That's the number I found as well. I stopped by AutoZone on my way home tonight. No dice. All sold out. I "reserved" one at my local NAPA store through their website but it says I've got to call the store to confirm availability. I'm betting it's not in stock. We'll see in the morning. I also checked Advance Auto parts' online search and came up empty. I'll call them in the morning, too. I know Pelican and other online stores are options but, if I can, I'd rather source the part locally so that I can work on it tomorrow night or this weekend without paying overnight shipping costs.

So, here's what I noticed this evening. When I reconnect the battery, everything boots up and works properly. The engine lid light stays off. The little ambient lights in the doors and above the dash all stay off...until I lock the car. Once I do that everything goes haywire. Unlocking it doesn't reverse the issue.

That's why I'm wondering whether the ignition switch could really be at fault here. Is power routed through the ignition switch even just by operating the alarm? In this case, I never even turned the car on. I did remove the light in the engine so that it wouldn't stay on -- it was building up a lot of heat by staying on like that.

Anyway, hopefully, I'll be able to pick up a switch tomorrow and swap out the old one to see if that does the trick. I have my reservations but I really hope it works!

-Eric

 

I've got a good direction...
It's your front trunk latch microswitch. I know it doesn't make sense but at some point they started synchronizing the two lights in operation. If you had a scanner you could see what is triggering the fault beep. Alternatively, you could play around with the front latch, or perhaps unplug it? I know it's more expensive, but I am positive the ignition switch will not cure this issue

 

Thanks, Dan.

I actually found some threads on Renntech tonight that were leading me in that direction as well. I never knew the frunk and engine lid shared a circuit until tonight! According to one thread, the engine compartment light will go on when the frunk is open...which is consistent with what you've said.

What's confusing me though is, if one of the microswitches is broken, wouldn't the "frunk/engine lid open" warning light on the dashboard be illuminated? Doesn't the car think one of those zones is open? Why would that light be dark?

I wish I had the Porsche tool that would isolate the zone causing the issue. I'd rather not buy two new microswitches just to buy them. Do you think removing one of the two microswitches will isolate the problem even if they're both in the same electrical loop? I'm not sure what it will tell me. What makes you think it's the front latch microswitch and not the rear latch switch?

As an aside, the hood opening mechanism hasn't been problematic at all. It pops up easily and the lever to release the hood catch isn't gummy. It all seems to work smoothly. The rear, however, strikes me as a little odd...although it could be perfectly normal. When I pop the engine lid, I hear the mechanism release but visually it looks like it's still closed. Does your engine lid pop out at all? I replaced my struts last year thinking that might help but it did nothing (oops). It's not impossible to open the lid but I have to really get my fingers underneath it to open it.

-Eric

 

What frunk/engine lid warning light? On my 99 996 there is no such thing. I have made the mistake of releasing those and driving off, only to discover later that I left the damn thing open. The frunk lid pops up a bit, the engine lid does not....just sits there. But there is no warning/indicator light on the instrument panel for either. I even looked it up in my owners manual..no such light.

I think you are on the right track with the microswitches.

 

Sometimes people mistake the spoiler warning light for a trunk/engine cover open light.

 

When you say "The lights never go out'" Are they still on after ~1/2 hour? If not your condition may be normal.

My 2003 has a frunk/engine cover open warning light.

 

Huh. Interesting. On my '04 there's a light in the instrument cluster that comes on when the trunk and/or the engine lid is open. Here's a quick pic from the an '03 manual I found online. I drew a red arrow to the light I'm talking about. Interestingly enough, the light for the roof ("P" in the image) also seems to work fine. When I run the roof through the cycle of opening and closing the light goes on and then turns off as soon as the clam shell seals and the windows are in place.



Nope -- not in this case. The spoiler light is "N" in the image and while that's not one of the zones the alarm seems to check, I haven't seen that one illuminate either. I'm talking about "O"...which lights up whenever I open the hood or the engine lid. Flip the switch, on comes the light. Close the frunk/engine lid, off goes the light.

-Eric

 

Good question --

I haven't waited 30 minutes but I'm going to say the light in the engine compartment never goes out. It's never been on with the lid closed before so I don't know why it would start staying on now. It shouldn't be on unless the trunk/engine lid is open...and they're closed/locked. ALSO, when I reattach the battery cables, the engine light is off (as are the interior ambient lights). When I depress the lock button, the engine compartment light goes ON...and that cannot be right...especially since it's never happened before.

I don't know about the little ambient lights though since I've never waited 30 minutes. That said, I've also never noticed them staying on for more than a few minutes with the car empty and locked. And, the alarm is giving me a single beep which means it does think something's open.

It's strange, right?

-Eric

 

Well, chalk it up to "added features" difference frunk/engine light between my 99 and your 2004. Actually glad I don't have that annoying feature...just something else to go wrong. One quick question, is there any difference in what happens when you use the key fob vs. locking/unlocking with the key (manually)?

 

I'm not sure I see the idiot light as an annoyance, especially since you can easily pop the engine lid and not be aware of it being open (since it doesn't actually pop up), but I don't think I tried unlocking manually vs. the key fob.

Since I think the problem is unrelated to the doors I'm not sure it will make a difference but it's certainly worth trying.

-Eric

 

Okay, now I'm completely stumped.

I changed the faulty turn signal bulb. Out with the old, in with the new, lock the car to see the light flash and BAM...nothing. The bulb is still out. NOT good.

When I lock the car there's still a beep like one of the zones is open and I still get an ongoing double-flash from the alarm system LED indicating that something isn't closed.

I also tried locking and unlocking the car manually. Same thing happens.

Here's another thing that's throwing me off. When I hook up the battery, shouldn't the frunk light go on since I've got the frunk open? The only way I can get it to go on is by locking it.

I called a local shop to see if they can help -- I've got an appointment for Tuesday if I can't figure it out between now and then. Any other thoughts?

-Eric

 

Sounds like you might have narrowed this down to a bad microswitch on the frunk lid locking mechanism, or maybe it just needs to be adjusted. And check the electrical connection there too. Yes, when you re-connect the battery the frunk light should come on because it is open. So I think the problem is there. That would lead to the open zone beep as well.

 

Yes, that makes sense but why would my turn signal still be out and registering a failed bulb? Think it's the bad microswitch causing things to go haywire? Think that might just be an unrelated issue?

-Eric

 

Unrelated and different. Try a different bulb, try swapping bulbs, re-seat the bulb, try re-seating the headlight assembly several times and clean the electrical connectors for the headlight assembly. Make sure you have the bulb mounted correctly in the socket.

 

"The rear, however, strikes me as a little odd...although it could be perfectly normal. When I pop the engine lid, I hear the mechanism release but visually it looks like it's still closed. Does your engine lid pop out at all? I replaced my struts last year thinking that might help but it did nothing (oops). It's not impossible to open the lid but I have to really get my fingers underneath it to open it."

My '99 is the same...I don't know if this makes it "normal" or not...good luck with the light issue.