My wife and I took our '03 Boxster S on a 300 mile round trip today. At almost exactly the 1/2 way point, on the top of the continental divide in Rocky Mountain National Park, I pulled over at a scenic overlook and the car would not restart when I was ready to go. Just clicked rapidly and the dash lights would flash on and off as it clicked. Luckily, I was able to roll start it from where it was parked and drove it all the way home without shutting it off.
As I got close to my house I put the top back up and it barely made it closed. You could hear the motor for the top was running very slowly. As soon as I got home I put a volt meter on the battery terminals while the car was running and it showed 10.71 volts. Then I shut the car off and it still showed 10.71 volts.
After partially charging the battery, it now shows 12.46 volts, I'm still charging the battery so I haven't started it again, but I know it's not going to show a charge from the alternator. I called my mechanic and he says likely the alternator failed, but will check it out tomorrow. He said he can't believe I was able to drive it at least 150 miles without an alternator and with it showing that low of voltage by the time I got home. I feel extremely lucky that I was able to get home. Thank God it wasn't at night as I'm sure I wouldn't have had enough juice in the battery to get back.
The car only has 32,000 miles on it (I've owned it since 2008). I get that it is starting to get old, but is it common for the alternator on these to go with that low mileage? This is the very first time anything has actually failed on the car. And, there was no idiot light or other indication when the charging system failed, so the first indication was when the car would not start. Is that normal?
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