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I just bought an iCarSoft POR V2.0 to diagnose my 2013 991's battery's condition, as I believe the nearly 7 year-old battery's to blame for some weird stuff going on with the car (front radiator fans keep starting up full-blast a few minutes after shutdown for no apparent reason). Below is the battery report the iCarSoft produced, and I'm wondering if the highlighted portions confirm it's time to replace the battery. Note also the battery voltage of 12.15v (same as the instrument cluster was reporting) and open-circuit voltage of 12.4v, both of which seem low. The car was last driven yesterday on the highway, and the report was run with the car "on" but the engine was not started.
Many thanks for any help and advice anyone can provide.
These numbers are not completely accurate in terms of diagnosing a battery's condition... the best way is a real load tester that puts a load on it. Also the way the Porsches system reacts if the battery is bad and starts in with the gremlins is NOT the same as some of these other softwares devices like yours report. Often times these devices don't catch or know how the Porsche system is reacting to the battery. But honestly you can safely assume your battery is in fact bad when you car has these gremlins. First you have a 7 year old battery... that is old and basically done, and you got a good life out of it. 2nd there are so many threads on here with these same gremlin reports and literally 95% of the time it is the battery that solves them. So you have a good argument to just replace the battery. So it won't harm anything and you actually need one at this point, so odds are highly in your favor that this is the issue, and you will have a fresh battery to boot, and not get stranded out of the blue.
These numbers are not completely accurate in terms of diagnosing a battery's condition... the best way is a real load tester that puts a load on it. Also the way the Porsches system reacts if the battery is bad and starts in with the gremlins is NOT the same as some of these other softwares devices like yours report. Often times these devices don't catch or know how the Porsche system is reacting to the battery. But honestly you can safely assume your battery is in fact bad when you car has these gremlins. First you have a 7 year old battery... that is old and basically done, and you got a good life out of it. 2nd there are so many threads on here with these same gremlin reports and literally 95% of the time it is the battery that solves them. So you have a good argument to just replace the battery. So it won't harm anything and you actually need one at this point, so odds are highly in your favor that this is the issue, and you will have a fresh battery to boot, and not get stranded out of the blue.
Thanks for your post in reply to mine. Turns out I didn't need to test the battery after all. This morning, it was dead. I have a battery jumper that I'll attach to the emergency hood release power connection in the fuse box as soon as I get a chance and hopefully that will pop the hood. However, although nothing works in the car, the red emergency flasher light on the center console that you'd press to turn on the flashers is glowing solid red (not flashing). Pressing the button doesn't turn it off. Do you know the significance of a solid red emergency light? I've never heard of that before and if it's described in the manual I can't find it.
This is sure turning into an interesting, fun-filled weekend ......
Thanks for your post in reply to mine. Turns out I didn't need to test the battery after all. This morning, it was dead. I have a battery jumper that I'll attach to the emergency hood release power connection in the fuse box as soon as I get a chance and hopefully that will pop the hood. However, although nothing works in the car, the red emergency flasher light on the center console that you'd press to turn on the flashers is glowing solid red (not flashing). Pressing the button doesn't turn it off. Do you know the significance of a solid red emergency light? I've never heard of that before and if it's described in the manual I can't find it.
This is sure turning into an interesting, fun-filled weekend ......
Not sure of the red lights remaining on.
I would try to get the Hood popped sooner than later. Reason being is sometimes a dead battery wants to suck all the energy applied to any circuit to itself.... so if you don't have a good connection or that battery draws alot of the Mini Jump Starters energy the switch might not flip so easy. Also remember to try both the key remote and if that doesn't work try the actual hood switch release in the car... sometimes one of the other works best. So make sure to try both.
I would try to get the Hood popped sooner than later. Reason being is sometimes a dead battery wants to suck all the energy applied to any circuit to itself.... so if you don't have a good connection or that battery draws alot of the Mini Jump Starters energy the switch might not flip so easy. Also remember to try both the key remote and if that doesn't work try the actual hood switch release in the car... sometimes one of the other works best. So make sure to try both.
