starting problem
10-04-2009, 08:04 AM
#1
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starting problem
I recently bought a 996 gt3 clubsport mk1. I really like the car, it's the best thing I've ever driven. Maybe even better than the 993 
Sometimes when I turn the key, the starter turns the engine over for 1 second or so and just before the engine would start, it stops turning like if I've released the key. Then I have to make a new attempt by releasing the key and turning it again.
Sometimes it happens on 4 of 10 attempts and sometimes it never happens.
Do I need a new starter engine or could the problem be elsewhere? could something be telling the starter to stop?
any ideas?
thanks
Sometimes when I turn the key, the starter turns the engine over for 1 second or so and just before the engine would start, it stops turning like if I've released the key. Then I have to make a new attempt by releasing the key and turning it again.
Sometimes it happens on 4 of 10 attempts and sometimes it never happens.
Do I need a new starter engine or could the problem be elsewhere? could something be telling the starter to stop?
any ideas?
thanks
10-04-2009, 10:09 AM
#3
Burning Brakes
I had a similar problem, turns out that I installed the carpet to far forward after cleaning the foot well and this obstructed the clutch from full travel which effected the clutch limit switch. I could here the relays chattering behind me but the engine would not start. After a week at my local shop the owner diagnose the problem and I have not had any issues since.
Not saying that you have the same problem but it is worth considering as one possibility.
Not saying that you have the same problem but it is worth considering as one possibility.
10-04-2009, 10:11 AM
#4
Rennlist Member
A post on Pistonheads in the Uk refered to strange electrical problems being fixed by replacing the ignition switch contact block - not expensive.
=======
I am not a regular poster to these forums, but am a regular reader so I thought this was a good time for my first long, possibly helpful and maybe informative, post. If it isn't then at least I have got it off my chest.
About a year ago, not long after my last major service at Porsche Centre Silverstone (unrelated point and where, for the record, I have always received fantastic service) I noticed that my air bag warning light would come on sometimes whilst driving and then go off. Sometimes it would be on for the duration of the journey and sometimes not at all. This gradually got more and more common until it was on all the time. This is where the story starts..
I started searching on this forum, the Rennlist forums and a bit of Googling in between and found many references to the seat belt receptacles being the culprit for my issues, apparently replacing these would fix my problem. Thinking this was probably the case, I decided to ignore the little red light and wait until the car was next in for service and get it fixed then, I was informed by the various articles that the airbags were still probably functional anyhow.
During the next few months and few thousand miles my car started exhibiting several random electrical faults that began with the auto door locking not working. Next the interior lights would remain on after the doors had been shut and the engine started and the only way to turn them off was to put the switches above the rear view mirror to "off". I later discovered that opening and shutting the door (with the engine running), then locking the doors also turned the lights off, but that was just too random.
I quickly got to grips with the car's little foibles (even the stereo randomly turning off and back on once about every 10 journeys) and pretty much started to ignore them, knowing that my service was coming soon and it would all get sorted.
Next (and the thing that finally made me do something about it) the car became a nightmare to start. I found myself in the situation that if I turned the ignition to the on position and then tried to start the car it would not go. The only way was to turn it all the way to "start" from "off" immediately and then it was fine. Clearly this was not good behavior and really needed to get sorted, good job the service was the following week.
So.... Car delivered to a Porsche specialist who will remain nameless for a full 48k service and a few other bits, including a "Can you please sort out my airbag light" request. Within 5 minutes of leaving the garage they call me and tell me the car wont start at all...... Its the ignition problem, I forgot to tell the guy to turn it all the way at once.....
Anyhow, much later...... Service done and random electrical problems not solved at all... I am told the car has been on the computer and spat out some error codes they had not seen before, apparently phone calls to Porsche UK also shed no light so I was instructed to take it to a main dealer to get it diagnosed properly. I naively expected that a 911 specialist might have been able to "diagnose it properly", but hey ho !
Short of time, through having a new job and working away a lot, and also short of a desire to go to a main dealer to be fleeced of £150 for the privilege of having my car "diagnosed properly", I decided to hit the internet again and take matters into my own hands.
The car was now pretty much not driveable as it would not start most of the time leaving me worried about going somewhere and not being able to get back.
Google to the Rescue !
After an evenings Googling and only occasionally coming across some sites I should not have, I found a possible solution. I came across a blog of a guy who had an issue starting his 996 and pointed it to the ignition switch. Logical I thought so phoned Porsche and asked for a quote to replace mine. (at this point I wanted to car to just start and was not concerned about the previous mentioned problems). I was promptly quoted £199 for the part and "about 2 hours labour". Problem solved I thought, but no way was I paying someone knocking £500 after what I read lower down the page.
