darenchu

I've been staying in Taiwan for the past few months and needless to say my 951 hasn't been driven in this time period. I asked my dad to start the car up and drive it around the block, but he couldn't get the car unlocked with my key. Am I right to assume the central lock system is out if the battery's dead? I'm pretty sure the battery's probably dead. He says nothing happens when he tries any of the doors/hatch. Worst case scenario I'll have to shimmy the car door.

plumbum

If the key turns it should unlock the door I would think..

lovemyp-car

^This...Even if the car has central locking, turning the key in the door will lock or unlock that door. I know this for a fact, as the Turbo I recently bought had a disconnected battery and the engine and transmission was out, and I could still lock the doors individually and unlock them with the key.

Good luck!
Ethan

darenchu

Hmm.. did you have to turn the key more than normal or anything different you had to do in particular? Is there any other reason the door wouldn't unlock? I'll have my dad try again though.

pontifex4

Could it be that it is unlocked, but the door handle is harder to pull than he expects? He could always try the hatch, or the other side door, if they're accessible.

william_b_noble

this is a 944, right? it has two doors and a hatch, each of which is actuated mechanically. A lock mechanism can fail, but not all three. Also, by letting the battery go totally dead you have probably bought yourself a new battery - there are some excellent trickle chargers that cost a lot less than a battery.

mytrplseven

When he tries to use the door handle (after the lock is unlocked with a key) have him push in on the top of the door, near the roof, while he's opening the door (to unload the latch). My car has to be unloaded to take the load off the handle to open the doors. This may be all that's needed.

darenchu

Weird, he says the locks don't come up at all.

Kona

The key should be able to turn and move the lock to the open position regardless of battery. How about the hatch? If the door is indeed stuck you should be able to crawl through and open a door.

Gawernator

Yeah, this doesn't make sense how he can't manually open either door or the hatch with the original key. ???

darenchu

Beats me. I'll have to check it out when I get back

V2Rocket

You can pop out one of the small Windows in about 30 seconds with a careful screwdriver

william_b_noble

maybe he doesn't have the original key? or maybe he is expecting it to act like a lexus

darenchu

I'm not sure what you're implying but this is not my dad's first encounter with a Porsche. He has owned a 951S and a 928S in the past, which is what inspired me to purchase my own 944NA and 951S. The key is original as far as I know.

darenchu

So I came back and my doors really wouldn't open without power; I ended up removing the rear quarter window to get in. The locks worked fine after switching a battery though. Just thought I'd share my experience for anyone with the same problem in the future.

tldr; 944 with central locking: no power: no locks.