I took my every day driver 2007 997 Tiptronic with 64,000 mi in for a tran pan gasket replacement this week. Picked it up from my local shop yesterday. Everything was great. No more leak. Drive the car home. Started it one other time to move it out of the garage to confirm no trans fluid lead. Success!

Last evening I lowered the top, drive to pick up dinner. When I walked out with food I got in the car, placed the key in the ignition, turned to start and all the dash lights flashed on then...no electricity. Of course the top was down, key stuck in the ignition and in a not ideal neighborhood to leave the car in that situation overnight.

I put a new battery in earlier this year and have had no electrical issues with the car. I went back with my wife’s car later and attempted a jump. No electricity evident. Moved the jump to the fuse panel and removed the key. Called a tow so it wouldn’t be left there overnight.

Tow operator arrived and attempted a jump with a portable battery and jumper cables. No electricity. We eventually figured out how to get the car into neutral manually and he delivered it to my driveway around 1 AM.

This morning I checked fuses, tried to charge the battery and jump all without evidence of electricity. After none of that worked I was putting the tow eye away in the trunk and noticed the trunk light was on! I pulled the in-trunk release and heard the latch release! I jumped in the front seat turned the key and...no electricity again.

No idea why the electricity worked briefly or why it stopped working in the first place. Any ideas?

 

2009 C2S 146K miles

I dunno.... but the first thing I would do is take the battery to an Autozone or service station and have it tested. Takes a few minutes. I know you said it is new but ... I would still do it.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

That is a good call. I’ll try that.

 

Probably not the issue, especially if you're not getting any power, but check that your battery cables are seated well / tight. Sometimes when they're loose they don't conduct enough for the starter. Usually it would be enough for lights / radio...

 

Bruce - Occam’s Razor. Thanks for the guidance. A couple hours of charge out of the car and all is well. My guess is my shop left it indoors Thurs night left a door or the trunk open, running down the battery. Or my alternator or VR are failing but I will have those checked this week. Thanks!

 

New batteries fail. We had a cold snap here in Texas and if got into the high 40’s. My Autozone Gold battery gave out with a little over a year of use. My car is a daily driver and it stays in the warm garage, but it still failed. Everything is back to good once I got the new one.

 

Check those battery terminal connections as someone else said. The shops sometimes disconnect the battery befure working on anything as a safety measure and may have not reconnected them properly.

 

I had a similar problem with my old 997C4S - One day went to start it and nothing, totally dead. Day before was fine.
Battery wouldn't hold a charge so replaced it.

Nothing like a nice new fresh battery! My current 997S had a bit of a slow start and was getting tired.
Changed mine out a few months ago with a new Interstate beast.

 

Check the negative ground. It might look OK on the battery, but be loose on the other end.

 

Gotta have battery condition checked - either by taking it to battery store (like Interstate or auto parts place) or having your own tester that will do same.

 

if the battery checks out ok, have the ignition checked

 

Could also be the dreaded Ignition Cable that needs replacing