Dead battery and opening the hood
 

Hi guys,

So, here's the story...a friend calls me up and ask me to help him figure out how to get the trunk of his 2008 997 cab open because his battery is dead. Not being that familiar with the water cooled cars (mine is an '87), I search the forum and find three possible options:

1) Jump the hood latch at the fuse box
2) Chage the battery through the cig lighter long enough to be able to pop the hood
3) OPen some panel in the wheel well to access the cable (not sure if this one actually applies to this model year)

So, I tell him the options, and he calls me back a bit later and tells me that he found the terminal for the hood in the fuse box, but it's small and too far back to be able to get access to it. He tried with some forceps to grab it and pull it forward but wasn't able. Next, he figures he'll go buy a charger that goes through the cig lighter. He pushed the lighter in though, and now it won't come out. So, here are my questions:

1) Is it THAT difficult to access the terminal in the fuse box? Any tips for making it easy?
2) With a dead battery, how can you get the cig lighter out?
3) Anyone know if there is a emergency release cable inside the wheel well on a '08 997? Anyone have pics?

Thanks in advance!

Alex

in the fuse box there is a red finger handel pull it pou and it has a metal post put 12v+ on that post and - on the door hinge and the hood will power up

Thx, okbarnett. I think he was having problems attaching the jumper cable to the red terminal in the fuse box. I'll talk to him again and double check that he was doing everything correctly.

Every 997 owner should do this for themselves, but hopefully, not when they are forced to do it. A friend of mine left her key in the ignition of her late model Boxster--and it did what Porsche says it will do--it depleted the battery.

I simply brought along my car/battery charger, hooked up the negative to the door latch, and the positive side to the red terminal inside the fuse box. Plugged that into the 120V wall socket and then simply actuated the front trunk release (electronic). After that, I gained access to the car's battery and charged it up for awhile. Done.

That red terminal isn't that hard to grab with your fingers.

Quick update. Today, I was able to stop by my friends car, and we were able to connect to the terminal in the fuse panel and pop the trunk. The problem was that the terminal in the fuse box had been pushed back behind the fuses. So, it wasn't visible when looking at the fuses. We had to remove the interior trim piece around the fuse box, locate the red terminal and pull it back out. Once we did that, it was easy. Thanks again for the feedback.

I have to say, my friend's car is gorgeous. It's a 2008 cab, meteor grey metallic with carrera red interior. Only 3001 miles!

Glad it worked out so well.

Again, this is something everyone should do at least once BEFORE they HAVE to do it.

There is a documented process, as was described, and its in the manual. It is not designed to use big honking jumper cable leads to do it though. The point is, get enough juice to the pull-out contact in the fuse panel so you get power to pop the front hood.. then you clamp the cables to the battery to charge it.

Well running into some issues here and need some help.

My hood latch quit working few days ago so I thought since the key fob is still working, not biggie.

Well I accidentally left the key in the ignition and sure enough it got stuck.

Though, I managed to get the key free but the hood opening button on the key won't open the hood :grr:

So what are my options now?

Help appreciated?

If your electronic hood release isn't working, the only option is the manual release.

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/9...d-battery.html

"There's a manual release behind the drivers front wheel. You have to remove some plastic shrouding in the wheel well once you get the wheel off. You will see a small metal cable that can be pulled to release the trunk.

Sounds like his battery is dead which would keep any electric current from activating the release even a pulse from the remote. I think I would try the fuse box procedure before I started removing wheel liners. It's documented in his owner's manual.

My key was stuck in the ignition and that's how I got to remove it and then per instructions, pressing the hood release button on the key FOB doesn't do anything either? This is how I have done it in the past with a dead battery and a stuck key in the ignition, but the key won't open it this time?

Would the fuse opens up the hood too?

Sounds like wheel liner time...plus a new battery and if you're not driving much, need to get a battery maintainer

Jump it from the fuse box.

Also, NEVER store your owner's manual in the trunk--or you'll never be able to get to it for the information it contains if your battery is dead and the electronic hood actuator is dead.

I guess the first and most obvious question is, is your car battery dead since you haven't actually said that yet. If yes then fuse box is your best bet as the others have stated. But if your battery isn't dead (i.e. can you start the car?) and your trunk won't release (assuming you've tried both with the keyfob and interior button/switch) then your electronic trunk release is likely broken and you'll need to use the cable as per my earlier post.

Key being stuck in the ignition is what happens when the battery is dead.