sandwedge

Got lucky again. I think I've bought five batteries now between the three 997's I've owned and all five died in my garage overnight so just took my wife's car to Wal Mart and bought a new H7 for $147. What troubles me about these failures is the complete absence of any warning. All three 997's I'm referring to cranked strong as new the day before and then with absolutely no warning, those batteries were done. I've never owned another car that didn't at least tell you it was time by cranking a bit on the tired side. As I said, I've been lucky in terms of where mine failed but it's easy to see how these out of nowhere failures could put drivers in bad places, bad situations and ending up getting needlessly expensive.

We have indicators telling us what our tire pressures are, what the oil level/pressure is, what the coolant temperature is and the list goes on but no Porsche engineer has figured out a way to tell us what the condition of our battery is? I don't get this. Maybe someone else does. Again, would be a non-issue as long as these batteries failed the traditional way but they don't. They go from 100% cranking ability to zero cranking ability between one crank and the next without any kind notice.

Wayne Smith

Might try this ...

ADias

^ Exactly!

larrytrk

Bruce In Philly

I've discovered that battery life for me... my two Porsches and my wife's Lexus... is completely dependent on how much we drive. More miles and longer trips... = longer battery life. Short trips = shorter life and quick unexpected death... yea, same for me.

I have an assumption:... that these short trips result in the fluid boiling off... and quick unexpected deaths.. The batteries I owned that did not live long died unexpectedly. The ones I had that lasted 6 years etc, grew weak and gave me warning. I dunno... seems that way to me. So for my 997.2, I have not been driving much anymore so I have a CTek hanging from the ceiling so I pop it on most nights... even when I know I will be driving it the next day...... it appears to keep the thing strong but I need more time to prove it out.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

C4SDayton

Go to Wallmart or Sam's club once or twice a year and get a free test, find out what CCA capacity is left. May help prevent getting stranded. I had a 7 year old battery that worked fine until I stopped for gas one day, and car would not start back up, barely a crank with no warning. A small lithium battery to jump start will fit in glove box and cost $60-100 and may be good option to not get stranded.

sandwedge

Thanks. Will definitely get one. Still don't understand why Porsche engineers can't or won't integrate what looks like a $10 device in a $120,000 car to prevent what is a well known issue. Doesn't have to be an additional gauge on the dash. Just a warning light along with all the others. Plenty of room for it on any of the existing gauges.

sandwedge

You may be on to something. I do mostly short trips around town with occasional one or two hour trips on the interstate. Probably average 6,000 to 7,000 miles a year though so it's not like it's just sitting in the garage. But like you said, total mileage may not matter but rather length of the trips.

Wayne Smith

The dash is poorly laid out. The digital speedometer negates the need for the analog. They could put a voltmeter there. Or they could get rid of the false water temp gauge.

Rant over.

sandwedge

Exactly. I have never looked at the analog speedometer for information in any of the three 997's I've owned. Its only function as far as I'm concerned is as a backup in case the digital function fails. And even if that happens, I could still do just fine without the analog going with the flow of the rest of the traffic.

rw229

https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/battery-charger

I have the 400. It will show the condition of your battery, charge, condition and maintain it.

aaks38

just get a charger like the coco or ctek. Its pretty much a must with these cars and batteries. Many of these cars just don't get driven enough to maintain a charge.

sandwedge

All three of my 997's have been daily drivers so they sat overnight and then on and off driving during the day. If I travel for more than a week I disconnect the battery. Still....all the batteries that have failed on these cars failed exactly the same way. Without any kind of warning. A late model, $120,000 car driven daily that still needs a battery tender needs something else imo. As already mentioned, a simple volt meter or at least a warning light indicating that the battery is on its last leg. If Sam's and Wal Mart can establish this then I think it's within the scope of Porsche's engineers abilities to figure this one out and the cost of it shouldn't even be worth mentioning in the big scheme of things.

Tj40

Hmmm, I have a 2009 still on the original battery, never had an issue with it but the week it went into winter storage it cranked slow after being parked up for 3-4 days.

call me paranoid but a new battery is on the preventative maintenance list!
Or maybe I should roll the dice after its been on the CTek all winter ;-)

kisik

Just plug a trickle charger into cigarette lighter when you park a car. I do it all the time. Short trips, long trips. I am on my 9th year on my MaxxEverStart from Walmart (it was made in Spain back then). I bought another one but original doesn't want to die. Just measure with voltmeter once a while. It should be around 12.7V fully charged at 20 deg C