Apparently Porsche no longer sell the ignition switch as a separate part, which explains why i was quoted so much for it, but VW do and its the same part. A little Googling later and I had ordered the £25.48 ignition switch and sat down with a cup of tea to eagerly await its arrival.
48 hours later and the ignition switch arrived. Keen to get my car starting again, and armed with my pictorial instructions from my afternoon of internet searching, I began the "about 2 hour's labour" (for a qualified Porsche mechanic) worth of work to replace it.
22 minutes later.... I was done. And what happened next amazed me !
ALL ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS GONE.
Car started
No airbag light
Auto Lock worked
Interior Lights Worked
PSE worked (did i mention that got stuck in quiet mode, ugh !)
Stereo worked
I know this has gone on a bit, but I am writing it on a plane and would otherwise be bored and not have managed to zone out the screaming baby next to me.
I'm not sure if there is a moral to this story, but it hopefully serves as a reminder of how useful the internet is, especially forums like this one. A computer software guy (me) armed with nothing but a laptop connected to the interweb diagnosed a problem that a 911 specialist and "calls to Porsche UK" could not. and further to that armed again with my interweb, a 2mm hex key and a small flat screwdriver managed in 22 minutes what a main dealer quoted 2 hours labour for...
Don't be put off by having a go yourself, when it comes down to it a 911 is bolted and plugged together in much the same way you old mini/beetle/escort was, it's just the plugs have more wires and the parts cost more.
And if you ever get a random electrical problem in a 996... Change the ignition switch, might be the best 25 quid you ever spend.
=======
I am not a regular poster to these forums, but am a regular reader so I thought this was a good time for my first long, possibly helpful and maybe informative, post. If it isn't then at least I have got it off my chest.
About a year ago, not long after my last major service at Porsche Centre Silverstone (unrelated point and where, for the record, I have always received fantastic service) I noticed that my air bag warning light would come on sometimes whilst driving and then go off. Sometimes it would be on for the duration of the journey and sometimes not at all. This gradually got more and more common until it was on all the time. This is where the story starts..
I started searching on this forum, the Rennlist forums and a bit of Googling in between and found many references to the seat belt receptacles being the culprit for my issues, apparently replacing these would fix my problem. Thinking this was probably the case, I decided to ignore the little red light and wait until the car was next in for service and get it fixed then, I was informed by the various articles that the airbags were still probably functional anyhow.
During the next few months and few thousand miles my car started exhibiting several random electrical faults that began with the auto door locking not working. Next the interior lights would remain on after the doors had been shut and the engine started and the only way to turn them off was to put the switches above the rear view mirror to "off". I later discovered that opening and shutting the door (with the engine running), then locking the doors also turned the lights off, but that was just too random.
I quickly got to grips with the car's little foibles (even the stereo randomly turning off and back on once about every 10 journeys) and pretty much started to ignore them, knowing that my service was coming soon and it would all get sorted.
Next (and the thing that finally made me do something about it) the car became a nightmare to start. I found myself in the situation that if I turned the ignition to the on position and then tried to start the car it would not go. The only way was to turn it all the way to "start" from "off" immediately and then it was fine. Clearly this was not good behavior and really needed to get sorted, good job the service was the following week.
So.... Car delivered to a Porsche specialist who will remain nameless for a full 48k service and a few other bits, including a "Can you please sort out my airbag light" request. Within 5 minutes of leaving the garage they call me and tell me the car wont start at all...... Its the ignition problem, I forgot to tell the guy to turn it all the way at once.....
Anyhow, much later...... Service done and random electrical problems not solved at all... I am told the car has been on the computer and spat out some error codes they had not seen before, apparently phone calls to Porsche UK also shed no light so I was instructed to take it to a main dealer to get it diagnosed properly. I naively expected that a 911 specialist might have been able to "diagnose it properly", but hey ho !
Short of time, through having a new job and working away a lot, and also short of a desire to go to a main dealer to be fleeced of £150 for the privilege of having my car "diagnosed properly", I decided to hit the internet again and take matters into my own hands.
The car was now pretty much not driveable as it would not start most of the time leaving me worried about going somewhere and not being able to get back.
Google to the Rescue !
After an evenings Googling and only occasionally coming across some sites I should not have, I found a possible solution. I came across a blog of a guy who had an issue starting his 996 and pointed it to the ignition switch. Logical I thought so phoned Porsche and asked for a quote to replace mine. (at this point I wanted to car to just start and was not concerned about the previous mentioned problems). I was promptly quoted £199 for the part and "about 2 hours labour". Problem solved I thought, but no way was I paying someone knocking £500 after what I read lower down the page.
