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I purchased a 997.2 PDK (Carrera S) on 9/11 of this year. Not my first Porsche - I've had a '73 911 for decades which is MUCH simpler. Batteries come out of that EVERY November.
I would like to remove the battery for the winter and push the 997 into its "den" for the winter.
I read in the manual that it's possible to release the PDK shifter and move to neutral with a screwdriver on this thread:
Description is also in the manual. Yet another reason I'm glad I selected a nice 997.2 over a 991 or 992. I read real horror stories of trying to move those cars with no battery power.
Plan A:
Position car in front of parking space.
Open hood and remove battery for winter storage.
Move PDK shifter to neutral. Does the key need to be in the dash lock when doing this even with the power off?
Close but not fully latch hood. Push car into parking spot - bottom slot in a Backyard Buddy Lift. G-Body sleeps above.
Cover car (flannel car cover). Car would be left unlocked. Garage is attached to house and monitored 24/7.
Once the salt goes away from the roads (April) do the reverse. The car would be left in neutral. Is that OK, or should I put it back in park after the car is in position? I would have to put it back in neutral to pull the car out of its winter lair. Moving it to Park is then required to start the car once the battery is back in. Any words of wisdom / caution here?
Plan B: Just leave the battery on a "smart" tender for the winter. I have a C-Tek tender that looks just like what Porsche sells with their name on it. Is this popular? Does it affect the life of the battery? I find that storing batteries inside over the winter GREATLY extends their life. It also greatly reduces corrosion in the battery box(es). The last batteries in my '73 lasted 12 years and the battery boxes have NO rust.
Plan C: Remove battery and attach a 12V DC lab grade bench top power supply to the battery leads. This would provide 'warm power' to the car all winter. The power supply I was thinking of is something like an Agilent / HP 6253A (12V / 3A). That doesn't look for a load like a maintainer and would work like one of those gizmos you put in the cigarette lighter and attach to a battery. I assume I can leave that in parallel with the battery as I'm removing / installing it and it won't harm the car in the process. I'm also assuming nothing draws more than 3A while the car is resting all winter. I can't imagine what would.
If I've got 12V / 3A power to the battery leads, can I move the shifter or does the engine need to be running?
I'd appreciate any words of wisdom on this. 47 years difference between my cars shows just how far modern technology has come.
Put a second frunk release cable from the bottom of the lever in the latch routed to behind the right side light. After doing this for several friends (and finding a few cables that were way too hard to pull) I converted to bicycle brake cables with sheath. Then you can latch the frunk without worries.
Or leave the battery in the car and use a tender (different than an always on power supply). That's assuming you have access to power where you are parking your car.
Last edited by Wayne Smith; 10-27-2023 at 01:09 PM.
Plan B: Just leave the battery on a "smart" tender for the winter. I have a C-Tek tender that looks just like what Porsche sells with their name on it. Is this popular? Does it affect the life of the battery? I find that storing batteries inside over the winter GREATLY extends their life. It also greatly reduces corrosion in the battery box(es). The last batteries in my '73 lasted 12 years and the battery boxes have NO rust.
^^^^ This. Just put it on any smart charger like the C-TEK and cover the car and leave it in P. You won’t find a corrosion problem in your battery box in a 997.
Plan B and you don't need to access the frunk. You can use the cigarette lighter adapter from either the center console or on the passenger footwell and run the cable under the door and through over the sill. There is a notch in the weather strip and the door will properly close.
Plan B - lots of people have the CTEK (I think they made the Porsche branded battery maintainer), plug it in and leave for the winter. No issues with these I’ve run one on my 997 for my whole ownership. I replaced the OEM battery when it was 10 years old so I would say it helps preserve and extend battery life…
For about 10 years I lived in Minnesota. Ten very long very cold winters! I had a Boxster S at the time and it would be prepped and stored over those long winters.
Points to consider:
1) I would not bother with removing the battery from the car. Use a CTEK battery maintainer - either connected to the battery directly (pigtail provided with the unit), or via the cigarette lighter receptacle.
2) I would leave the frunk unlatched just in the 1/1000 chance that there's some issue
3) Over-inflate the tires - 50PSI. It will prevent flat-spotting on them. Put a small block of wood behind one of the tires. In the Spring if you happen to forget that you've over-inflated the tires, driving over the block of wood (say a 2x4 placed flat), it will remind you to lower the inflation back down. (You may laugh - but it works.)
