Electrically sound, it is not :(

"K-Roll-PorscheTamer" (k-roll390)
06/11/2018 at 13:11 • Filed to: 931Lyfe, Project Car

What you see is my being towed home last night by my frustrated friend who’s helped me put this car back together since almost Day 1 with his T&C. The drive to work yesterday was great with no problems. The “drive” to a friends house after work is where it went to shit.

I wasn’t but mile from work and the car felt like it was slowing down and not getting spark. The throttle didn’t produce revs, and once it stopped the battery had no juice. And it seemed it only had juice when hooked to a charger or another car. Once again, wonderful individuals came to my aid and helped me push the car off the road and onto a side street.

When checking for spark, there was power at the coil, nothing at the wires and plugs which are relatively new, as is the coil. The distributor cap was the only carryover and physically looks old so I’m gonna replace and eliminate it as the culprit after work.

Frustratingly, the battery is great when jumped or connected to another car. It falls on it’s face when on it’s own...Had 10-11v with ignition on. Goes down to less than 2v when “cranking”. I’d tested it two months ago and it was good.

I was and still am upset with myself more than with the car. Some of the things electrically I’d thought I’d done a decent job of “fixing” bad enough to get an earful from my friend who’s a Bosch engineer. Discouraging as it was, it was warranted and honest because he didn’t want to see me stranded without help somewhere. I felt worse that I dragged him and some other unrelated friends from what they were doing to rescue me when I probably should’ve taken the “L” and called a tow.

So it’s back to parking and diagnosing.

!!! UNSUPPORTED LINE BREAK IN HEADER !!!

DISCUSSION (14)

functionoverfashion > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 13:44

Ah, keep after it, you’ll get it! If a battery is showing that kind of voltage, it seems like it’s toast. How old is it? I haven’t been reading all your posts on this, so forgive me if you talked about this very recently.

I’ve been at this point before, too, but if you’ve been working on it for a while, I’m sure there are plenty of things you now know are good, and you can look past those to the next thing.

I spent hours last week trying to figure out something with my boat, only to discover that I had literally hooked up something backwards. It wasn’t electrical, but plumbing. Still, I felt rather dumb, having been on the forums, asking friends, literally losing sleep over it, and even when I had the solution in my hands, I didn’t recognize it right away.

So keep at it, you’ll get it figured out.

Ash78, voting early and often > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 13:46

My good friend had an ‘86 turbo back in ‘95 and we already considered it an old heap at the time (not old enough to be a classic yet, but with all the headaches).

The running joke was “Porsche nine-for-four” — if you think a job will take four hours, plan for nine.

We borrowed that from an old Italian mechanic who worked on it and presumably put a few kids through college.

Good luck...fantastic cars when they’re working right!

For Sweden > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 13:51

Being towed down the street; that’s Pure Michigan

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > functionoverfashion
06/11/2018 at 13:58

I bough this battery around this time last year. Had a crap alternator until last month and the car rarely had a battery tender or charger on it. The only other thought was that there was a big drain somewhere. I’ve cleaned all four grounds in the engine bay, the last two I’m still working on. I’m losing focus over it.

Mercedes Streeter > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 14:02

This is why I’m so afraid to take my convertible smart out of storage. Even if I get it mechanically 100%, getting stranded is such a nightmare...an expensive nightmare, at that. And I don’t even have nearby people that can tow me home.

functionoverfashion > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 14:08

That could be part of the problem, then - a weak battery makes all kinds of electronics unhappy.

aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 14:10

Sounds like the battery is going bad since it dies once you put a load on it. If you have a charger with a “de-sulfating” mode you can try that. Sometimes you just get a bad battery from the factory. Ż\_()_/ŻŻ

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe
06/11/2018 at 14:16

I don’t have a charger...

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > functionoverfashion
06/11/2018 at 14:24

Factual. I just hope It’s not another battery problem. The other problem is even with a new alternator, I’ve never driven the car enough to charge the battery. Maybe 40 miles max.

diplodicus > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 14:33

Get a warranty replacement on the battery.

functionoverfashion > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 14:34

I would think 40 miles would be plenty, no? I drive far less than that most days, and have to stop/start my car a few times, too (preschool dropoff, no idling). You could always put a small charger on it from time to time I suppose.

Urambo Tauro > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 14:47

Yeah you could very well have a bad battery there. I was gonna say check the cables and connections first with a multimeter, but if it’s responding well to a jump, then it most likely needs either a good charging, or a fresh battery.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Urambo Tauro
06/11/2018 at 14:53

Sometimes I don’t even need to start the other car, it just has to be connected. If I start the other car, I need 10-15 seconds at best.

Urambo Tauro > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
06/11/2018 at 15:06

In that case, the only connections that I might worry about are right at the battery. There’s a slight chance that the booster clamps might be pinching the terminals just enough to restore a good connection, but frankly it’s more likely that the external power source is what’s getting your car started.

I saw your other reply about not having a charger- I thought you had one? Not anymore, huh? I don’t remember if I showed you or not, but there is a way to load-test the battery with a multimeter without having to take it to the store (not that the store’s very far away lol...).