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Battery Replacement

Terry

PCGB Member
Member
Anyone had to replace a battery yet? Despite regular use (at least once a week journeys of 50 miles) I am occasionally getting a - Battery Low Start Car - message when I put the ignition key in. It therefore seems likely that the battery is getting towards the end of its life. The car is 4 years old.

I am interested to know what the cost a new one is likely to be, it will need to be a Porsche battery to maintain warranty.

Apparently new batteries require an initialization process to advise the ecu about a change of battery. Is there any way to overcome that so you can fit it yourself?
 
Doubt if this is much good to you but I replaced my 997 Turbo battery after 4 years and 5 months in June 2012 at my OPC which cost £172.67 (fitted because I complained that Indies fitted free). The technician at the time advised that the Porsche batteries were very poor and I would be better off with an Audi battery which had a longer warranty. I was also concerned about affecting the Porsche Warranty although looking back the Porsche battery was only warranted for one year and I cannot see that it was relevant to the Porsche Warranty anyway. I sold the 997 in 2013 but understand that it has had another battery replaced sometime in 2015.

The battery was just replaced while I watched, no programming was necessary although I had to re input some of my settings. Obviously newer models might be different.

Cheers
 
I have replaced two on my different 997 and 991 but used Bosch S5 with the 5 Year guarantee. I also use a CTEK Charger to keep it in good shape.
 
fireblade said:
I was also concerned about affecting the Porsche Warranty although looking back the Porsche battery was only warranted for one year and I cannot see that it was relevant to the Porsche Warranty anyway. I sold the 997 in 2013 but understand that it has had another battery replaced sometime in 2015.

No relevance as far the Porsche warranty is concerned, however it may adversely affect the extended warranty, which is a third party policy that states only genuine Porsche replacement parts are to be used. Some owners keep the original battery fully charged up before it finally expires, to be swapped over in the event of an emergency. [;)]
Regards,
Clive
 
Lancerlot said:
fireblade said:
I was also concerned about affecting the Porsche Warranty although looking back the Porsche battery was only warranted for one year and I cannot see that it was relevant to the Porsche Warranty anyway. I sold the 997 in 2013 but understand that it has had another battery replaced sometime in 2015.

No relevance as far the Porsche warranty is concerned, however it may adversely affect the extended warranty, which is a third party policy that states only genuine Porsche replacement parts are to be used. Some owners keep the original battery fully charged up before it finally expires, to be swapped over in the event of an emergency. [;)]
Regards,
Clive
Yes it was the extended warranty I was referring to. I must look up mine to see how long the battery is covered for in the extended warranty if at all. I know that even though I had the extended warranty for my 997TT the OPC told me it wasn't covered and I had to pay for the replacement battery, have I been conned again? Seems a sneaky way to increase income for OPC's by buying overpriced underperforming Porsche batteries which I understand are made by someone else anyway. The Audi and Bosch products have far longer warranty periods and are certainly cheaper at specialists.
 
997's were mainly fitted with Moll batteries and many owners have had good service from them. I suspect a lot is to do with how the car is used. Alan (tscaptain here) still has an original Moll battery in his turbo now 7 years old.

I believe Porsche may be using alternative suppliers now in 991 due to the stop/start technology.

The concern with fitting any non-Porsche part is that it runs a risk of invalidating extended warranty on the whole car.
Regards,
Clive
 
Yes indeed - 7 years old at the end of the month. Always on a Ctek conditioner in the garage. The older batteries are NOT maintenance free either so if you (or the PC) forget to top it up from time to time it will fail.
 
most new cars with start stop technology use agm batterys,(and smart alternators) they have to programed to the car so the charging system on car knows a new battery is fitted so it can adjust the charge rate/and monitor condition of battery, if you just fit a battery it will not charge at correct rate,as a battery will degrade over time /use.bmw have been using technology like this over 12 years(a mate of mine got a 2006 bmw 530d he fitted a none standard battery and it caused all sort of problems like electronic steering lock not unlocking in set time and giving a warning on dash, but he was in luck as I have a copy of main dealer bmw/mini software (inpa and others)on one of my laptops we told the car it had a non std battery and the amp hour rate of the battery,and cleared the steering lock faults and it has been ok since)I have a Porsche I-carsoft diagnostic tool and I have not seen a menu on there to program battery to car for 981,991.and my durametric lead only works on cars up to 2007.(I know with ford cars if you put a standard lead acid battery on it, the battery charging system will boil the battery)I work on engine electrical systems for ford/jaguar.

edited to add-is the battery in keyfob low? as the manual says it will give you a warning on display when battery is low,just a thought !
for bmw info on battery see https://ilikekillnerds.com/2015/10/replacing-a-bmw-battery/

 
Thanks Clive, Alan and Richard

I have checked and as I was told, the Porsche Extended Warranty (EW) excludes batteries, therefore in order not to invalidate the EW you are forced have to buy an inferior Porsche battery with short warranty as opposed to buying a similarly priced product with a four or five year warranty. I am sure that there are many third party batteries that meet the requirements of stop/start, charge rate, etc

Being a layman I do not understand the technical side of Richard’s comments but I accept that he really does know what he is talking about (very helpful, I have the dreaded unwanted stop/start in my 991 so I guess I have a complicated battery). When and if I need to replace my battery I shall be very careful to ensure that Richard’s comments are taken into consideration.

Another example of Porsche squeezing the pips!

Cheers

Michael
 

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