Dealing with a battery discharge in the GT4
08-17-2017, 08:51 PM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Dealing with a battery discharge in the GT4
I'm posting this so it can hopefully help someone else in a similar situation facing a dead battery in their GT4/Cayman/911. Most of the information is likely in the owner's manual, but who looks there anymore? 
(I certainly didn't...)
Long story shortish--the GT4's battery was almost fully discharged after sitting for a couple of weeks with my RaceKeeper (off/idle) plugged into the OBDII port. It must have been drawing a slight amount of current.
Car wouldn't start, and battery too dead to release front trunk. Thanks to some searching (including old rennlist threads), I found out what to do.
Attached pictures show the important steps. In order to release the front trunk, you can either remove the left front wheel and look for a manual release inside the wheel liner (uh, no...) or attach a battery source/charger to a small electrical pickup point in the fusebox.
First, locate the fusebox in the driver's footwell next to the dead pedal. Remove the cover and identify a yellow plastic piece above a red plastic piece in the top portion of the box. Pull out the yellow piece--it's a set of pincers that you use to then pull out the red piece with the trunk diagram on it. Once the red piece slides out, you'll see metal pickup points on its sides. Attach the positive cable of your battery source/charger to the metal pickup points on this red piece, and the negative cable of your source to a ground such as the metal door latch striker on the door frame. You'll then be able to pull the usual front trunk release to open the trunk to access the car's battery.
Once the trunk is open, remove the large plastic cover that lies at the base of the windshield, between the trunk itself and the windshield. There are two handholds for pulling the piece up, one on each side. Once this large cover is removed, you'll see the battery to the left center, as well as the brake fluid reservoir. You can then attach your charger cables to the battery terminals. Porsche recommends placing the negative charger cable on the metal post that I'm pointing to in the last picture, just outboard of the brake fluid reservoir. It's a ground marked with a (-).
Because I don't have a battery source or charger, I called Porsche Roadside Assistance on Sunday afternoon when this happened. They were pleasant and responsive, and sent someone to the house within the hour. This was an eye-opener. Porsche doesn't send a Porsche-trained tech or response person, but instead outsources to a generic local roadside assistance company. The tech was very nice, but had never dealt with a Porsche battery before. He didn't know the procedure for unlocking the front trunk, accessing the battery, etc. Thanks to google and rennlist, we figured it out together. Plugging his charging unit into the battery didn't provide enough juice to get the car started, so we did it the old fashioned way and pushed the car out of the garage, then jump started it with his work truck. I drove the car for a bit, and it's been fine since.
So thumbs up for old rennlist posts and internet searching, and thumbs down for Porsche designing a system that locks the battery away from you when you need to access it, and outsourcing their roadside assistance.
Hope this is able to help someone at some point. I ordered a CTEK battery maintainer today. Sorry for the dirty car.
(I certainly didn't...)Long story shortish--the GT4's battery was almost fully discharged after sitting for a couple of weeks with my RaceKeeper (off/idle) plugged into the OBDII port. It must have been drawing a slight amount of current.
Car wouldn't start, and battery too dead to release front trunk. Thanks to some searching (including old rennlist threads), I found out what to do.
Attached pictures show the important steps. In order to release the front trunk, you can either remove the left front wheel and look for a manual release inside the wheel liner (uh, no...) or attach a battery source/charger to a small electrical pickup point in the fusebox.
First, locate the fusebox in the driver's footwell next to the dead pedal. Remove the cover and identify a yellow plastic piece above a red plastic piece in the top portion of the box. Pull out the yellow piece--it's a set of pincers that you use to then pull out the red piece with the trunk diagram on it. Once the red piece slides out, you'll see metal pickup points on its sides. Attach the positive cable of your battery source/charger to the metal pickup points on this red piece, and the negative cable of your source to a ground such as the metal door latch striker on the door frame. You'll then be able to pull the usual front trunk release to open the trunk to access the car's battery.
Once the trunk is open, remove the large plastic cover that lies at the base of the windshield, between the trunk itself and the windshield. There are two handholds for pulling the piece up, one on each side. Once this large cover is removed, you'll see the battery to the left center, as well as the brake fluid reservoir. You can then attach your charger cables to the battery terminals. Porsche recommends placing the negative charger cable on the metal post that I'm pointing to in the last picture, just outboard of the brake fluid reservoir. It's a ground marked with a (-).
Because I don't have a battery source or charger, I called Porsche Roadside Assistance on Sunday afternoon when this happened. They were pleasant and responsive, and sent someone to the house within the hour. This was an eye-opener. Porsche doesn't send a Porsche-trained tech or response person, but instead outsources to a generic local roadside assistance company. The tech was very nice, but had never dealt with a Porsche battery before. He didn't know the procedure for unlocking the front trunk, accessing the battery, etc. Thanks to google and rennlist, we figured it out together. Plugging his charging unit into the battery didn't provide enough juice to get the car started, so we did it the old fashioned way and pushed the car out of the garage, then jump started it with his work truck. I drove the car for a bit, and it's been fine since.
