09-07-2013, 03:30 PM
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#21
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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From your first reading yes .
From your second reading no .
but i'm suspecting a bad connection on your leads or the air kicking in or radiator fan coming on .
We can go back to it later ...
A drain check will eliminate a circuit flattening it when parked
And your initial reading with all fuses still in place will determine that
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09-07-2013, 03:33 PM
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#22
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 138
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I'm trying to do an initial reading with the car off, earth off, and I'm getting 0 milliamperes across the battery. Am I doing something wrong?
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09-07-2013, 03:35 PM
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#23
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3point2
I'm trying to do an initial reading with the car off, earth off, and I'm getting 0 milliamperes across the battery. Am I doing something wrong?
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Yeah you don't go across the battery
Go across the battery ground post and the disconnected battery ground cable
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09-07-2013, 03:39 PM
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#24
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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You will also need to pull up the rubber near the hoods latch and use a screwdriver or similar to force the latch lever to the right .
It will fool the car that the hood is shut thus turning off the trunk light and enabling you to lock the car and enable the alarm
Last edited by Ian c; 09-07-2013 at 03:42 PM.
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09-07-2013, 03:41 PM
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#25
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Duncan, BC
Posts: 94
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Follow the above instructions. As a test that your doing it right, turn on your interior light and close the door. With one light on, it should read around 200 miliamps on your meter,or simply leave a hood open.that should also give you a reading of around 200 miliamps . Turn the light off, or close the hood,and it should read zero, or something very small.
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09-07-2013, 03:45 PM
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#26
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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Are you staying online for a while rick ?
I'm only stopped at Starbucks for a few mins on the way home ...
It would be great if we could get him on his way while he's got the tools out ...
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09-07-2013, 04:10 PM
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#27
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Duncan, BC
Posts: 94
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Sure, but in this day and age, it's almost worth while to place a phone call, or at least FaceTime
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09-07-2013, 04:47 PM
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#28
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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FaceTime would be excellent for this .
Good call !!
I could grab my meter and do a "follow me" thing !! 
I'm home now , but I see he's offline ...
I hope he didn't blow his meter doing miliamps on a car battery !!
Last edited by Ian c; 09-07-2013 at 04:50 PM.
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09-07-2013, 05:05 PM
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#29
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Duncan, BC
Posts: 94
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On second thought, FaceTime wouldn't work. We'd spend all our time viewing each other's p cars, and I'd end up feeling bad because mine hasn't been washed in 12 days. And if he did go 'post to post' he definitely blew the fuse in his tester.
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09-07-2013, 05:10 PM
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#30
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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It sure would make this easier though ..
I've just read some of my replies and a mixture of "iPhone thumb" and autocorrect makes them almost illegible
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09-07-2013, 05:14 PM
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#31
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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I think I'll just type an "how to" essay and he can read it when he's back online .
My best guess upto now (not knowing the drain mAs) is a bad connection between alternator and battery , bad battery , or faulty ignition switch .....
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09-07-2013, 05:24 PM
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#32
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Duncan, BC
Posts: 94
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My best guess is a corroded ground strap. So ...... How many days since you've washed yours? Maybe I would have won the FaceTime car view.
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09-07-2013, 06:36 PM
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#33
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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It's too dark to take pictures now , but .....
I run instrumentation-tech. crews on power plants and where I'm at now one of the final things that needs doing on this site is remove a big pile of dry dirt/dust that has been there for about two years , so we can do a db check on the 6 new jet engines we just fitted running full-on , all at once .
This means Over 50 trucks loaded with dirt and dust doing continuous journeys past my car .
And a water truck going 8 hours a day trying to keep the dust down , but mainly creating puddles of mud .
That , and the fact I haven't washed it since BEFORE a full day of autocross about a month ago , probably makes your car look like a garage queen next to mine
The boxster doesn't look TOO bad though , that's only been at the plant once this last week ....
But judging by people reactions on here when i posted pics of the pink wheels , it probably would look better to most if it was caked in mud
Last edited by Ian c; 09-07-2013 at 06:43 PM.
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09-07-2013, 07:13 PM
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#34
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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Forget that essay for now .
On the way home I had to call at Barbour frieght to buy a soldering iron to de-amber my headlights , and noticed they have a multimeter with everything needed apart from audible continuity for around $5.00 . 
With hindsite , I should have just bought one tonight to assist my essay with pics .
But I will go buy one tommorrow , and take pics of me doing a basic "battery issues" check .
