Run out of battery in your 996.2 with the electric frunk (front trunk) latch?

The known workaround is to hunt for the manual release cable (a remnant of the manual latch pull in the 996.1) in the passenger-side front wheel well. Kinda tight, so turn the wheel and/or take off the wheel well liner.
Taking the liner off the is easier after removing the wheel... but your security lug is in the frunk. Argh!

Here's a DIY, mostly in photos so I don't have to prepare a long writeup that generates lots of questions followed by arguments ("It's an actuator, not a servo. A servo does x, an actuator does y. I'm an engineer with 30 years experience and I know what I'm talking about, blah blah blah...").

Easy to do the next time you take the bumper cover off when you clean debris from the radiators.

Find zip tie

Locate manual cable

Wrap zip tie around it

Tighten

Tuck behind this hose

Fish through back of bumper

Through tow hook hole

Test by tugging zip tie

Reassemble bumper cover

Hide behind round plug

Wash car before taking photos.

Anyhow, hope this helps someone the next time a battery goes kaput.

Calbo.

 

Why don't u just get a portable jump starter. There's a + terminal inside fusebox pull out telescoping + terminal then red jumper on that and black jumper on door jam latch. Press trunk release and voila. Anyway u gonna need a portable jumper to jumpstart car unless u want to wait for tow truck or good Samaritan to jump it for u. Also u never know stash portable jumper behind seat and if some ddg girl is stranded on the side of the road with a dead battery- voila as well : ). Anyway good idea for those who don't want a charger inside car. You can also try to locate rear manual cable as well. I think it seats on driver side rear wheel liner or in general around there. Mike

 

+1 to OP...simple, easy hack.

996FLT6--this hack will come in handy in situations where the portable jump starter won't work, like I think may be the case if you close the frunk by mistake when the battery is disconnected (winterizing your car or doing work on the electrical system are two situations where this could happen).

P.S. I actually AM an engineer with 30 years experience, who has no freaking clue about many things but I do know a practical, workable solution to a problem when I see it!

 

^even with battery disconnected I could still pop the lid. That happen to me one time. It has a dedicated line that circumvents that issue. Mike

 

Also there's some slack on other side of manual cable ie it's not fixed. Have u tried pulling it and making sure it does with bumper installed and hood closed? Also with that ziptie inside tow hook area how u put a tow hook there unless u plan to push it all the way in which would negate what u done. I probably would use two zipties and 2nd ziptie looped to 1st zip with 2nd ziptie loop small enough that it passes thru tow hook recess- just use a wire hanger that's make to hook the loop and pull it. Just a thought. Mike

 

I guess we are lucky with 996.1 as factory provided those for us. Not sure why 996.2 did not.

 

Not bad OP.

I punched a very small hole in my pass side radiator shroud and fished the (looped) end of that same wire through it. I can now reach deep into my pass side cooling air intake and yank that wire to open the drunk. I had to do it once... worked a treat.

 

Thanks for posting OP - great idea and nice to share. Appreciated.

 

It's even easier and a 10 min mod for mk1 owners. Mine is situated so it can be tucked up behind the bumper when not needed.

 

great tip....thank you for taking the time and sharing. ya sure called it right about the posers knocking it.smh