Hey all,.. we've had some stupid cold snaps here in the northern Virginia area and I a now having an issue getting my car going.

At first,.. the battery was pretty dead from the cold and I charged it.

Now the car will start.. but will die after a second if I do not keep the revs above 2500 or so?

I am on my way to get a new battery but wanted to bounce this off you guys to see if you thought that might be the issue.

I parked it Friday night,.. with zero issue.. running fine.

I've had battery issues before, on different cars, but this one seems weird as the battery is appearing to be holding a charge. I'm going to go get a battery but are there any other ideas? Only place open after this storm is Walmart so I'll get one of their evermaxx h6's. I ould wait until tomorrow but,.. as is always the case,.. I have a flight out in the morning for work.

I'm hoping beyond all hope that a new battery will resolve this issue.

Thanks

Bill Miranda
2000 996 Cabrio.

 

nothing at all? Have I found the one thing no one has ever experienced? lol...oh well,.. just got a battery.. gonna go put it in, in the 11 degree weather.... sigh.

 

Nope. Changed battery and still the same issue. car will idle for about 15 seconds and die. Anyone?

 

As you've diagnosed it's not the battery. Can you put a scanner on it to see if any codes are being thrown. Might help narrow it down to fuel supply, mixture, plugs, etc.

 

my guess is a fuel problem, no pressure, plugged fuel filter, etc.

 

Sounds like a fuel pump issue to me.

 

As mentioned, fuel pump or low fuel pressure. Also, make sure your air filter is not clogged.

 

Yeah... This weekend was a storm in more ways than one...

This issue with the car all of a sudden... The storm... The fact I loaned out my scanner... And couldn't get it back because of the storm. Wife's Mercedes died at the same time with an alternator issue that prevents it from charging the battery... Gotta love her... Tried to be helpful and connect a second battery up... And connected it wron.. Now there are abs and tcs lights on in addition to the radio code cleared... And I don't want to know what else.

I'll check codes when I fly back on the weekend.

Things I've already looked at are air filter... As the car is simply fighting to stay running below 2500 rpm. I thought that was it because the spoiler was frozen solid..mthought that was blocking airflow but it wasn't.

Would the fuel pump cause issues like this but not at higher revs? I can get it on the road and there's no is fire,.. Bucking etc... Just under 2500.

Oh well... I'll let you all know what I find next week.

Thanks,

Bill

 

Try cleaning the MAF SENSOR.

 

The ECU turns off ABS and PSM when it cannot apply torque due to an input out of range, so cleaning the MAF is a good suggestion, but since the problem appeared after a dead battery, it's more likely the Idle Control. To reset, turn the car on (no ignition, only one turn clockwise) for 60 seconds, then turn the car off for 10 seconds, then drive it so the ECU can reset the idle control.
If that doesn't work, try disconnecting the MAF, this will switch to default maps that don't adjust for air/temp/crank/cam, so you will still get the ABS/PSM warnings, but if it runs fine at idle without the MAF, and cleaning didn't work, you will need a new MAF.
Remember to use MAF Cleaner, sprayed thoroughly and allowed to dry.
Remember not to touch the MAF.

 

JSavinoJR... Winner, Winner,.. Chicken Dinner!...

Was going to order a Durametric or AutoEnginuity (sp?) porsche scanning tool but couldn't get it by the weekend so I purchased a Chinese OBD2 code scanner/resetting/diagnostic tool... an Autel Maxidiag Elite 820 off of Amazon.... because it promised it could read Porsche specific coding... well,.. after some painfully slow updates last night... it works!

Went through all systems and other than all the abs/srs/alarm etc due to battery disconnect.. the one error it had out of the norm was "Hot film MAF". Gonna clean it and if needed replace as I picked up a bosch maf for $116.

Why did I get this painful to update chinese scanner?.. because I have 4 different brands of car and it can read the factory codes on all of them (well,.. need a specific cable for Mercedes as they do not use the OBD2 port for diagnostics),.. thing is awesome and it was $350 on amazon... Geez I love chinese reverse-engineering!.. Now I'm not stuck with a tool that ONLY does Porsche... or I have to pay extra for other, limited brands.

Thanks all again,.. will let y'all know what happens!

Bill

 

Last update...
Cleaning the MAF that was in there did nothing,.. I could see some grime on it and sprayed it,.. put it back in,.. acted like it was going to work then died.

Put in my cheap one,.. car started right up,.. and idled.

Only issue is that the idle goes up and down a bit... about 50-75rpm. Could be because it's an aftermarket (winds up, it's not a bosch piece - ) or the car just needs to be driven after having no battery in for a week... Yeah,.. I'll go for that option,.. top down day so... see y'all and thanks a ton again!

bill