I will then start another thread detailing the steps needed to work through electrical gremlins
It does not have a continuity function so I will use one of my flukes for that part , as that is a vital "quick 'n' easy" test that is VERY valuable when working on car electrics ...
I don't expect everybody who works on cars to spend hundreds on fluke meters , but the $5.00 harbor freight meter at a minimum should be in everybody's toolkit 
They also have one with continuity on sale at the moment for $20.00
The one 3.2 bought from RadioShack looks similar , and is not too much money at $20 if you have an RS nearby but no HF , but there is one with continuity for a few bucks more ...
Last edited by Ian c; 09-07-2013 at 07:21 PM.
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09-07-2013, 07:43 PM
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#35
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 2,497
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Dude,
Quit checking molecules and stuff. You have a bad voltage regulator. Disconnect your battery. Remove your alternator and replace the regulator.
You will not be able to detect a bad regulator with a DVM. It will not spot a bad diode within the regulator. Your problem is that the voltage coming out of your alternator (the output is the regulator) is all over the place and makes the electronics in your car do really weird stuff.
Your car did not develop fantom current draws overnight. Don't overthink this. This maybe a Porsche, but its really just a car.
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09-07-2013, 07:56 PM
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#36
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dghii
Dude,
Quit checking molecules and stuff. You have a bad voltage regulator. Disconnect your battery. Remove your alternator and replace the regulator.
You will not be able to detect a bad regulator with a DVM. It will not spot a bad diode within the regulator. Your problem is that the voltage coming out of your alternator (the output is the regulator) is all over the place and makes the electronics in your car do really weird stuff.
Your car did not develop fantom current draws overnight. Don't overthink this. This maybe a Porsche, but its really just a car.
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Ahhhh ....
The good old "diagnose with your wallet" theory
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09-07-2013, 08:44 PM
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#37
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Bay Area
Posts: 524
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3point2,
Your chrging seems fine to me. As long as the Alt output is 14+ volts with no load you should be fine. If you want to test further let the car idle, turn on your lights, AC, and other accesories to see what voltage you have at the battery.
You should have 13+ volds.
What you have is a drain when the car sits for awhile which drains your battery. This is why Ian and I suggest you use the voltmeter and pull your fuse out 1 x 1.
If you don't find the culprit from the fuse the likely cause is either the starter or Alternator or bad Ing switch.
__________________
2008 Boxster S PDE2
02 Boxster S Blk on Blk(Stock for the Wife)
88 turbo S (My Toy) slightly modified
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09-07-2013, 09:01 PM
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#38
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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Indeed .
I suspect he's decided to give up and go get drunk 
Hopefully he'll be back tommorrow and we can carry on with the online diagnosis 
An alternator and voltage regulator can be working fine yet not put out enough volts to charge a battery .
The fact his is putting out enough on its lowest reading (2nd test = dropping) , and his battery DCv reading went up indicating a fuller charge , leads me to look at other things as I mentioned in my "best guess" post .
I had a read back earlier, and depending on the mA drain test results , the ignition switch is edging its way towards the number one on my list ....
(Radio fail)
Last edited by Ian c; 09-07-2013 at 09:06 PM.
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09-08-2013, 07:16 AM
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#39
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 2,497
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian c
Ahhhh ....
The good old "diagnose with your wallet" theory |
No. A 3 time Boxster owner who had the EXACT same problem 3 months ago and who fixed it after diagnosing the problem.
You want to verify you have a bad regulator? Get an oscilloscope and look at the output of your alternator. You'll see that you're missing (at least) one of your diodes.
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09-08-2013, 07:28 AM
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#40
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Socal
Posts: 560
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Ive had a bad diode draining the battery , also a bad connection on the alternator , a bad battery connection , bad radio , bad ground , bad ignition switch , bad alarm , bad immobiliser , bad door switch etc etc etc .
You could well be correct , you could well be wrong .
You could scope it to test , or you could meter it .
I too had the EXACT thing happening within the last 3 months on my boxster ....
It was the ignition switch ...
I'm used to diagnosing before ordering parts and scheduling labour ....
It's what I do for a living , and have a huge amount of test gear at my disposal ( each Instrument tech working for me carries about 20Ks worth in their toolkit)
If I did it by guesswork and throwing money at it , no matter what past experience tells me , I'd be claiming unemployment
This is me diagnosing using experience .
Just a pity the guy had allready been to the main dealer , then 2 specialist that diagnosed with his wallet first ....
http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=850130
Last edited by Ian c; 09-08-2013 at 07:56 AM.
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