shammydog

This is a 2006 997 36k miles with the following symptoms: turn key in ignition, starter does not engage, no solenoid click, nothing. Oil measurement starts (as if brake was not depressed, but it is). Then all hell breaks loose. the key in ignition dinging gets VERY loud, PSM failure displayed, ABS failure displayed, electric cooling fan up front spins like it's going to take off, "move selector to P or N" indication (it's already in P). Sometimes some other crazy messages. Only code thrown is P0503 (Vehicle speed sensor "A" circuit intermittent/erratic/high).
- Battery is strong, I charged it to be sure, then removed it and had it tested to be sure. All good.
- I jump started it as well just to be triple sure. Same results

I read a similar thread about a member who fixed his problem by disconnecting the battery for 10 min. Tried that, no luck.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Seems like a bad relay, not sure where to start.

Petza914

On these cars when multiple systems freak out at the same time it's usually a voltage / battery issue. If the battery is good, as it sounds like it is, I'd check all the ground points, especially where the negative battery cable attaches, for corrosion and tightness.

Next thing to think about is the canbus network. Have you added anything to that like a TPC DSC controller with 3-axis accelerometer?

montauk1

I joined this forum because the same thing happened to me and I was looking for help. I changed the battery on my 2006 997 and after the battery change I noticed the front wipers were not working and while I was checking the fuses I had the car and AC running. I then saw smoke from the rear and opened the lid to see the AC clutch burning up from what I thought a bad compressor. got home and shut it all down. I could not get or track down why the wiper was not workijng and then realized the front fans were not working which caused the AC to overheat and lock the compressor up which caused it to burn. After a lot of tracking and tracing I found another stupid bad design battery cable problem. The positive cable from the battery comes off the battery terminal travels about a foot or so to the the inner compartment wall next to the cabin air filter and is held on by a clip that lets the cable rotate around and this is were two wires are crimped together, one feeds the main of the car an starter and the other feeds the 80 amp breaker that feeds the front fans and wiper system and I guess the AC relays because I was surprised the AC did not shut itself down when the fans were not cooling the coils which sent the pressure up and caused the stalling of the AC compresso causing the clutch to burn. stay with me and I will get to our similiar problem. So I fixed that connection and the car started better than it ever did, the back cable connection I fixed last summer but it still never started right but it did start.but now with this front connection redone it was unbelievable and I did a quick fix to be sure it was right an working. so when I did the strong solid fix I left the battery out for a week while I cleaned and recrimpted the new battery cable to the very odd connection and then ran the other line directly to the battery terminal the one that fell off and started the problems.. I don't recall why but after another week I went to start the car and the same thing happened to me as to you I put the key it started the oil level and then was interrupted by rear tail failure PSM failure and then short sign and bring to service shop. the car would not turn over but everything else worked. when I saw the short I re tracked what I did and it was all fine so I left the battery disconnected while I researched the issue. my simple code reader read the same p0503 code. when I was sure nothing I did was shorting I left the battery connected and for 3 days wiggled and kept checking with no luck and the same thing it would not start and the same codes came up until yesterday. I went to check it and all of a sudden it started and the only code I got was the PSM falure so i drove around the block a couple of times then about 14 miles and the PSM still did not work when I got back in the driveway I shut it down and waited about 5 min and restarted and all is working once again like nothing happened. I would always turn over slow when it got hot even after the rear wire repair and I figured I damaged the started from being underpowered from the bad wire and was waiting for that starter to die before replacing it with a new one I have and thought the slow turn was from the starter boy was I wrong it was the front connection and nothing is wrong with the starter. but bigger puzzle was why did I and you get those codes and failures and could it have taken a couple of days to reboot the computers?

shammydog

Thanks for the reply. I bought a brand new battery just to be 100% positive it was not the battery. It is not ... same multi-system freak out when key is turned. Next, I tore the engine down to the point that I could get to the starter. Voltage reading at starter = voltage reading at battery terminals. Seems to rule out the bad battery cable issue I've read about When key is turned, the starter solenoid does not receive power, starter gets no opportunity to fire. Ground points are solid and clean, both at battery and engine strap. Sure seems like a relay or switch at this point. Any thoughts on what to inspect next? Another clue perhaps ... multi-system freak out also happens when key is turned, brake pedal is not depressed. This is a tiptronic POS transmission (I know I know .. it's the wife's car), no clutch involved.

To your question, I'm not familiar with canbus network and I did not do any mods. Possible first owner did but doubt it.

Petza914

Could be a bad ignition switch that's not making the correct contacts to tell it you're trying to engage the starter. I assume you're not getting any type of immobilizer message on the center LCD screen as if the anti-theft module is no longer communicating with the chip in the key it might do something similar. What happens if you try and use your 2nd key?

shammydog

Petza914

With that info you might be on to something. Maybe there's a sensor strip in the transmission shift gate or on the linkage that tells the car what gear it's in and that's not working. I think there's a display in the dash that shows you the gear selected, right. If you turn the key and step on the brake pedal, can you move the shifter and does the dash display change as you move the shift lever from P to R to N etc?

propchef

Bumping this thread to see if OP found a solution.

2006 Tip car with the same symptoms. Get in, turn the key, nada. Battery is good, all lights good just no sounds, clicks, or whirs. I take the key out, rock the trans selector back and forth, then retry. It works and has never left me stranded, but I'm wondering if the neutral safety switch is a relatively common point of failure. I'm happy to tackle this.

Petza914

Find the thread by ocmacman where he had the same issue of the key not being able to be removed and a Tiptronic shifter issue.

propchef

Will do, thanks

danzap

Bumping this old thread in hopes that someone's figured out the cause for this problem!

2007 4S Manual with the exact same symptoms at OP; car electronics seem to behave normally until you turn the key a single position then just like OP all hell breaks loose! Multiple system faults (ABS, PASM, oil measuring etc...), super loud chime in cabin, radiator fans on full blast and headlights on. Only difference is I get the "Depress Clutch" message when trying to start instead of the tiptronic variant. No start, no crank when I try. The car drove perfectly fine 5 days ago and since then it's been on a trickle charger.

Last night I did remove the battery (suspect 4 yo battery but voltage read fine, above 12v) to ensure the connections to ground and power seemed fine. It still has old style power distribution terminal but I verified connection to the battery cable is alright (not sure about the other end).

Anyways did some cleaning in that compartment and put the battery back in. When I went back in to turn the key the the first position only warning I got was PSM Failure which I think is expected after unplugging the battery. It was late yesterday and had cars blocking me in so I decided to save starting it up and taking it out for today to see if it is "solved", most likely will continue intermittently since i didn't really fix anything.

Has anyone experienced the same issue? Is there a confirmed solution? My suspicion is corrosion somewhere, it's cold, wet and salty up here in Canada.

UPDATE: Was able to start the car no problem, PSM warning disappeared after a few seconds of driving. Didn't notice anything else weird during the hour test drive.