Apparently Porsche no longer sell the ignition switch as a separate part, which explains why i was quoted so much for it, but VW do and its the same part. A little Googling later and I had ordered the £25.48 ignition switch and sat down with a cup of tea to eagerly await its arrival.
48 hours later and the ignition switch arrived. Keen to get my car starting again, and armed with my pictorial instructions from my afternoon of internet searching, I began the "about 2 hour's labour" (for a qualified Porsche mechanic) worth of work to replace it.
22 minutes later.... I was done. And what happened next amazed me !
ALL ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS GONE.
Car started
No airbag light
Auto Lock worked
Interior Lights Worked
PSE worked (did i mention that got stuck in quiet mode, ugh !)
Stereo worked
I know this has gone on a bit, but I am writing it on a plane and would otherwise be bored and not have managed to zone out the screaming baby next to me.
I'm not sure if there is a moral to this story, but it hopefully serves as a reminder of how useful the internet is, especially forums like this one. A computer software guy (me) armed with nothing but a laptop connected to the interweb diagnosed a problem that a 911 specialist and "calls to Porsche UK" could not. and further to that armed again with my interweb, a 2mm hex key and a small flat screwdriver managed in 22 minutes what a main dealer quoted 2 hours labour for...
Don't be put off by having a go yourself, when it comes down to it a 911 is bolted and plugged together in much the same way you old mini/beetle/escort was, it's just the plugs have more wires and the parts cost more.
And if you ever get a random electrical problem in a 996... Change the ignition switch, might be the best 25 quid you ever spend.
10-04-2009, 03:35 PM
#6
Rennlist Member
I has a similar problem with a VW Jetta and it turned out to be the ignition switch. Wouldn't be a surprise if it turns out to be the same part used on many Audi/VW/Porsche.
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04-14-2015, 01:17 PM
#9
I am having the same problem as described by Stevo above. I turn the key to start position and nothing, not even a hum. I turn it off and on again, same result. I finally catch it with 5-7 attempts, and then am afraid to shut the car off imagining it won't start again. I swapped the battery, but same result. I think I'd like to try this ignition switch swap described above. Does anyone know the part number by chance? I have read it's a VW part. I also want to understand that what is described above is swapping the switch behind the ignition itself, and not the ignition housing altogether...ie) I don't have to pull the entire cylinder out, instead I have to get on my back and work under the dash to access the part behind the ignition housing....does this sound right? Many Thanks for any assistance. 
The car does not exhibit any other anomolies like air bag light, CEL's, etc... It simply won't turn over with the key until it finally catches, randomly. Weird.
The car does not exhibit any other anomolies like air bag light, CEL's, etc... It simply won't turn over with the key until it finally catches, randomly. Weird.
04-18-2015, 03:39 PM
#12
I'm trying to swap out the switch only. I have wedged myself under the dash but am having trouble with the 2 tiny screws. Looks like there was a thread by 911Slow on the 996 Turbo forum that there is a special tool #9631 used to get the 2 tiny screws out. Is this only available from a dealer or is there some other tool that will work. It's a serious PIA to get my paws up in there for leverage, but if others have done it, I'm sure I can too. Thanks for any assistance regarding the tool. Thought it might be a regular jewelers screw driver, but no such luck. TIA
04-19-2015, 03:00 PM
#13
OK, Finally got the switch out and went to plug the new one in. Wrong switch....damn! Correct original part # is 4B0 905 849 (white plastic housing) This is for 2004 996 GT3. Ordered the correct part online just now and will wait for it's arrival. I found a very small stubby screwdriver and ground down the tip width and made the blade very thin and it worked like a charm to get to the tiny screws. You have to be patient as you are working in the blind to some degree. Have to go by feel, but it does work.
After inspecting the switch that I pulled from the car, there is no sign of any damage, broken plastic etc, so if this is the culprit, it's likely worn contacts inside. Will report back when this job is complete.
Cheers all!
After inspecting the switch that I pulled from the car, there is no sign of any damage, broken plastic etc, so if this is the culprit, it's likely worn contacts inside. Will report back when this job is complete.
Cheers all!
04-22-2015, 07:44 PM
#14
Rennlist Member
THX for the updates. Hope that this solves the problem.
04-22-2015, 08:36 PM
#15
Rennlist Member
A little late to help you out but a Picquic Teeny Turner works well to remove the tiny screws.
I haven't had one fail on my GT3 but replaced the switch 3 or 4 times on my 996 over a 10 year period.
I haven't had one fail on my GT3 but replaced the switch 3 or 4 times on my 996 over a 10 year period.