Hi! Been with the forum for a few years but haven't had an issue with my Boxster S until now thats stumped me. Previous posts still haven't set me straight.
I own a 2005 Porsche Boxster S 987
My battery recently went dead. Standard factory Moll battery lasted a little over 5 yrs. I was impressed. As I noticed cranking to lessen, I ordered a 17lb Braille battery to replace it with after reading some good reviews on the site about them. I have an audio setup on my Box but its not terribly power hungry. I went for quality over quantity with my setup. Besides, I never run my system without the car running.
Had to jump start my car for the first time to drive it to the dealer when the factory battery failed me. They did a custom install of the Braille and there were no initial problems. Within the next 2 weeks I noticed a few issues. I knew the computer had to reset itself since the battery was replaced so i attributed them to that.
Note: My car is my daily driver. 96000 miles. I drive it almost every day. Love every minute.
#1 Every other day or so, the car would "reset". That is, when I started it, the hazards would be on and the time set back to 12:00 with all the lights coming up, and a rare PSM failure that corrected itself quickly on a few "resets". It didn't matter how long the car sat, 1 min or 1 day, it "reset" every other day it seemed. I assumed it would go away (never replaced battery before so I'm unsure). No dimming or other causes for concern.
#2 After like a week and half of this, one day I left work to go to lunch. Car started fine. Stopped at kfc, walked in, (had left my wallet at home
), walked out, sat down, turn key and nothing. Windows move and lights on in interior but will not start, and of course the key is stuck! No dash lights, no food, no start. Googled and saw the battery might be dead. ???? I'm sure it just cant die like that. When AAA comes, I do the front trunk trick (fun for first time), and open the front trunk, unclamp, and now the lights are on in the dash. WITHOUT jumping the battery, i just got the thought, and I try and start the car. It starts!
#3 From then on its like the car is charging the battery thru the rest of the day. Cranking is slower but it starts when I leave work later that day, as well as the next morning. For the next 2 weeks, I have intermittent times of slower than usual cranking (u know then the car isn't starting as strong as usual), and still the "resets". All this time I didn't think voltage. Stupid. When I finally did 2 weeks later, I just popped the radar detector in when I started it, and it warns me, low voltage. >.<
#4 A week from the Kfc incident, I got off work and sat in the car for about 15m with the key in the ignition (not turned on but amp draw is way more still), talking on the phone. God knows it wouldn't start when tried and it was dead again. This time I did need to jump start it. This is a brand new battery now and its gone dead twice. Or has it?
I call Braille first. Originally bought from tire rack. Tire rack has 30 day return policy. I talk to the braille rep, Ive had the battery less than 30 days and I've had these issues. I assume either the battery is bad, or I need to increase to the 21 lb battery. I cant ignore the fact that everything was fine before the battery swap. Braille rep says I can return 17lb for another 17lb, or I can upgrade to 21lb, but I only get 65% of what I paid for the 17lb towards it! And there's only 1 replacement. Tire rack says that Braille has to authorize the return before they will take it back! Braille says they only accept returns in 14 days. Please tell me I'm not screwed?! To even do an exchange? All Id like, is to pay return shipping and the difference in price for the larger battery.
At this point, the value of this battery is much lower since its possibly discharged twice. I can pay the difference and take my 65% purchase price offer if it comes down to it. However, that type of service seems a bit unfair. Ive had this supposedly premium product less than a month. But is there something I am missing here? What might you recommend? Its only a matter of of time before it leaves me stranded.
Thx