darconi

Thanks for the explanation. I was just surprised that the voltage drops while the engine is on because my toyota ('99) keeps high regardless. Figured it might be just differences between the way they're designed. As long as I don't get stuck in the middle of nowhere with a dead battery I'll be satisfied.

The battery is almost brand new and pretty sure its good. Where is the voltage regulator? Is it part of the alternator? I figure if the mechanic I had replaced the alternator, it would've also replaced the voltage regulator.

If i start up the car again right after, the voltage remains the same as it was before. If i wait a couple of days and then start it back up, it goes back up to 14.1 and again goes back down after a while of driving. When it drops back down to 13.2-3 when idle, it goes jump up a bit if i go to 2.5k RPM but goes back down immediately afterwards. Is there a feature on the alternator that it drops the voltage if the battery is getting fully charged? My thought is that the car recognizes the battery has been fully recharged and drops the charging voltage down since its not needed.

So just recently my battery was constantly discharging and I was getting a dead battery after driving for a while. Mechanic said it was the alternator that was bad and replaced it. I just got it back and was monitoring the battery voltage using a little voltage monitor that plugs into the cigarette lighter. I drove it around for a while and then let it idle in the garage for ~20 minutes and after a while, the voltage drops down to the 13.20-13.30 range. It had started around 13.8 when I first started driving it. The battery voltage monitor gives me a yellow warning light at the 13.30 level. I read that while the car is running and the battery is being charged that the voltage should be in the 13.5-14+ range. Is the alternator still broken or is everything still fine? I don't want to end up driving somewhere and being stuck with a dead battery (again).

If I did that and it is the voltage regulator, what should I expect?

Appreciate any help anyone can provide on this. I've been having this problem where my battery has been discharging/dying while driving. If I leave the battery connected and the car off, it pulls power like normal but once the car is on and I start driving for a while, it discharges rapidly. I'm estimating somewhere around 20-30 mins of driving for entire battery to be discharged from full. The battery checks out fine and has been recharged using chargers. I got a battery voltage monitor that hooks into the lighter and it constantly tells me the voltage. Once the car is on, the initial voltage starts at approx 13.5-14 V (which is normal for recharging I believe). However, it quickly over the next few minutes drop down considerably. After ~2-3 minutes, the recharge voltage enters the 12.5-13 range (and the monitor gives me a red warning). After another 5 minutes or so, it can be around 11.5-12.5 range and so on. I'm guessing this indicates my battery is not being recharged and the only thing I can think of is alternator is not working. I did take it to autozone once and they said the alternator is fine but not sure I believe them. I did had to replace the ignition switch before (thanks to renntech), is it possible I didn't install it right and its draining cause of that? Would appreciate any help/suggestions. Is this something I can take to any mechanic or should I contact a porsche speciality shop? Thanks!

Any information available on how to check the top switch?

Been having this problem on my 2001 Boxster S for almost a year now but I put the hard top on and ignored it but now figured I can try to fix it. Basically the problem is that the top went down and no longer comes up. It had gone down fine and then while driving, the windows just randomly came up and the top no longer goes up. I had this problem one time before and just kept pressing the switch at the top of the windshield where the latch attaches and it fixed it. That didn't work again. I'm getting the impression that this is a problem with the switch or signal. Any ideas? Thanks!

Loren, thanks for the ref. I figured that the ignition switch was definitely a problem but is there any explanation for the resultant battery problem as well or was it just a bad confluence of events?

Thanks in advance for any help on this matter! So got a 2001 Boxster S that just recently had a problem with the ignition switch where the key had a hard time going in and certain electrical things didn't work unless I dialed back the key a bit. Looked it up on here and it seems like the typical ignition switch problem and had info on how to get that fixed. Great! Then I had to do some business traveling and a couple weeks later, finally came back. I ordered the part from autohausaz and should be getting it in the next few days. So far the needed repairs seemed all normal but today I went to try and start it up anyway even with the minor ignition switch issue to check the underdash area I have to repair. It wouldn't start up at all. I read that the ignition problem could cause the car to keep some of its electrical systems running so ok maybe its just a dead battery from that. I jumped the hood release to access the battery and then hooked up the battery to my other car like I did before. It wouldn't start up...at all. Even with the other car attached, I couldn't power the lights, no dash lights came up, NOTHING worked. This is after a full battery only a couple of weeks ago. Now this is a BRAND NEW battery, less than 2 month old (had to replace the orig dead battery a couple months ago) so it should take a charge right? Is it that the battery drained and the faulty ignition switch is not allowing me to start it again or is there something much more serious going on here? Anyone got any ideas? I'm starting to get very frustrated by the somewhat less than ideal reliability of porsches nowadays...