Okay, my battery is dead and I have no power whatsoever after a long winter slumber. Should have used the trickle charger, but that is another story.

How do I manually open the front hood to get to the battery without any power? Before I break out the manual, I was wondering if anyone had a quick answer.

 

Assuming that you have a battery charger in the house, or another car. You should get familiar with the process.

(1) You need to get the front trunk open so that you can properly charge the battery.
(2) Going in through the fuse panel in the left wheel well (next to your left foot) you can remove that panel and access the instruction sheet within (on the panel itself). It will tell you where you need to get your pick up points for a battery charger or power source. Get power to those leads (ground and the one called for) and then use that to give the battery enough power for you to then reach over to the front trunk release and open it up.
(3) Access the battery itself and attach power to neg and plus and go for it.

 

While this won't help you at this moment,... Black & Decker makes a "Battery Booster" which I bought for about 50 bucks on Amazon .
You charge the thing and it then takes about 5-10 mins to trickle charge your battery through the ciggy lighter. I keep it under ther passenger seat and I just have to remember to charge it every month. I think it's a great device particularly for those of us who park where it gets really cold!

 

Edy01:

Comment and Question.

Comment: I like your explanation of the fuse system location for charging the battery. I am going to do a "dry" run sometime this week just in case I ever have to access it for real.

Question: Can the battery be charged through the cig lighter without accessing the fuse box? I know this is possible with other vehicles...ie jump starting the car through the cig lighter.

 

 

Wow, thanks for the great instructions Edgy and for the picture Coochas!

Boy, all this to get into the damn trunk--they don't make it easy.

I think the battery booster sounds like a good idea--thanks Coochas.

It's 50 degrees today, I need to get out and drive (maybe even with the top down and seat heaters on!).

 

These cars really have to be driven once a week if your not going to use a trickle charger. If your not going to use it you might pop the hood so you don't have to go through this drill.

Last time I had a dead battery the airbag light came on and I had to take to the dealer to have that reset.

 

my battery died a couple of months ago. the psm light came on for about 5 miles and then went off on its on. i understand that this may be normal.

 

the opened hood will drain the battery also.

 

The battery booster works well if your battery has juice but just not enough to start the car. On a competely dead battery the booster won't do the job. You need to have a charger. However, even if the booster won't start the car it does provide enough juice for you to pop the hood.

Also, beware of putting your key into the ignition with a dead battery. It will get stuck.

Finally, lock your car even if it's in the garage. By locking the car you reduce the items draining on the battery (or so I'm told by my p-mechanic),

 

997s will shut off the lights to save power, but you can still manualy close the latch, just remebr to release it before you col=se the trunk

 

never try to start the car though the cigar lighter or the fuse box.
the starter will draw 300+ amps cigar lighter fuse is 10 you will blow lots of fuses at best. you can how ever back feed trrough the cigar lighter to release the front trunk

 

normal you get a fault for the steering angle sensor
it re calibrates after you drive a complete circle