First breakdown. Gutted. Please Help!
 

I only had my lovely Carrera 3.0 a week and its broken down. It's been running great, took it for a very long drive at the weekend and it was fine. Started perfect Monday, today started quickly but seems to struggle a tiny bit - before kicking in. Same on the way home from work. After a 10 minute journey i stopped in to get some fuel. When I went to start the car again it was dead. Tried a few times, it would try one or two rotations but give up. Very strange for this to happen all of a sudden - I know I did not leave the lights on or anything.

So, I jump started it and it did start ok but the lights seemed very dim when I turned them on. My mate had a little battery tester gadget and it said it was not charging. Battery is new. Hmm. Drove 1 minute down the road and was waiting at the lights around the corner from my house, sitting in neutral and she just cut out! Awful. had to push her around the corner through the traffic. My underground car park in my apartment block has a steep decline so tried to jump start it but made a balls of it. Sitting at the end, I tried to jump start it again but it was not starting at all - not lights coming no or anything. The battery tester gadget was not registering anything at all! All that was happening was a clicking from under the bonnet at the front left, which I think is the alarm (Toad). It started to click at different rates then later, very strange. Not sure what to do about this. The drivers window was down and still is, I could not get it back up. It should be safe behind the gates of my carpark but its hardly ideal.

I took out the battery and its charging, I'm going to try to put it back in either later tonight or tomorrow morning and maybe it will start. Would 4 hours on a halfords all in one automatic charger give it enough to start it? Maybe I'll wait until the morning to give it a full charge.

I'm going to call my breakdown service in the morning and get it towed to my mechanic. I'm not sure how these cars can be towed, it will need to be pulled out from the back, can that be done?

Any advice you guys can give me would be appreciated.
Thanks

Sounds like your alrternator is not working. If you charge the battery, it may start and drive again for a little while until the battery goes dead again. You could drive it home on the battery.

It's not difficult to replace the alternator. Mine's on it's 3rd in 150K miles.

or your voltage regulator could be toast.
Bruce

In your car, the Alt & the VR are one unit. Not a hard job at all.

Search on Pelican for Alternator & Voltage regulator. Loads of info, most importantly you want to check your voltages at different RPM's. Many threads on this. I have one of the volt-meter's you put in the lighter socket so I can monitor my Alt. They are cheap & easy to use. I would suspect that once your battery is charged (time needed depends on your charger) your car should start right up. Close your window and see if you can report back with your voltages at the various RPM's (you'll find what you want to look for in the other threads).

Where are you located, you might be able to get a local Pelican to lend a hand....

Don't tow it!! Get a rollback flatbed to haul it. By the way, I have an alternator out of an '80 for sale. The plastic(!) bearing shim gave up on the first day of a 3 day DE. Overnighted a new alternator in and replaced at track then made new brass shim for old (60k mile) alternator.

Check that you still have a belt on your alternator, loose battery cable could do this too

+1 on alternator.

When my alt went out, I suspected the battery, charged her and was fine for couple of hours then died, found the alt was shot and not charging the battery ergo no spark to the plugs

If you have AAA service they will come out and check the entire system for you so you can zero in on the culprit.

Just curious, does the red alternator warning light (below the the oil warning light on the oil temp/press gauge... I assume it is red like mine) come on when you turn the key in the ignition and then extinguish when the engine starts?

The long answer is "yes".
A voltmeter is a cheap and easy addition to the monitoring of the car's vitals.
Voltmeter vs. Ammeter - Auto Meter Tech Tips:

He's in Ireland(?). http://www.earthsongforums.com/forum...lt1/smiley.gif

Sorry, what I meant was, does M0nster's Alternator light extinguish as per normal? Normally an alternator failure should stare you in the face, not so? Unless the bulb is blown or there is another issue.

Thanks for all the advice guys - really appreciated. I charged the battery for a few hours last night and put it back in - thankfully I was able to get the window up so its secure, but I could not get it started. Definitely the alarm - its made by Toad. The green LED on the dash was flashing - usually its just one been turns it on or off, light is red or green - simple. I have an alarm guy coming to help me today.

My question, if the alternator is dead, if I have a fully charged battery, how long will I be able to drive for realistically? I do not want to die on the way to the garage. it's only about 3-4 miles. But I died yesterday after getting jump started and only driving a few hundred yards.

How much is a new alternator?

Hi,
If your going to try and drive it in the daylight, then a fully charged battery should last at least a few miles as long as you dont use anything else ie; lights, heaters etc, to be honest though, i wouldnt move it and would get the mechanic to come and look at it where it is, it could be the alternator, or wiring behind it, but it could also be a large drain on the system caused by a short etc, that is more worrying and the reason i wouldnt try using it untill you know whats wrong, also, if it is the alternator, and it siezes up, then you dont have any engine cooling either as the fan is driven off the back of the alternator via the belt.
Hope this helps.
Anthony.

The voltage regulator in my 77 is external. It is under $30 and should be available at any autoparts store. It is a 3 prong connector next to the fuse panel in the engine bay. It is a sub one minute repair. The replacement may not look the same as the original.

My gues it is this o a battery terminal that is corroded or not connected properly.

Colin, do you have a Bentley yet?

you can get an free online version - not as good, but OK, search Porsche Manuals and look for a site from cannell.co.uk

download as PDF and save it - might take a few tries its big

after a full charge on that battery get it checked for condition (load test)
once its good start the car and use a volt meter to check voltage output (needs to be at about 2500 rpm) - buy tools not a tow, you will be $ ahead in the end.....

Ed

as for driving with a non-charging system - DONT!

I take it your alarm didnt come with a remote? Most alarms have to be turned off after a battery install. My old one had a hidden reset button that required "key on" and push/hold reset button...simple if you knew were the reset button was...contact old owner, might know

Check for a bad ground from the battery to the tub right there in the front boot. Also check for a bad ground at the transmission ground strap directly under the middle of the car. Please check both of these grounds before you spend a bunch of money replacing stuff!

Thanks guys. So I'm just back - got her started :) I charged the battery last night - and got an alarm guy to come look at it today. I put the battery back in, clicking the button on the remote would make noise but the LED was not lighting up which was strange. Started it, and she started fine! So annoying. It did not do this last night Anyway he showed me how to bypass it if it happens again. I'm going to get a new alarm in it.

So, tomorrow I need to drive it up to my mechanic. Is it ok to drive it 2/3 miles if the battery has had a full charge? If i use the choke to keep the revs above 2000 will it be ok or is it likely to die?

You can try it I guess. Although, as ivangene posted above you could damage your DME and the rest of your charging system if the battery dies or is "removed from the loop." There are other threads about this same scenario. I am going out on a limb here--but I'd say your alarm has nothing to do with your no start problem.

Speaking from experience you can get about 30-40 minutes driving out of the battery.