Giving Up.... :(

[macyfilms]

Well, I'm officially giving up and towing my '98 Boxster to the Phoenix dealership. After replacing the completely dead battery with a new one, the car won't start and won't even crank. (all lights/accessories do come on) I checked the fuses, the relays, put in a new ignition switch, checked the starter connection, opened the immobilizer box and checked for damage. Nothing worked.

I am assuming at this point that I must have a transponder problem, or some kind of immobilizer or ECU problem that I can't see.

I'm towing in Thursday morning, so if anyone has any last minute thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

thxx,

sam

[rick3000]

I've never heard of anything like, that but it could be the immobilizer. Hopefully, they dealer won't charge you too much and it won't be anything serious.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by macyfilms

Well, I'm officially giving up and towing my '98 Boxster to the Phoenix dealership. After replacing the completely dead battery with a new one, the car won't start and won't even crank. (all lights/accessories do come on) I checked the fuses, the relays, put in a new ignition switch, checked the starter connection, opened the immobilizer box and checked for damage. Nothing worked.

I am assuming at this point that I must have a transponder problem, or some kind of immobilizer or ECU problem that I can't see.

I'm towing in Thursday morning, so if anyone has any last minute thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

thxx,

sam

Sounds like it could be an immobilizer.

How about the starter itself? Does the car click when you turn the key?

[macyfilms]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

Sounds like it could be an immobilizer.

How about the starter itself? Does the car click when you turn the key?

No, I get nothing from the starter when i turn the key. I don't hear anything from the relay either, but I'm not sure I should.

The dealer indicated he would give me an hour of free diagnostic if I had the problem fixed there. Seems very reasonable. I'm just depressed that I got beat on this one. I spent days on it, sure that I would eventually track down the problem.

[Paul]

What did you find when you checked the starter, did it turn the car over when you jumpered it?

[Rick V]

You need to check and see if you have B+ to the starter, if so make sure you are getting B+ to the bendix when the ign switch is engaged, if you do then you simply need a new starter. If not you have a deeper issue.

[dja1980]

I had the EXACT same symptoms on my Ford Ranger. After several hours of trying to diagnose the problem on my own, I gave up and took the vehicle to the dealership. It turned out that the positive battery cable went bad. It was providing enough power to run the accessories and headlights, but not enough to start the truck. I'm not sure if this would cause the same symptoms on a Boxster, but have you check out all the cables to be sure?

[pbanders]

Sam, where are you located in Phoenix? Are you having your car towed to Porsche North Scottsdale? They do good work, but they're $$$. If you're looking for cheaper alternatives, here are two I'd suggest:

Stuttgart Southwest (Jack Doverspike) - typical independent Porsche shop, Jack's worked on them all. Much, much less expensive than the dealer. They're slow to get stuff done, but they stand behind their work. They work on air cooled and water cooled Porsches, they did my 914's engine rebuild. 480-968-6764

i******************************** (Serivce Dept) - this is the shop that supports their car sales area. Nice clean shop, mechanics seem decent. I bought my Boxster from them, they've done some service on it under my extended warranty, the prices seemed reasonable and the work was good, shop was fast and responsive. When my RMS went out, and it was unclear if my Porsche warranty was going to cover it, they quoted me a far cheaper price for the work than the dealer did. This is where I'm getting my regular Boxster service done. 480-317-0783

[coreseller]

Originally Posted by dja1980

I had the EXACT same symptoms on my Ford Ranger. After several hours of trying to diagnose the problem on my own, I gave up and took the vehicle to the dealership. It turned out that the positive battery cable went bad. It was providing enough power to run the accessories and headlights, but not enough to start the truck. I'm not sure if this would cause the same symptoms on a Boxster, but have you check out all the cables to be sure?

Same here with the wife's Old minivan, that problem plagued us for 3 months, it was intermittant and stranded her and the kids a few times.

[Sboxin]

We had similar with son's truck -- new battery was marginal...
Suggest load test battery and connections...FWIW

Roy

[Quickurt]

914s also would carry enough current through the solenoid activating wire to light a test light, but not enough to power the needy Bosch solenoid. Try jumping from the hot lead to the solenoid activating lead and see if it lights up the starter.

[macyfilms]

Originally Posted by Paul

What did you find when you checked the starter, did it turn the car over when you jumpered it?

