Cuda911

The cable by the passenger door hinge is not for the frunk. It's a hidden gas filler door release. Sheesh they put some odd stuff into the design of this car!

white out

They still lock when you lock the car. So if you lock your car and the battery dies, there's no way to open the frunk or trunk without the cable release.

996_North

..?? I Use the key to unlock the door, the use release to pop open the trunk. I did this when my alt went bad, and the battery died.

white out

On my '99 when the battery was dead with the car locked, the frunk and trunk levers were locked. But the key would allow me to get into the car.

Cuda911

I'm guessing that 996_North had enough juice left in his battery for the Frunk/trunk actuators to work, even though not enough to start the car.

996_North

Cuda, you may be right.. Im going to loop through the rear as you have described. It's a good alternative. Thanks for sharing

5CHN3LL

Looks like I'm going fishing for the rear latch release tomorrow or the next day... can't get to the motor right now. Looks like an excuse to drive the Corvette tomorrow...

My garage is a 90's time machine...

alpine003

Took a pic of the front:


It tucks up neatly behind the bumper and I can get to it easily if I need.

aviography

Interesting point on the Mk-1 cars, I know for sure the fuel door is locked via an electrical solenoid when the car is locked, never tried the frunk or trunk.

I suppose one can do a test by opening the frunk, close the door, lock the car, disconnect the battery, unlock the door with the key, and then see if the trunk can be released at that point?

TSMacNeil

Thanks for this tip...performed front and rear access to the cables today.

Que' bueno!

mwest

These are all great ideas but, we should not have to jump through hoops to open our trunks when a battery is too weak or dead. It makes no sense.

For the 2nd time since 2002 I let my battery run down to the point I was unable to open the front trunk to get at the battery.
1st time I used a jumper box to attach to that red connection in the fuse box and was able to pop the trunk. This time not so easy. Each time I tried this the horn started beeping and that was about it. Trunk would not release. I tried locking-unlocking door, I tried tripping the lock in the door to the lock position with a screw driver then unlocking/locking with key. No success. Tried variations of this multiple times but got no where. All I got was the horn beeping. I was unable to find the cable release going through the right front side light.

Lastly, I removed the C3 Fuse. I found a piece of metal that fit perfectly into the vacated C3 slot. Hooked up my jumper box to this piece of metal--the real surprise was that the car started without having to jump the battery. I had left the key in the ignition when I was trying everything I could think of to get the trunk to open. I turned the key and to my amazement the car started. This was quite unexpected. Now was able to open trunk and access the battery which is actually only about 18 mos old. It's now connected to my charger.

The thing I don't get about Porsche and it's convoluted methods to complete simple tasks. Why can't they have a simple mechanical release like everyone else. The one time it's critical to access the front trunk because your battery needs to be charged/replaced is when you can't easily access the trunk because your battery needs to be charged/replaced. Makes no F'n sense to me. I guess this is what you'd call Catch 22.

jhbrennan

Doesn't look like you tried using the remote - with power to the fuse jumper, use the remote to pop the trunk. Works every time.

5CHN3LL

A maintainer that connects to the cigarette lighter... and a bit of time...eliminate the need to resort to the cable release for all but the most badly ruined batteries.

Battery maintainers are one of those things you will never realize - or admit - you need until you break down and buy them. You will then berate yourself for the amount of time you wasted crawling under the car, removing the battery, driving to AutoZone/waiting for AAA to arrive, ..., ... .

People who do not yet have maintainers say things like "that's way too inconvenient." It takes ~5 seconds every time to disconnect the maintainer...it's going to take a LOT of trips before those 5-second increments add up to the amount of time that gets eaten with a single dead battery.

The secret bonus: Maintaining your battery on a regular basis - assuming that eliminates some deep-draw discharges - will make your battery last longer. There is no math I can come up with where a maintainer does not pay for itself fairly immediately.

Cuda911

Hey, can you recommend one? The type that plugs into the lighter. The Porsche branded one is $110. This Stanley one is only $20. Any reason not to buy it?





http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stanley-BC20...wAAOSwnF9Y6RuV

5CHN3LL

Mike, rather than the lighter adapter, consider connecting the maintainer to the battery and using an extension cable so you can charge the car without needing access to the front trunk.

Battery Tender sells a 12-foot extension cable (not that you can't just wire it up yourself); use the firewall grommet behind the battery to feed the cable into the cabin and leave the connector somewhere out of sight but convenient, like behind the passenger seat.

If you plug your maintainer into the same overhead outlet as the garage door opener, you can leave the maintainer cord dangling there above the sunroof. It takes all of a few seconds to plug it in when you get home, and the cord dangling through the open sunroof is a great reminder to disconnect the maintainer before you drive away.