Weird starting problem
 

I've had problem with intermittent starting problems before, but not in quite a while. Suddenly now that it's cold out, my car is consistently hard to start. It doesn't crank at all. I try to start it a bunch if times and get nothing. Then all of a sudden it starts. All summer it was fine, but now that it's cold out I have trouble every time I try to start it.

Anybody have ant idea what could cause that? Btw, I replaced my ignition switch assembly last year.

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MANual or tiptronic

When my starter went out in another one of my cars it acted the same way. It had intermittent starting problems. It seemed very random at the time. Of course I'd suggest you check for good connections or corrosion at the battery and starter before anything else.

It is a manual.

Somebody I'm working with also just suggested to me that it could be slightly corroded battery terminals. That with the cold might rob the starter of enough power that it wouldn't turn over.

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"Occam's razor" would seem to apply here. Check the battery terminals, connections….does horn work? Is it vivid or kinda flat pitched?

Oops! Sorry! @Mike_Yi, you are in Chicago….did you pay your dues?:D

In that case, check clutch switch too. You can jump it if need be (and to test), just make sure clutch is in or transmission is out of gear when doing so :eek:

Otherwise, test battery and look for corroded terminals or check starter.

Good luck :)

I cleaned battery terminals, but that didn't help. I think I'm going to try cleaning the connections at the starter (and not looking forward to that). I may take the battery in to get it checked too.

Just wondering how horn not working would be related to start issue, because I am having start and horn issues intermittently

Inspect your battery cables; we have seen other members of this forum experience corroded battery cables.

It's probably your clutch microswitch, I had the same problem over the winter. I had the starter and relay replaced, but it was still happening. Then I found a thread on Renntech, and they had the same problem. They fixed it by replacing their clutch microswitch and so did I.

Mine did the same thing. Starting the car was like a spin of the roulette wheel - green was go and red was no-go. It was the clutch microswitch.

Weak sounding horn = weak battery. Weak battery = no starty.



+1 on checking the clutch microswitch. Also the crank position sensor is known to cause similar symptoms... and a failed ign switch.

The same happened to me a couple years back. Clutch switch, fast cheap fix, even at the dealer. Perfect ever sinse (same battery for 7 years)

I am also experiencing the "lock" button light coming on and car locking while driving. Is this the immobilized?

@ Dennis:

I had a symptom where the red lock light would come on while driving. In my case it was a defective passenger door latch. I noticed the link between the light and latch when I saw that operating the latch from outside would make the light come occasionally.

Don't all of Porsche's little electrical gremlins make you feel confident about the long-term reliability of the electric emergency brake and power steering on the new Boxster? Just saying.....

Brad