Re: More strangeness afoot.

I've noticed that sometimes my dashlights (2000 911) stay on long, long after I've parked the car. These would be the digital speedo, the odo and the clock. Have I set something improperly, is this normal or is there a problem?

those times the lights are staying on long after you've parked the car.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I do leave the car unlocked in my garage. Does that mean the dashlights will stay on?

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steve on hhi
I do leave the car unlocked in my garage. Does that mean the dashlights will stay on?

I'm not sure if it's exactly the same with the 986/996 but with my 06 987, the lights you're describing stay on a few minutes ( 3 or 4) after closing the door without locking the car.

Guenter
2014 Boxster S
GT Silver, 6 Speed Manual, Bi-Xenons, Sports Suspension (lowers car 20mm), Porsche Sports Exhaust, Porsche Torque Vectoring, Auto Climate control, heated and vented seats, 20" Carrera S Wheels, Pedro's TechNoWind, Sport Design steering wheel, Roll bars in GT Silver
[www.cyberdesignconcepts.com]

The original question occurred to me as closed the car up after changing the battery. It died during a cold snap and was in the car when I bought it over five years ago, so I thought nothing of having to change it. Then I noticed that the dash lights stayed on overnight and wondered if there was a connection.

Well, the “new” battery didn’t seem to have a full charge (I bought it off the shelf at Wallyworld, took it home and installed it), so I hooked my new charger to it. It read that it only had a 22% charge. I allowed it to quick charge to 100% (took about 90 minutes). The following morning, with temperatures in the 40s, it seemed weak as I started the car. I hooked back up the charger and it said there was only a 67% charge. It lost a third of its power overnight with no apparent draw aside from the dash lights. Just as interestingly the dash lights went out immediately as I closed the door after disconnecting the charger.

When I parked the car after my 2 minute commute to work I noticed that the lights went out immediately as I locked the door, something it wouldn’t do the night prior. Is this a symptom of a failing ignition switch?

Even with the factor of having changed a five year old battery, I think there's something drawing current other than the interior lights. Other, more technically knowledgeable people here could give you guidance as to how to check various circuits. Aside from what the actual problem is, don't worry if you open either trunk and not see its light turn off quickly: I think the default setting is for them to stay on about two hours with the lid open. As far as what happens when the lid is fully closed, you'll have to check with Erwin Schrödinger.

Minus 40 degrees... Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?

There are a couple of thing that could be causing the battery to lose a charge.

1. The battery may have a bad cell. (this happened to me a few years ago when I bought a new battery for my wife's car - new battery and it died a couple of days later, had it boosted and it died again. Had it checked out and they found one cell dead. Got a free replacement and all was well after that.)

2. It could be the ignition switch (the electronic part), as you suggested. This will cause all sorts of different, seemingly unrelated electronic gremlins. Have you had any difficulty at all trying to get the key out of the ignition or does it feel different at all?

There could of course be other posibilities that others might suggest.

I'll take your advice on #1 and have it checked. On #2, I've had no problems removing the key. Having heard other stories of gremlins related to the ignition switch and knowing something more than just dash lights much be the draw behind knocking 1/3 of the battery's power off overnight it just seemed that might be a good place to start. Thanks.