Light from Darkness?

NO LIGHTS, NO SOUND, NOTHING !

STORY AND PHOTO BY STEVE MARTIN

About 7 months ago, I was brought to a stop by a complete electrical power loss on my 2015 Carrera, near my house in Chandler. No lights, no sound, nothing. Luckily I was on a local road that wasn’t too busy. After trying various things I accepted that I would need a tow. Now, when the car stopped, I unthinkingly shifted the transmission from Drive to Park (as you do). Then I discovered that without electrical power you can move the lever into Park, but not out again. So, with the rear wheels locked, I realized that it would probably not be possible to get the car on to a tilting bed tow truck (now perhaps the most usual type) without damaging something. I would need to have the car towed using a set of dollies, front and rear. (I know, you experts are saying “of course, how else?” I’m not an expert though). After about 20 minutes, I got a call from some nameless outfit, like Joe’s towing service, (or maybe Jose’s). Kids were yelling in the background. I explained what I needed, and he said he was sorry, but he only had a tilt bed truck.

Back to 1-800-PORSCHE, another very pleasant lady, different tow company but same result. Again on a third try. After that I gave up and started calling all the local towing companies myself. Eventually I got one that understood about dollies, and said he’d be out to get me, bringing a set. This was Valley Express Towing of Mesa.

After a short time this brand new, shiny tow truck showed up and the driver proceeded expertly to get the Porsche on the dollies ready for towing. I told him I was glad to meet someone who knew what they were doing. He said he had towed that way for many Porsches, Audis, BMWs and Teslas (lots of those). He also regaled me with an interesting tale of how he’d towed a Bugatti Veyron from Tucson to Scottsdale.

It being Sunday evening we decided that towing the car directly to the dealer would not be a good idea, since the service departmentt was closed, and the car would have to sit out on the forecourt overnight, unattended. So the plan was to tow the car the four miles to my house, leave it there, and come back to tow to the dealer Monday morning

While offloading the car in my driveway we saw that the electrics had somehow come alive by themselves, everything seemed to be working, and the car was probably now drivable. Decision time. I said that no way was I going to drive the car to the dealer in case it died again while on the 202 freeway. So next morning, as arranged, the driver returned and we made the tow to Porsche Chandler. On arrival, everything electrical was apparently still working, and I left it with them.

Next day, they called back to say that they had checked out absolutely everything possible and nothing showed up. The battery was only 4 months old, so it wasn’t that. Recovering the history from the OBD it had shown only that there had indeed been a complete electrical failure, but it had now reset itself. Well…..Yes? After a discussion with the service folks the only thing we thought might have caused it was a “glitch” (a technical term) in one of the myriad microprocessors all over the vehicle. So I came and very gingerly drove it home keeping carefully to the slow lane of the freeway.

Since then, I have had no problems, and I’ve been driving it with gradually increasing confidence (perhaps unjustified, but anyway).

I’m appealing to the experts: any knowledge of anyone else ever having this problem? All contributions gratefully received.

So, if you need a tow, based on my one contact, Valley Express Towing may be the people to go to. For recovery services from 1-800-PORSCHE, my experience would indicate that they are utterly useless.