The starter spun well when i checked the starter by jumpering. The engine cranked when I checked starter and solenoid.

Thus, I feel like I am running out of things to check. At this point I'm thinking it must be an immobilizer issue. Thoughts?

(now that I have the throttle body off, any maintainence you recommend while it's out? Seems to be a bit of oil/dirt in there. AOS problem?)

Sam

[macyfilms]

Originally Posted by pbanders

Sam, where are you located in Phoenix? Are you having your car towed to Porsche North Scottsdale? They do good work, but they're $$$. If you're looking for cheaper alternatives, here are two I'd suggest:

Stuttgart Southwest (Jack Doverspike) - typical independent Porsche shop, Jack's worked on them all. Much, much less expensive than the dealer. They're slow to get stuff done, but they stand behind their work. They work on air cooled and water cooled Porsches, they did my 914's engine rebuild. 480-968-6764

i******************************** (Serivce Dept) - this is the shop that supports their car sales area. Nice clean shop, mechanics seem decent. I bought my Boxster from them, they've done some service on it under my extended warranty, the prices seemed reasonable and the work was good, shop was fast and responsive. When my RMS went out, and it was unclear if my Porsche warranty was going to cover it, they quoted me a far cheaper price for the work than the dealer did. This is where I'm getting my regular Boxster service done. 480-317-0783

Paul-- i was going to go to the Scottsdale Dealer, but perhaps I'll try one of the places you suggested. I'm in downtown PHX.

You know, now that I've owned this car ten years and done dozens of fixes on it, I was thinking we should start a group here in Phx where we can help each other out. Repairs that take me five hours the first time, would take less than an hour the next time. Thus, showing these things to each other could be a real time saver. And we all seem to be having the same types of problems (windows, power top, etc)

PM me if you think there is any potential to this idea.

sg

[macyfilms]

Originally Posted by Quickurt

914s also would carry enough current through the solenoid activating wire to light a test light, but not enough to power the needy Bosch solenoid. Try jumping from the hot lead to the solenoid activating lead and see if it lights up the starter.

You make an interesting point. I bought a brand new $110 battery, but now I am suspicious that it wasn't fully charged. When i jumpered the starter for about 5 seconds, the battery was suddenly almost dead. I'm wondering if there is a connection problem somewhere. Any ideas if there is a week link/ week spot somewhere in the positive cable??

sam

[macyfilms]

Originally Posted by Sboxin

We had similar with son's truck -- new battery was marginal...
Suggest load test battery and connections...FWIW

Roy

I bought a charger and am over-night charging the battery.

You in AZ? Any interest in starting a 986 group here? Or is there already one i don't know about? PM me, or email me at macyfilms@aol.com

sg

[boxs2000]

Is your car a tip or manual? If its a tiptronic, try putting it in neutral vs park then try. If tip then it may be a neutral safety switch. Or if manual, check to see if the clutch safety switch is disconnected or bad. Good luck

[FrayAdjacent]

If you bought a battery off a shelf somewhere... it's probably been sitting there for a while, and probably only has a marginal charge.

Slap it on a charger overnight.


I'm expecting a new Optima battery tomorrow, and first thing I will do is put it on my charger for 12 hours or so.

[pbanders]

914's are even worse than you describe! The current path for the starter solenoid goes through the igniton switch, which is far from the starter, has undersized conductors, many contact points, etc. Many owners installed a relay next to the starter to provide a low resistance path for the solenoid.

[macyfilms]

To remind everyone: '98 Boxster, won't crank, won't start.

After a battery that had been completely dead for a month was replaced, the car won't crank. (Hood had been locked, and power had to be fed in through lighter socket to get power to unlock hood)

The history:

Battery: replaced AND charged for 24 hours.
Ignition switch: replaced.
Clutch switch: checked, appears to be going in and out and clicking accordingly.
Fuses: all appear good.
Relays: seem okay. switched out relay with same #, still no crank.
Immobilizer: opened box under seat; no obvious sign of any damage of any sort.
Starter: tested, spins fast.
Solenoid/Starter: Cranks engine hard and fast.
Analyzer readout: no problem codes.
Key: appears good; "capsule" inside appears fine.

What am I missing ??


SG

[Paul]

Have you checked the clutch switch with a VOM to see if it is actually opening and closing the circuit?