fast lane

I washed and detailed my car last sunday, then put it in the garage and covered it, tonight when I got home I took the cover off and realized the passenger side door was slightly open. Tryed to start the car with my fingers crossed and no luck. Then I called porsche roadside and told them the story they said in my part of the country they have techs. on call and one of them would be sent to my house they also said these techs. have alot of experience with a 997. two hours later a flat bed shows up at my house and the guy has no idea how to get into the engine compartment. Calll roadside back and they told me to have it bedded back to the dealership I said no. Now I will try to do it myself. Sorry for the long story but does anyone know how to get into the engine compartment with a dead battery. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

tarpon1

the manual describes the process of attaching jumper cables to the fuse box on the inside panel near the clutch...this will allow you to pop the hood. then the access panel (with porsche on it) is towards the back inside the trunk.

fast lane

That's what roadside said to do but when the guy tried it he could only get the trunk to open. That's when they said it needs to be brought in. Do you think it's possible that this would only work on the trunk or did the tow truck guy not do it correctly, I can try later myself as soon as I get my jumper cables.

OCBen

Well, if he could only get the trunk to open, then that's what you want, since the battery is in the trunk, under that cover that tarpon1 mentioned. ... You seem to be confused, and somehow think the battery is in the engine compartment.

tarpon1

the battery is in the front of the car under the hood at the back of the compartment up top under the porsche panel which has a plastic screw on either side. just remove the panel and jump if you can. i actually had to deal with this last weekend because i've been away awhile. i ended up charging overnight with a battery charger which is very handy to have around by the way. i would be careful about jumping and driving without charging fully unless you're taking it to the dealer right away so you don't get stranded somewhere if you turn off the engine...

1080iAddict

Yeah, all the responses above are correct. You want the trunk open, as that is where the battery resides. Listen, go buy a Battery Maintainer from your local Porsche dealer and plug it into the cig lighter for 48 hours and all your ills might be cured.

JFScheck

Concur!!!!

fast lane

THANK YOU! I'm good as new, Once I read your posts I felt like an idiot. I don't know why I thought the battery was in the engine compartment but I was too focused on how to open it that I never really thought about it. Any way I was able to pop the trunk and jump it then took her out for a spin. I really appreciate all your quick responses, thanks to you guy's my weekend is saved!!!!!

Ray G

It's a shame they wanted to flat-bed your car for this. They should know better. I would be pissed.

Glad you got it going.

1080iAddict

I think you should do a post-incident investigation and challenge the people that told you to flat-bed it and then go to their superiors. This way you will 'pay it forward' to the next guy that has a dead battery. In fact, tell them to come here (e-mail them the link) and let us do the cross-examination in an open forum!

ALL RISE: The Public Court of Rennlist is now in Session.

RDKJ

How long should it take to fully charge the battery with a battery charger? How long should it take driving the vehicle?

I parked my car last week and inadvertently left the key in the ignition. The irony is that the only reason I put the key in the ignition was to change garage bays so I could park my 997 next to a wall with an electrical outlet so I would have an electrical source for my battery tender. Even thought the battery tender was plugged in, the battery still went dead.

steve775

Roadside tried to make you feel they were competent, but they proved they were far from it.

MMD

Keep an eye on that battery. Mine went dead twice because of faulty CD player. Thereafter it never was able to maintain a full charge. I replaced the battery. Get a hydrometer at locak autoparts store. check yours for charge level. BTW, be very careful because battery acid splashed in your eye will be the end of life as you know it.

MMD

Its an 80 amp battery so it will take 8 hours with a 10amp charger. That would be 160 hours with a .5 amp Porsche Battery Maintainer. More than 160 hrs when you consider the PBMaint'er is losing current to keep the car's electronics happy at all times.

Driving? I'm not sure how the alternator apportions it's current to the battery for charging. I DO know it took me 6 hours of driving to get a previously dead battery to store enough current to start the WARM car again.

As I said in other post, once you fully discharge your starter battery it PROBABLY will not perform as well as it did before. Keep an eye on it.

lawjdc

Thats exactly how your cure the problem. It happened to me also. The battery charger did the job overnight. I need to get one of the trickle chargers, as we have a foot of snow this morning and it will be a week or two before the roads are drivable again. Its going to be very difficult to last that long without a P-car fix.