morse/braille/iso/whatever encoding phase.