4) Mice like to nest and nibble things in Porsches (and other cars of course.) Mice operate almost 100% with their olfactory system - it's their internal radar system. They absolutely hate peppermint because it short-circuits their sense of smell. I use cotton ***** with essence of peppermint oil on them (Amazon sells the oil in a little bottle with an eyedropper.) 10 drops on each cotton ball. I place them in both footwells (front and rear); in the engine compartment; and in the frunk. I "recharge" the peppermint oil monthly.
5) Change your engine oil / filter prior to putting the car in storage. Old engine oil has acids in it that are not good for your engine - particularly one that is not running for extended time periods.
6) Put Sta-Bil 360 in your fuel tank (per the dosage recommended on the bottle) and then fill the tank.
Another vote for plan B. Leave the battery in the car and connected and on smart maintainer. All my Porsches sit on Battery Tender brand maintainers when parked in the garage even though I can use them year round, but my Cayenne didn't actually move for 8 months last year. It was fine. I put fuel stabilizer (Driven carb defender) in every tank since I never know how long one might sit and take to use the full tank of fuel. Inflate tires to 50 psi to prevent flat spotting. Cover with indoor car cover.
Lots of votes for plan B. I'll go with the C-Tek Tender I bought. Battery will stay in the car. Leads will be attached via pigtails.
I'll leave the trunk closed but unlatched. Fuel stabilizers I've used and like: AmsOil & Star Tron.
I usually inflate tires to 45 psi for the winter and park on styrofoam from a big box store.
I hadn't hear about peppermint as a rodent deterrent. We have a NEW garage that is very tight. Not likely for mice to enter. Nothing in there for them to eat.
Oil will be changed along with the filter. I have at least three cars that get this treatment.
Yes, flannel covers on both cars. Definitely keeps the paint in great condition.
By Adapter I've seen the ones that go in the cigarette lighter, but the footwell? Do you mean the ones that go to the OBD II port. I've seen those too. I was thinking of buying one of those. To me the C-Tek maintainer on the battery makes the most sense. I think that's what I'll do.
Thanks!
By Adapter I've seen the ones that go in the cigarette lighter, but the footwell? Do you mean the ones that go to the OBD II port. I've seen those too. I was thinking of buying one of those. To me the C-Tek maintainer on the battery makes the most sense. I think that's what I'll do.
Thanks!
There is an outlet in the passenger's footwell. But this operates from a smaller fuse. It is preferable to plug in to the center console, but either will work.
Just following up. I installed the battery leads for a C-Tek MXS 5.0 (Basically the Porsche recommended maintainer). The leads that came with it were JUNK and were fitted for an M10 screw. This is a Porsche, WHAT were they thinking!? I had to splice on another 12 inches and put on a 1/4 inch connector, which fits perfectly over an M6 fastener.
The threads on the clamp nut on the positive lead were a real conundrum. The nut is an M6 x 1. The last few threads on the clamp fastener must be deformed to prevent the nut from coming loose. They chewed up the threads on the soft M6 nut. I had a VERY tough time fitting that second nut on the remaining threads to capture the lead for the C-Tek connector. The negative lead however was duck - soup due to a second M6 screw on the clamp. It's super easy to just run the C-Tek connector out the cowl. I put a small hole in my cover for the connector lead. I'm thinking many others on this forum have ran across the same issues. Extra nut used to capture lead for C-Tek Tender.
As for the maintainer, I intend to just leave it for a couple of weeks. It's progressed up through level "7" and the green light is on.
I was told to use an allen key to actuate the hood latch to the closed position and then just lower the hood and engage the red safety latch. Have others done that? I'm told that latching the hood makes the car think, the hood is closed and it's OK to go fully dormant.
Last edited by BimPorDoug; 11-27-2023 at 12:16 AM.
Reason: typo
You can install the battery cover and have the wire clip exposed so you can unclip the CTEK tender when you want to use the car.
The wire from CTEK fits nicely under the upper hood area and hood can be closed not interfering with the hood seal.
The photos were taken before I moved the wires away from hood seal area.
Last edited by groovzilla; 11-27-2023 at 01:21 PM.
10-26-2023, 11:44 PM
Storage Questions: 997.2
