Hello, last night temperature in San Francisco dropped close to freezing point. My Cayenne didn't start at first this morning but after a couple of minutes and a few more tries it came up. Is this an old battery problem? Thanks a lot for any hint!

 

Would there be any code left to check if I brought it to the dealer or my Indy? I just had the front brake pads changed a couple of weeks ago. I hope that wouldn't be the cause...

 

Was it cranking over and not firing, or the starter failed to turn the engine?

If the starter was not turning the engine, it's most likley the battery. If the engine was cranking but not firing, then it needs further investigation.

Any decent parts store should be able to test the battery for free.

 

thanks a lot, RT930turbo, for the reply. Sorry I forgot to mention: in the first few tries, I couldn't press the brake pedal down and there was no reaction when turning the key. After 3-4 minutes, the brake pedal got loose so it managed to start. Do you think the culprit would be the brake change?

 

Sounds like something in the recent brake job to me. Wonder if they got water in something that the froze with the lower temperature. When was the last time your brake fluid was renewed. It absorbs water and maybe if it's been enough years could actually absorb enough water to thicken or freeze with cold temperatures or effect the master cylinder, but that seems unlikely. In any case you need to find out why the pedal wouldn't move as it wasn't letting the safety switch that's part of that assembly trigger to allow the starter to engage.

 

thanks Petza914, you are absolutely right. I never had this problem before brake change. I filled in some brake fluid in the summer but didn't check recently. I should have done that.

 

How old is your battery? I had the same symptoms recently and you shouldn't be surprised to hear that replacing the 2007 date code battery solved it.

 

Thanks pnw_mike. I need to check the battery too. Before you changed the old battery, did the dash board show anything low on the battery voltage? Did you do any test on the battery before change?

 

I had a few random codes pop up that I’m told are related to a bad battery. Suspension and transmission errors.

I didn’t test my battery, the analog voltage indicator always read well over 12v.