[PorschePilot]

The car is my daily driver and has been very reliable; the only electrical oddity being that every once in a while, when I start the car, everything will have power except the radio; but it has always worked normally the next time the car starts. Now it appears to have developed a more serious problem.

This past Friday when I went out to go to work, the battery was dead. I checked to see if I had left anything on the night before that might have drained it (had that happen before when I left a turn signal on) but found nothing. Put a battery charger on it over Friday night and still nothing. Took the battery out and tried charging it yesterday, but still nothing, so I figured the battery just suddenly went kaput. Today I replaced the battery, and although the doors, etc. now worked, the starter still wouldn't engage. I put the keys in my pocket, left it parked in reverse without the E-brake on, and went into the house. A few minutes later, the neighbor kid rang the doorbell and said the car had started itself and rolled backwards. I went out to find the car backed into the car parked behind it. Got in it and the starter still wouldn't engage.

I'm clueless, and can't even get it to the shop without having it towed. Any info would be apprecaited!

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[flash]

ds968 had this happen to his car - there is a thread here about the incident

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[ds968]

yes, except that the car never exhibited the other battery related symptoms Pilot mentioned , but that aside, the car did start suddenly all on its own ...and it was the starter ( solenoid most likely, but they're inseparable, IIRC, on our starters ) so I replaced the whole starter and problem solved.

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[PorschePilot]

<!--quoteo(post=82424:date=Oct 25 2009, 07:36 PM:name=ds968)-->QUOTE (ds968 @ Oct 25 2009, 07:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->yes, except that the car never exhibited the other battery related symptoms Pilot mentioned , but that aside, the car did start suddenly all on its own ...and it was the starter ( solenoid most likely, but they're inseparable, IIRC, on our starters ) so I replaced the whole starter and problem solved.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Interesting. I had the starter replaced about a year ago, so I'm betting the warranty just ran out...

Thanks for the info!

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[968TDG]

I don't normally use the parking brake when I park on flat ground, I just leave it in gear. It has never even crossed my mind that the thing might decide to just drive off while I'm not there!

Easy there Herbie, your car doesn't by chance have a big white circle with a 53 on the hood does it?

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[flash]

given the propensity for the parking brake retainer pin to shear off and leave the brake shoe locked up, thus requiring a tow truck, i don't use the parking brake much either - this is quite disturbing though - cars that start themselves are certainly a concern

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[PorschePilot]

If it hadn't been stopped by the car parked behind it, another 30 feet would have had it crossing an intersection in reverse, and on the wrong side of the road. But I'd take that over what may have happened if the neighbor kid (or anyone else for that matter) had been between the two cars when the starter engaged.

The time I have available to mess with cars is currently limited, so I had it towed to a local Porsche specialist. Turns out that a wire harness that runs to the starter shorted, which in turn caused the starter to engage and ultimately burned the starter up. Root cause is the material used for insulating the wire dries out, cracks, and just continues to deteriorate until it is no longer insulating the wire. The service people tell me they have heard of the insulation problem affecting other European cars of the era. They said that several European car makers started using wire harnesses which were made with an insulating material that was soy based. Anyone else heard of such a thing?

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[DaveN]

Sounds like another nail in the coffin for the starter wiring harness. On my list to check this winter. This is what the replacement from High Connections address right?

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