QuestionQUESTION: Hi, I'm looking after my husbands cars while he is away and the 911 won't start at all. I turn the ignition to three o'clock and there isn't even a sound from a starter motor or anything. No lights, no dials move. I checked the battery and can see that one side is connected, the other isnt, but I cant find any lose wires that may have come out. It started fine about 10 days ago so not sure what it is. Thanks for your help.
ANSWER: When you say it started 10 days ago, did he start it or did you start it?
When you say one side of the battery is not connected, do you mean one of the two large battery cables (red or black) is not attached?
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QUESTION: Hi and thanks for coming back!
Only one terminal (lead post) has cables attached, red and yellow (not black as I previously thought) the termianl closest to the lights has nothing connected. My husband called today and he thinks that the wire that was connected has come lose or fallen off but I cant find it anywhere (looking for a black cable!) all wires/cables around the area are all connected to something, lights etc. This is the connection my husband used to disconnect when he worked overseas and now Im here to run the engine, he would prefer that! I can take another look but even with a torch, I couldnt see anything. If you think this is a reasonable explanation to the problem, I will see if we can get it re-connected somehow. Thanks for your help, it is much appreciated!
AnswerIt sounds like your husband did what most of us 911 owners do when we don't drive our cars often, we disconnect one of the terminals on the battery. Sometimes a vehicle will have a a device which constantly draws power from the battery (parasitic consumption), such as the clock. Clocks drain very little power from the battery. So there might be another device (such as trunk, engine compartment or glove box light) which should be in an off state however its not.
In the mean time if must start the vehicle and you sense now that the negative or ground cable is not connected: locate the ground (negative -) battery cable, most of the time its black. Locate the negative battery post; along side or next to the battery posts will be a " " for positive which is the red cable, and a "-" for the negative which is for the black cable. Attach the loose unfastened black ground cable to the negative post on the battery. If sparks start to fly pull it off and leave the car alone until spouse gets home. Otherwise that should reconnect the battery circuits.
Again, as a 911 owner, I see no benefit in running the engine once a week or once a month to try to maintain the battery, to keep things lubricated, to maintain the ac system or any other expected benefit other than to to scare the mice away.
In lieu of running the engine once in awhile to maintain the battery there are other simpler and less expensive methods:
A) Leave the the positive battery cable off the battery when the vehicle is not in use, or
B) Use a trickle charger to maintain the battery; also referred to as a float charger.
hope that helps you,
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