Sporadic starting

[nouga88]

One of my friend just bought a 996 2002 and he has a small intermitent problem:

When he turn the key sometime the atrter engage and start as normal the next time nothing happen , no click, no noise nothing

What do you think about that ?

Thank all

[very~worn~944]

Push the clutch ALL the way in, make sure the floor mat isn't bundled up under the pedal... If none of this helps, possible clutch switch- simple and common

[nouga88]

Thank for this hint , my friend will try it in florida

[JRoser]

This happened to me a couple of times and I originally thought it was a microswitch. It was very intermittent. When I did some more analysis on my boxster I found that when previously working on it that I failed to tighten down the positive lead to my battery. (Kind of stupid, but I'm only human). Evidently at some times it was making strong contact and other times it wasn't. Little things can drive you crazy. Good Luck

[motolz]

Same thing for me. Sometimes I would turn the key, get full juice and then nothing. I would try it 2 or 3 times and eventually it would 'catch' and the car would start right up. I was going to replace the ignition switch, which is an easy job, but decided to check for corrosion on the battery terminals.

As it turned out, my neg terminal was just a little loose I tightened it down and bingo! She cranks like a champ! If you are experiencing the same problem, no crank on the first or second try. Start with the battery and save yourself some grief!!

[jmitro]

I've been experiencing the same problem on my (new to me) 99 996. Battery is relatively new; had it checked yesterday at Autozone and they said the alternator and battery were both ok.
My battery terminals are fine.
Is there a DME relay that commonly goes bad?

[jwgn777]

There is a start lock relay in the relay support 2 at position 7 behind the back seat left side (possible problem) However most of the suggestions posted by the other members are usually the cause.

[jmitro]

battery leads are fine.
only other possibility is the floormat; this is possible, but when the car wouldn't start yesterday, an Autozone employee brought a mobile charger, hooked it up, and the car started right up. That tells me it's probably not the floormat/clutch switch.

but I'll check it anyway

[motolz]

As I was researching this, a lot of people mentioned the ignition switch. It is an easy and inexpensive shot at fixing this issue. Check out something like part number 4A0-905-849-B-M352

[jwgn777]

Originally Posted by jmitro

battery leads are fine.
only other possibility is the floormat; this is possible, but when the car wouldn't start yesterday, an Autozone employee brought a mobile charger, hooked it up, and the car started right up. That tells me it's probably not the floormat/clutch switch.

but I'll check it anyway

You ought to check the battery and posts again if you had to jump start the battery.