Electrical gremlins, anyone have advice/had a replacement battery yet?

Audio, Navigation, Electronic Issues and Fixes
jonnydrama
Posts: 349
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:27 pm

Post by jonnydrama »

Folks,

Having a nightmare with our car and recurring electrical faults. It's a late 2014 Diesel S and is still under extended warranty but the problems are getting tiresome now.

The issues are -
Boot has randomly opened while driving. You can hear click, clicking from the latch while driving.
Car on occasion hasn't recognised keys/won't open.
Car will say key batteries are low/flat even if just replaced.
Once it just refused to start at all and the whole dash lit up like a christmas tree.
Alarm going off randomly. It went off through the night even with motion sensors deactivated. When I went out this morning the boot was open (100% not done by us)

It's just went to my local OPC just now, on previous visits they've replaced the alternator and boot latch but there's obviously something more specific going on.

Are these fancy batteries they use similar to traditional ones i.e. a specific life span then they need replaced? Mine would be coming up to 7 years but the cost of replacement is horrific £500+).

Apparently the contents of the battery need to be topped up in the dealership before fitting?!

Madelvic
Posts: 772
Joined: Thu Aug 15, 2019 3:48 pm
Location: Scotland

Post by Madelvic »

An AGM battery for your Macan is £180 from Design911. PCGB members get 5% discount. An OEM battery is £420 from them

It shouldn't be the battery causing problems when the car is running especially if the alternator has been replaced. Voltage can and will drop if parked up for quite a while - you might want to monitor it on the dash - and very low voltages can cause all sorts of problems. However my guess is it isn't the battery.

Hope you get it sorted - nothing worse than intermittent issues
2017 Macan GTS Carmine Red
2005 Boxster S Artic Silver
On-Track
Posts: 2135
Joined: Sun May 03, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: Staffordshire

Post by On-Track »

The replacement battery for a Macan SD needs to be a 95AH (ampere hour) AGM battery. Halfords stock them at around £190. Your battery is fitted below the boot floor. Have a look at the make and then do a search for a replacement.

The OPC does not need to do anything to the battery before it is fitted but (and it's a big but) most if not all of the car's settings will die with the removal of the old battery and these need to be reset. Looks as if they want to charge you around 3 hours labour for fitting and calibrating.

First thing though is to make sure that the battery is failing. Either use a multi-meter on the terminals under the bonnet or alter the display in the MFD (right hand of the three instrument dials) to see what the voltage is both immediately after shutting the engine down and then after a day or so. If it has dropped by more than 0.2V then the battery is not holding its charge.
Peter

Current: 2020 Carmine Red GTS http://www.porsche-code.com/PMST9ZI9
Gone- 2015 Sapphire Blue Diesel
Gone -2013 Cayenne Diesel
User avatar
Guy
Posts: 2148
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 11:06 am
Location: Warwickshire

Post by Guy »

Firstly here's a photo of the battery in my 2015 SD, so you can do some googling and research without lifting your boot floor. You'll note that mine was 105Ah rather than the 95Ah mentioned above.

IMG_1624.JPG


Secondly, the new battery (arguably) has to be registered on the car's software once fitted. There's threads about that somewhere here, or you may wish to read the 50-odd page thread on the US forum: https://www.macanforum.com/threads/repl ... ery.84682/
MikeM
Posts: 2234
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:13 pm

Post by MikeM »

If your getting spurious electrical problems unless you have an intermittent earth/connection or component failure, with the original battery now at seven years old I would say it’s past it’s best. Could also be the reason why the alternator failed, although would normally expect the OPC to have diagnosed that when they replaced it.
Previous Porsche’s
2008. 987 Boxster S Sport basalt
2012. 991 Carrera S aqua
2016. Macan Turbo volcano
Current
2020. Macan GTS crayon
2024. Macan GTS gentian sometime this year https://configurator.porsche.com/porsche-code/PR8H7WC6
jonnydrama
Posts: 349
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:27 pm

Post by jonnydrama »

Thanks for all the information chaps, much appreciated. Apparently they are working on the car just now so hopefully know something soon.

