04-01-2010, 12:36 PM
A week ago - I took the battery tender off of my car - and was driving it down to my trusty Porsche mechanic to give it's yearly oil change and state inspection.
When I started up the car - she turned right over and I gave it a couple of pumps of gas and noticed that the tiptronic light was on (but I was not in tip mode..)... . I let it idle for a bit and it stalled (which is normal for a car that has been sitting for the winter months). Turned the key - turned right over.. the tip mode light did not go back on so I put it in drive and out of the driveway I went.
Left my street, everything was going good - got on to the main road - stopped at a light and it started to chug. then stall. Turned the key -- reved the engine while in park (to get some gas flowing through the engine)...put it in drive when the light turned green. Drove another 200 feet to the next light and the car started to chug and stall again. Started it back up, rev the engine a bit drop it in drive - but when I hit the gas pedal the car would chug/start to stall - so now I would go back into neutral - rev the engine and there would be NO chugging or stalling - only when I put it back into drive. As the car would stall I would put it in neutral to restart (and repeat the process).
The car stalled about 5-6 times --- one time I did notice the tiptronic light back on.. so I said (the car must think I'm in tip mode - let me put it in tip mode then back into automatic) that didn't help. I noticed that the car would not stall when it was in drive - Only when I would apply gas - so since this was 8:30am I decided to put the car in drive and let it "roll" to the mechanic (only about 2 miles away) - however there were about 4 more lights to go on this main drag. I put the car into 3rd gear and creeped there - applying as little gas as possible.
I told the mechanic about the issue (stalling, tip light going on "sometimes", etc) He said he would have a look later. The car was idoling nicely outside, so he said to turn it off and he would call me later. He called me back up and said - you battery is dead when I went to start your car. I said - you replaced that battery last year, and it has been on a battery tender all winter long... I did tell him that I had to start the car 5-6 times over a 10 minute period. He said he will charge it and test it.
Called me back later that day and said the alternator is dead! (the car only had 70K miles on it). He said it was unusual for a car of this mileage to have a dead alternator - but it could happen. I said - replace it... maybe that is what caused the stalling - not enough electrical to run the auto trans.
He replaced the alternator this week (took a couple of days to get the part) - he test drove the car - brought it home one night - and I was sending my wife over the pick up the car today.
He calls me this morning and says not to pick up the car! the alternator is dead.. he was pissed (not at me) but at Bosch - and said that they must have sent him a bad part, and he would get another one and replace.
So I figured I would tell my tale and see if anyone here had any input on this issue?
- I replaced the DIM relay about 2 years ago - first thing I did when I bought the car (I keep the old one in the glove box JIC)
- After some research I found out that if you start the car in neutral the "tip warning light" will not go on -- so that is why the light would go on only sometimes during my stall / restart.
- I did notice that the car sometimes would crank over very slowly. - even after I drove it for a long distance, parked the car, and then tried to restart (50% of the time). When I bought the car 3 yrs ago the guy said he put in a new battery because it was sitting for a while.. last year I told my mechanic about the slow cranking - and he told me that the battery that was in the car was too small, so last year he put in the right size battery. Even after the replacement it would crank over slowly. Could the alternator have been dying all along
- I only drive this car on the weekends - in the warmer months. Last year in NY was a cold and rainy summer ... so the car did not get much road time.
Thanks guys for your input / help
When I started up the car - she turned right over and I gave it a couple of pumps of gas and noticed that the tiptronic light was on (but I was not in tip mode..)... . I let it idle for a bit and it stalled (which is normal for a car that has been sitting for the winter months). Turned the key - turned right over.. the tip mode light did not go back on so I put it in drive and out of the driveway I went.
Left my street, everything was going good - got on to the main road - stopped at a light and it started to chug. then stall. Turned the key -- reved the engine while in park (to get some gas flowing through the engine)...put it in drive when the light turned green. Drove another 200 feet to the next light and the car started to chug and stall again. Started it back up, rev the engine a bit drop it in drive - but when I hit the gas pedal the car would chug/start to stall - so now I would go back into neutral - rev the engine and there would be NO chugging or stalling - only when I put it back into drive. As the car would stall I would put it in neutral to restart (and repeat the process).
The car stalled about 5-6 times --- one time I did notice the tiptronic light back on.. so I said (the car must think I'm in tip mode - let me put it in tip mode then back into automatic) that didn't help. I noticed that the car would not stall when it was in drive - Only when I would apply gas - so since this was 8:30am I decided to put the car in drive and let it "roll" to the mechanic (only about 2 miles away) - however there were about 4 more lights to go on this main drag. I put the car into 3rd gear and creeped there - applying as little gas as possible.
I told the mechanic about the issue (stalling, tip light going on "sometimes", etc) He said he would have a look later. The car was idoling nicely outside, so he said to turn it off and he would call me later. He called me back up and said - you battery is dead when I went to start your car. I said - you replaced that battery last year, and it has been on a battery tender all winter long... I did tell him that I had to start the car 5-6 times over a 10 minute period. He said he will charge it and test it.
Called me back later that day and said the alternator is dead! (the car only had 70K miles on it). He said it was unusual for a car of this mileage to have a dead alternator - but it could happen. I said - replace it... maybe that is what caused the stalling - not enough electrical to run the auto trans.
He replaced the alternator this week (took a couple of days to get the part) - he test drove the car - brought it home one night - and I was sending my wife over the pick up the car today.
He calls me this morning and says not to pick up the car! the alternator is dead.. he was pissed (not at me) but at Bosch - and said that they must have sent him a bad part, and he would get another one and replace.
So I figured I would tell my tale and see if anyone here had any input on this issue?
- I replaced the DIM relay about 2 years ago - first thing I did when I bought the car (I keep the old one in the glove box JIC)
- After some research I found out that if you start the car in neutral the "tip warning light" will not go on -- so that is why the light would go on only sometimes during my stall / restart.
- I did notice that the car sometimes would crank over very slowly. - even after I drove it for a long distance, parked the car, and then tried to restart (50% of the time). When I bought the car 3 yrs ago the guy said he put in a new battery because it was sitting for a while.. last year I told my mechanic about the slow cranking - and he told me that the battery that was in the car was too small, so last year he put in the right size battery. Even after the replacement it would crank over slowly. Could the alternator have been dying all along
- I only drive this car on the weekends - in the warmer months. Last year in NY was a cold and rainy summer ... so the car did not get much road time.
Thanks guys for your input / help
(This post was last modified: 04-01-2010, 12:41 PM by 924s.)