I followed your advice and got the frunk open using the key’s transmitter. So that’s the good news. But my charger (a Porsche Charge-o-Mat) won’t charge the battery to get it back on it’s feet because the charger uses a 12v cigarette lighter port and those are all deactivated because the car was without power for 30 minutes. I’m thinking of jumping the battery and starting the car, but if the battery is very dead I’m wondering if starting the car with a very dead battery could damage the car’s alternator electronics. A first alternative is to jump the battery not to crank it, but instead to get power back to the car’s systems so the cigarette power ports are activated again so that my charger can charge the battery. And then there’s the second alternative, which is to do nothing at all with the car and instead enjoy Sunday, and then on Monday buy a new battery and swap out the old one. I’m leaning towards the second alternative. I doubt this battery’s coming back to life, so maybe I should just take it out and put in a new one, and be done with it.
This, then, raises the issue of what battery to buy. Is there any advantage to or reason for getting something other than a Porsche-branded drop-in replacement, which is a 70Ah, 70 amp AGM?
I followed your advice and got the frunk open using the key’s transmitter. So that’s the good news. But my charger (a Porsche Charge-o-Mat) won’t charge the battery to get it back on it’s feet because the charger uses a 12v cigarette lighter port and those are all deactivated because the car was without power for 30 minutes. I’m thinking of jumping the battery and starting the car, but if the battery is very dead I’m wondering if starting the car with a very dead battery could damage the car’s alternator electronics. A first alternative is to jump the battery not to crank it, but instead to get power back to the car’s systems so the cigarette power ports are activated again so that my charger can charge the battery. And then there’s the second alternative, which is to do nothing at all with the car and instead enjoy Sunday, and then on Monday buy a new battery and swap out the old one. I’m leaning towards the second alternative. I doubt this battery’s coming back to life, so maybe I should just take it out and put in a new one, and be done with it.
This, then, raises the issue of what battery to buy. Is there any advantage to or reason for getting something other than a Porsche-branded drop-in replacement, which is a 70Ah, 70 amp AGM?
You don't need a Porsche Battery... that are just and elevated cost for the exact same battery Walmart sells as the Platinum Plus.... most all lead acid batteries are made by 3 companies then just rebranded. If the battery has the same case as you case exactly then it is the same battery.... but any H6 size of a good Brand will drop in your car and your good to go. You might have to do some things to reset some aspects of your car like you windows closing and radio stuff... but others can tell you about that. I have a 991 not a 996 so not so familiar with how to do any resets on the 996s.
We, Antigravity Batteries do Lithium Batteries with built in WIRELESS built in Jump Starting, that weight about 35lbs less than Lead/Acid Batteries but don't know if that what you would want either if you looking just for something cheap. Heres a video of what our do but as said much more expensive. But you won't ever have this problem again with out battery because it lasts longer and has protections that won't allow it to become damaged or go dead.
You don't need a Porsche Battery... that are just and elevated cost for the exact same battery Walmart sells as the Platinum Plus.... most all lead acid batteries are made by 3 companies then just rebranded. If the battery has the same case as you case exactly then it is the same battery.... but any H6 size of a good Brand will drop in your car and your good to go. You might have to do some things to reset some aspects of your car like you windows closing and radio stuff... but others can tell you about that. I have a 991 not a 996 so not so familiar with how to do any resets on the 996s.
We, Antigravity Batteries do Lithium Batteries with built in WIRELESS built in Jump Starting, that weight about 35lbs less than Lead/Acid Batteries but don't know if that what you would want either if you looking just for something cheap. Heres a video of what our do but as said much more expensive. But you won't ever have this problem again with out battery because it lasts longer and has protections that won't allow it to become damaged or go dead.
Your batteries look awesome, but they're too expensive for my situation; a cheapo lead-acid AGM is all I really need for my 2013 991 (not a 996; I posted this in the wrong thread). But I'm very happy to avoid paying for a Porsche-branded battery and you're absolutely right - paying Porsche's high price for a battery is unnecessary. In fact, my SA told me the other day that I have the option to install either a Porsche battery or an Interstate battery instead if want to save a few bucks. In the meanwhile, though, I wanted to jump start the car today but it turns out my portable jump starter's cables are too short. They're the typical 12" long but the distance from the clearly marked jumper ground point in the frunk of my 991 and the positive terminal of the battery is nearly 3 feet. I can't find any other suitable spot in the frunk area to attache the negative terminal. Flipping' annoying!
Before storing my 2012.5 launch C2S, at about 70K miles, my original 70 Ah battery needed replacement. Since I was doing a tune-up, front brakes (the rears are still original) and a PDK flush, I asked that the battery be replaced with the Porsche AGM 80 Ah battery. They mistakenly installed the wet 70 Ah OE, and when discovered by me, they immediately ordered and later that week installed the AGM. $325 installed.
06-06-2020, 03:26 PM
