bogotajoe

Please help. My car has 17K miles on it. It is a tiptronic. Took it out for a short drive. Went to restart and would not. Jumped started it, and drove home. When driving home, battery/voltage failure light, ABS and PSM warning lights came on. Volmeter was flat on zero and I noticed it would not accelearatem but would rev when I pressed on the gas.. Turned it off and would not start. Are these issues all related?

raineycd

Yep, either battery or alternator or both! If no volts while running, then I would guess alternator... But could be a battery that is really, really bad...

bogotajoe

would a bad alternator affect acceleration, or am I looking a transmissions issue also? Car was running fine.

raineycd

I would say that is the lack of voltage - not enough to produce spark at higher RPMs.

raineycd

Alternator seems to be a somewhat common issue, btw. But it is a somewhat simple repair.

bogotajoe

Ok, thanks for the advice. I am going to take it in tomorrow.....Never new low voltage could affect acceleration. I am just hoping its not the tranny...That would mean, battery/alternator/tranny all went at once.

SSST

My guess is alternator. Let us know what you find out.

bogotajoe

I will. Thanks for the advice..

raineycd

I would probably stay away from the Tranny's!!!

Alternator should be around $400-600 and 1 hour labor. Not the cheapest thing to go... Tranny is probably fine.

Brenton

MY wife has destroyed a couple of batteries in my subi.
On 1 occasion after a jump start the auto tranny played up while driving. After replacing the battery there was no tranny problem and have done another 10000km since.

The car was not creating enough electricity to power the auto tranny.

I would
1 look at bettery
2 look at atlernator
3 not worry about the tranny

Kevinmacd

Lack of acceleration would probably mean you are riding on the battery, and the battery is getting low. Low voltage could effect a lot of things. Probably the voltage regualtor, not putting out enough to keep up with the battery charge and the electrical demand.

bogotajoe

That's reassuring, thanks everyone for your input. I am having it looked at tomorrow and hopefully its just the altenator/battery. The porsche tech I spoke with today seems to agree with the board. I will post the techs findings on the board tomorrow after its looked at. Kind of scary how it (the altenator) just goes and the car is dead. Glad I was not taking a long road trip but was just taking my 7 y.o. daughter to taco bell! I didn't recall the voltmeter indicating a problem before it went.

adam_

Belt perhaps?

bogotajoe

Ok, here is what Porsche found. It was a dead battery. That's it...They said since I don't drive it much (2002 with 17K miles) the battery can go dead fast due to the security system, etc (I am sure most of you know that). He suggested a battery maintainer or to drive it more. I am going to do the latter--I promise! It was amazing how the car would not accelarate when I stepped on the gas and the alternator would not charge the battery when I drove it around after jumpstarting it. I was thinking bad thoughts...You guys who responded were spot on with the diagnosis. Thanks again....

Renn 951

When was the battery last replaced?