I was just out to grab groceries, a very short drive - 5 minutes each way. On the way back, just getting into my garage the car stalled. I tried restarting it a bunch of times and it would take a lot of cranks and then turn over and die again.

After sitting for a few minutes trying to think of what to do I tried once more and it fired up and I was able to park it, and everything seemed normal.

Any ideas? Are there any common reasons why this might happen?

 

Maf on it's wayout maybe.
If it does it again or a lot, disconnect the maf and if all is then ok you need a new maf sensor.

 

my 07 started having a hard time starting if it was warmed up ... wiring harness to starter had to be replaced.

 

Thanks. I was just reading about all the alternator cable issues and I think this might be it for me. I tested my battery with engine off and it was 12.0V dead on, and IIRC a healthy battery is closer to 12.8-13V.

I'm wondering if the alternator is just unable to get enough power to essential components, causing the stall, and it's not giving the battery a proper charge.

 

1st I'd check the voltage at the battery with your car running. You could just need a new battery, since these cars are known to eat batteries.

Then I'd check the voltage drop from the alternator cable. There's a thread about it on here somewhere. I'm on y phone, so I'll look it up later.

 

Thanks, good to know. I owned my last car for 7 years and never once replaced the battery. I didn't even know it was possible for a weak battery to cause a running car to stall.

 

I'm not so sure that's possible either (assuming the alternator is working)... so you could have a multitude of problems.

 

The MAF as Gibbo205 suggests is more likely than the battery or battery cable. Battery cable wouldn't cause the engine to stall nor would OP be able to crank it forever as failure to crank up is the main symptom of the faulty cable. Engine failing to fire up could be other things but I'd try the MAF first. Dead alternator would not support an engine restart nor would a dead battery.

 

I took it to my local independent shop, they're still looking at it but indicated that they had a code for a bad crankshaft position sensor. But they mentioned that they've only seen this cause a car to die before when the engine was hot, and mine was still cold (I had driven only about 2 miles).

 

My car stall sometimes at low speed only when is cold, after 5 minutes then is perfect, I all ready said this to porsche dealer and he told me that I have to leave the car there so it can present the problem or a code error when cold. I think it can be the MAF sensor!!