Dead Battery = Constant Alarm Trip ? (456M)

Yep. My Cayman will act that way when the battery dies. Key turns, nothing happens, steering wheel unlocked, still the key will not come out. Most annoying.

 

DO NOT jump the car. You risk causing still more damage. Several have lost really expensive airbag modules as an example. These electrical systems lack robustness to handle "spikes." The tow guy should be able to flatbed the car dead as long as it rolls.

 

The only electrical thing which would stop the key coming out would be the "park" solenoid, but that is overriden by the knob under the lock. Maybe your knob is broken

 

Ian, on my Porsche Cayman S, it is a stick so no Park solenoid, no knob under the lock (is on the dash on the left side for traditions sake) and when my battery died, the ignition key could not be removed. So there is something else that can do this as well. I have no idea if this annoyance afflicts Ferraris, but given it is an annoyance, the odds are pretty dang high.

 

Curious. Different generation of car, but I don't see the reason why Porsche would want to stop you removing the key unless they are being overly cautious about safety, such as not having the park brake set or similar. Doesn't the owner's manual say something about this? I Googled "Cayman S ignition lock problems", but couldn't find any information on this.

The 456 GTA manual specifically mentions the gear lever having to be in Park to remove the key. The wiring diagram shows power coming from one of the "Digitek Safety Modules" to the lock solenoid. The Digitek Safety modules are shown in the automatic gearbox wiring diagram, but what goes on inside them, I don't know. But, irrespective of how the solenoid works, the knob underneath the lock is designed to override the ignition key lock.

 

Just one question. What is the difference between putting in a new fresh battery versus connecting jumper cables from another car? Normally, you attach the cables and then start the engine of the «helper car» to get more volt and then you start the car with the flat battery. What is the real reason why you do not recomend using jumper cables? Just curious. Thanks. Erik

 

It's a common recommendation from the experts, but as you say, it's difficult to understand what the difference is.

For example:

The alternator circuits normally monitor the power being used by the vehicle and try to keep the voltage at the appropriate level. Perhaps the monitoring circuits have difficulty with two electrical systems in parallel and put out too much voltage?



It's also said that those portable jumper packs are safer because they have protection circuits.

 

I doubt you het more than 14,4 V when parallell two batteries because the empty battery will absorb so much power/amp that the volt is brought down considderably. Correct me if I am wrong.