melllow

First off, I'm not hear to rag on my baby, all cars have issues, this one is no different, except for the added comedic value it provides when things get ugly...

My wife and I got into the car the other day on our way to a bar to watch the NCAA tournament (Purdue lost, the car is a 2005 Carrera)

She shut her door, looked at it funny, opened, and slammed it again. "Is this shut?" she questioned. "Must be after that, Muscles" I insisted.

I put the key in the ignition, turned it, and dead silence. Hmmmm.....

Battery must be dead, no biggie. I'll hook it up to my trickle charger and we'll take another vehicle.

Oh yeah, the battery is in the trunk (bonnet), of course the release won't work. Hmm, there must be a manual release.

(shuffle through manual, read section on battery)
Ahh, cool. Discover clever method to use a "donor" battery with jumper cables. Next I try to take the keys out of the ignition, but the car won't release them... Ummmm.... O.K...

So, I follow the instructions to the "T" with the jumper cables... Nothing.

Whatever, let's go to the game. Only, now the doors won't close because the windows are stuck all the way up.

And the key is stuck in the ignition.

All I can say is thank goodness I was at home and the car was in the garage. I can picture myself hundreds of miles from home, standing in a raging downpour, dead battery, keys stuck in the ignition, doors won't close, waiting for hours on roadside assistance. Now THAT would be funny.

BTW, after the game roadside assistance showed up after 2 hours. The guy was absolutely clueless. I kindly educated him about the trunk release mechanism. I borrowed his battery and hooked it up, and for whatever reason, it worked this time.

Lessons learned: 1) I won't bother storing jumper cables in my trunk. 2) Laugh it off.

Enjoy your Porsches... and their quirks. Peace.

dstrimbu

Dude, how long had the car sat since it was last started?

My car routinely sits 2 weeks at a crack whist it's owner is out subsidizing United Airlines; it never fails to crank right over and go (of course, the remote unlock times out, so I have to pull the the plug from the keyhole and open the door the old way...).

-d

melllow

It had been about a week. I've been driving the convertible since the weather has been nice here. I forgot to mention I left the V1 turned on. Guess that was enough.

dstrimbu

Ohhhh, yeah. That'll do it.

Have you considered hardwiring to a switched point? I have not yet (lazy, busy - you pick the adjective) - but I always pull the power cord when I shut down. I'm using the accessory connector inside the armrest.

jhbrennan

They are "quirky" - recommend a battery maintainer/trickle charger that you can use through the cigarette lighter. It sort of solves the problem of not being able to get into the trunk or the 'Rube Goldberg" method of going through the fuse box.

melllow

Yeah, you're right. I need to get my lazy butt in the garage and hard wire it. I'm sure I'll get around to it about a month before I sell it, just like I did with my last car.

kauai_diver

Hahaha good writeup! Sorry not laughing at you laughing with you!

I figure I better practice this as I bet it will happen to me sooner or later.

uzj100

This topic was just on here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ferrerid=36022

Glad I've always got mine on the maintainer

MyEmily

A naive question here, for long term storage at home, would leaving the trunk unlatch solve the problem of unopenable trunk lid due to dead battery? Just curious.

jhbrennan

Sure - the trunk light will go off after an hour or so...but that still doesn't solve any dead battery issue, you'll just be able to get to it to charge or jump. Better to use a battery maintainer when during long term storage.

cviles

Since my 997 is still on order I can't answer this question myself and I'll ask again here:

Boxsters have a manual release cable inside the left front wheel well. Pull down the cowling and give it a tug to open the front compartment. Do 997's have this cable as well? The 987 manual describes the jumping procedure using the breakers in the footwell, but the manual release is there.

jhbrennan

There is no manual, mechanical release for the trunk on the 997 - no power, it won't open. I think the Porsche procedure of putting power into the fuse box to open the trunk is "rube goldberg" at best. Better to have a battery maintainer that operates through the cigarette lighter.

Tool Pants

On the 996/986 the emergency release cable was on the right side.

When the 987 came out Peter Smith put on a tech session at the local dealer. The bumper cover and headlights had been removed. I looked on the right side for a release cable and could not find one.

When the Cayman came out we had another tech session. The headlights had been removed. This time I found the cable. It was on the left side. This is a picture of it in my hand.

I bet there is one on the 997/987 if you look on the left side.

The cable was never shown in the 996/986 owners manuals. But it was shown in the technical manuals and parts lists.

texas911

The trick is after the battery dies, you have to hit the unlock button on the key, because the car thinks someone is trying to steal it when the battery is disconnected.

jhbrennan

I didn't think the 997 was a mechanical cable - it seems to me to be activated by an electrical switch. There is an emergency release that's cable activated but it's inside the trunk - I don't know if it can be accessed from the outside or underside - doesn't look like it can.