I did a lot of searching and found some similar issues but nothing ever putting it all together, so I am here for your expertise. (long post, but I tried to document everything so that you can get the whole picture)

Car: 99 996 C2. Basically stock from an electrical standpoint except for aftermarket radio with amp/crossovers in the frunk.

Background: Car has been largely trouble free for the 9 months that I've owned it. I put a brand new OEM battery in when I purchased it and have had no issues, driving it 2-3x per week. However, I have noticed that the ignition switch can be a little temperamental to get the key into and I have to wiggle it a bit sometimes. Also, once every so often, the radio won't turn off after I take the key out. I put the key back in, turn the car to the run position, turn it off, and everything is good.

Given what I've read, this can be a fairly normal 996 ignition issue, but hasn't caused a real problem as of yet, so I didn't do the ignition fix.


Now, here's where it all goes to crap.

Yesterday, I went to go drive the car after 2 weeks. The battery wasn't DEAD, but it didn't have enough juice to start the car (suspect that the aftermarket stereo/amp setup has a very small drain, but not a huge deal). Took my other car to work. Came home last night and charged up the battery with my trickle charger overnight. Started it up this morning, no issue with the starter. Then the gremlins started.

1. AC blower not working. The electronics work fine. Just no fan blowing.
2. Driver window switch lost auto-programming. Passenger was fine. (No big deal, I did the 10sec reprogram and its fine)
3. Central lock button on dash works, but the FOB is not doing anything (car is receiving signal because the red light on dash is blinking when I press the button).
4. When I lock the car with the blade, the driver door locks and the horn honks once. Passenger door doesn't lock. Passenger door locks with the emergency 3-turn lock. Both doors unlock when I use the blade to unlock.
5. Radio won't turn off at all. Odometer and temp on the dash stay lit even after 10 min of key out and door locked (like ECU isn't going to sleep)

So, I have now completely disconnected the battery and I am going to let the ecu reset and see if that helps, but I'm not holding my breath.

Any suggestions from the experts here?

 

Did you charge the battery all the way and did you take any voltage measurements on it? Usually a low charge creates a lot of funky issues.

 

I did let it charge all the way (12 hours on the trickle charger at 2amp/12v). I didn't take any voltage measurements, but I can take it tonight.

I did note that when I turned the key on this morning (before actually starting the car) the battery gauge read right at 12v and when running the output was between 13.5 and 14v, so what would be considered normal.

 

The dead battery will cause memory functions to erase. The faulty ignition switch can cause dead battery (drain), no a/c fan(not turning acc. on),remote door lock improper function, radio staying on, alarm function will not activate, all these things I have seen caused by the ignition switch. Its a possibility that something else is causing these issues , but most likely everything is caused by the faulty ignition switch.

 

Thanks for the wisdom. Called up pelican parts and got parts ordered.

For those that run into this thread at a later date, here's the link to what you need to know:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...ering_Lock.htm

 

You don't need the entire assembly, just the electrical piece that attaches to the back of the assembly. Google search for a 986 article on Pedro's Garage. The part is $12 from NAPA.