Car won't start
 

Hi all,

Had my 2004 996TT sitting in the garage for about 6 weeks (with battery Tender jr charger plugged in) due to a fracture radius bone in my elbow from a bicycle accident. The car was not lock and Battery Tender had the green light for the whole 6 weeks. Today, I opened the hood, unplugged the Battery Tender, and try to start the car. As soon as I turn the key, the whole dash went dark. The dash light eventually came back; first, very dim then got brighter as time goes by. At first, I also cannot get the hood or trunk to pop but later, as the dash got brighter, they opened. I plugged the Battery Tender jr back and it shows red (meaning charging).


Does it sound like I have a shorted battery? Any other reasons for this to happen?

Unless there is an issue with the battery tender, it sound like the battery is not holding a charge. Have you checked the battery voltage with a multimeter?

How old is.the battery? Charging the battery and discharging it at the same time by not locking it cant be a.good.thing either. Also...does the tender show green now?

Not sure how old the battery is. Got the car 1 1/2 years ago and still that battery.

Do not have a voltmeter so have not check the voltage.

The Battery Tender Jr is red (charging) for the last 2 hours; however, was green before I try to start.

It's clear the battery wasn't actually charging. It may have been due to you not connecting the leads well to the battery, or possibly it's an old battery and it didn't respond well to being trickle charged. The fact it was green before and now shows red would lead me to believe it's an old battery that didn't take the charging. A tender can be easily fooled.

One time the switch on my battery tender got moved to 6 volts. The green light stayed on, but it was only maintaining 6 volts.

Used a full size charger to get back to the 12 volts and everything was fine.

Later, Steve