Regarding the battery this is what I was told when I asked - "The battery price is £409.33 inc vat, to fit it would be a little over half an hours labour which would be £100.49 inc vat. The battery would need to be ordered in as not something we have in stock at present. When a battery comes into stock, prior to fitting/purchasing, it will need filled with acid and put on charge.'

Guy it was the registering of the battery that's threw me off DIY, see so many cases with BMWs especially where independant garages software can't get them to register and they end up back at the main dealer :roll:

Got to be honest it's pretty unnerving when you're driving along and the boot opens, especially as we have a dog!!
On-Track
Posts: 2135
Joined: Sun May 03, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: Staffordshire

Post by On-Track »

jonnydrama wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 5:22 pm Thanks for all the information chaps, much appreciated. Apparently they are working on the car just now so hopefully know something soon.

Regarding the battery this is what I was told when I asked - "The battery price is £409.33 inc vat, to fit it would be a little over half an hours labour which would be £100.49 inc vat. The battery would need to be ordered in as not something we have in stock at present. When a battery comes into stock, prior to fitting/purchasing, it will need filled with acid and put on charge.'

Guy it was the registering of the battery that's threw me off DIY, see so many cases with BMWs especially where independant garages software can't get them to register and they end up back at the main dealer :roll:

Got to be honest it's pretty unnerving when you're driving along and the boot opens, especially as we have a dog!!
As you can see from Guy's photo, the battery fitted to a 2015 SD is an AGM battery. AGM stands for Absorbent Glass Mat and the battery is sealed for life when it is manufactured. AGM batteries are intended for cars with stop/start and a lot of electrical accessories (step forward the Macan). It is important not to fit a fluid battery to a car designed around AGM so your OPC is talking round objects (as Winston Churchill famously said).

My SD, like Guy's had a 105AH battery. I don't know when the standard battery for the SD changed to 95AH but if you search for a Macan SD battery now that is what comes up.

The boot opening as you drive along is unlikely to be the battery.
Peter

Current: 2020 Carmine Red GTS http://www.porsche-code.com/PMST9ZI9
Gone- 2015 Sapphire Blue Diesel
Gone -2013 Cayenne Diesel
jonnydrama
Posts: 349
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:27 pm

Post by jonnydrama »

Thanks Peter, appreciate the info. If I'm going to hang onto the car I'll try and pick up a battery myself and find someone to register it.

I guess all I can do now is wait for the OPC to come back to me with some answers.
MikeM
Posts: 2234
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:13 pm

Post by MikeM »

Agree with Peter’s comments, and whoever told you “We need to fill it with Acid first “ is talking out their Arse 🙄. Your battery is either a 95 or 105 ah. You can check it out directly on Varta’s own site. Usually can pick up around £200, lots of suppliers.
https://www.varta-automotive.com/en-gb/ ... ynamic-agm

See this YouTube link to U.S Porsche tech’s site (he’s very good) if you read the question/comments he identifies the potential issue if it’s not registered. Although if you have a matching spec battery and keep the new one connected before and whilst removing the old (I.e jumpers from new battery to terminal connections). How will it know 🤫. Just recommend, if you do go this way every part is well insulated throughout the process 😖👍

Previous Porsche’s
2008. 987 Boxster S Sport basalt
2012. 991 Carrera S aqua
2016. Macan Turbo volcano
Current
2020. Macan GTS crayon
2024. Macan GTS gentian sometime this year https://configurator.porsche.com/porsche-code/PR8H7WC6
User avatar
Guy
Posts: 2148
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 11:06 am
Location: Warwickshire

Post by Guy »

jonnydrama wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 5:22 pm Guy it was the registering of the battery that's threw me off DIY, see so many cases with BMWs especially where independant garages software can't get them to register and they end up back at the main dealer :roll:

I've got an iCarsoft V2.0 with the latest Porsche SW on that you're welcome to pop round and use if your in the Milton Keynes area. I haven't used it for a battery change (and have sold my Macan) so I can't guarantee that it'll work, but I think some have used successfully.
Post Reply

  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post