So thumbs up for old rennlist posts and internet searching, and thumbs down for Porsche designing a system that locks the battery away from you when you need to access it, and outsourcing their roadside assistance.
Hope this is able to help someone at some point. I ordered a CTEK battery maintainer today. Sorry for the dirty car.
08-17-2017, 11:25 PM
#2
Wow!! Porsche didn't think this out too well. Thanks for posting.
08-18-2017, 08:29 AM
#4
Rennlist Member
I recently absentmindedly closed the frunk after removing the battery.
The manual says to use a battery to connect to the fuse block positive terminal, no mention of using a charger.
After unsuccessfully trying a charger, I used the battery method as described, and was able to open the frunk.
The manual says to use a battery to connect to the fuse block positive terminal, no mention of using a charger.
After unsuccessfully trying a charger, I used the battery method as described, and was able to open the frunk.
08-21-2017, 09:15 PM
#5
Rennlist Member
Rough luck on depleting your battery, glad it worked out.
I love my CTEK and their cigarette lighter adapter. If your cig lighter socket is not active all the time or shuts off shortly after key out of ignition
then have your Porsche SA install the WG38 upgrade
I love my CTEK and their cigarette lighter adapter. If your cig lighter socket is not active all the time or shuts off shortly after key out of ignition
then have your Porsche SA install the WG38 upgrade
I'm posting this so it can hopefully help someone else in a similar situation facing a dead battery in their GT4/Cayman/911. Most of the information is likely in the owner's manual, but who looks there anymore? (I certainly didn't...)
Long story shortish--the GT4's battery was almost fully discharged after sitting for a couple of weeks with my RaceKeeper (off/idle) plugged into the OBDII port. It must have been drawing a slight amount of current.
Car wouldn't start, and battery too dead to release front trunk. Thanks to some searching (including old rennlist threads), I found out what to do.
Attached pictures show the important steps. In order to release the front trunk, you can either remove the left front wheel and look for a manual release inside the wheel liner (uh, no...) or attach a battery source/charger to a small electrical pickup point in the fusebox.
First, locate the fusebox in the driver's footwell next to the dead pedal. Remove the cover and identify a yellow plastic piece above a red plastic piece in the top portion of the box. Pull out the yellow piece--it's a set of pincers that you use to then pull out the red piece with the trunk diagram on it. Once the red piece slides out, you'll see metal pickup points on its sides. Attach the positive cable of your battery source/charger to the metal pickup points on this red piece, and the negative cable of your source to a ground such as the metal door latch striker on the door frame. You'll then be able to pull the usual front trunk release to open the trunk to access the car's battery.
Once the trunk is open, remove the large plastic cover that lies at the base of the windshield, between the trunk itself and the windshield. There are two handholds for pulling the piece up, one on each side. Once this large cover is removed, you'll see the battery to the left center, as well as the brake fluid reservoir. You can then attach your charger cables to the battery terminals. Porsche recommends placing the negative charger cable on the metal post that I'm pointing to in the last picture, just outboard of the brake fluid reservoir. It's a ground marked with a (-).
Because I don't have a battery source or charger, I called Porsche Roadside Assistance on Sunday afternoon when this happened. They were pleasant and responsive, and sent someone to the house within the hour. This was an eye-opener. Porsche doesn't send a Porsche-trained tech or response person, but instead outsources to a generic local roadside assistance company. The tech was very nice, but had never dealt with a Porsche battery before. He didn't know the procedure for unlocking the front trunk, accessing the battery, etc. Thanks to google and rennlist, we figured it out together. Plugging his charging unit into the battery didn't provide enough juice to get the car started, so we did it the old fashioned way and pushed the car out of the garage, then jump started it with his work truck. I drove the car for a bit, and it's been fine since.
So thumbs up for old rennlist posts and internet searching, and thumbs down for Porsche designing a system that locks the battery away from you when you need to access it, and outsourcing their roadside assistance.
Hope this is able to help someone at some point. I ordered a CTEK battery maintainer today. Sorry for the dirty car.
(I certainly didn't...)Long story shortish--the GT4's battery was almost fully discharged after sitting for a couple of weeks with my RaceKeeper (off/idle) plugged into the OBDII port. It must have been drawing a slight amount of current.
Car wouldn't start, and battery too dead to release front trunk. Thanks to some searching (including old rennlist threads), I found out what to do.
Attached pictures show the important steps. In order to release the front trunk, you can either remove the left front wheel and look for a manual release inside the wheel liner (uh, no...) or attach a battery source/charger to a small electrical pickup point in the fusebox.
First, locate the fusebox in the driver's footwell next to the dead pedal. Remove the cover and identify a yellow plastic piece above a red plastic piece in the top portion of the box. Pull out the yellow piece--it's a set of pincers that you use to then pull out the red piece with the trunk diagram on it. Once the red piece slides out, you'll see metal pickup points on its sides. Attach the positive cable of your battery source/charger to the metal pickup points on this red piece, and the negative cable of your source to a ground such as the metal door latch striker on the door frame. You'll then be able to pull the usual front trunk release to open the trunk to access the car's battery.
Once the trunk is open, remove the large plastic cover that lies at the base of the windshield, between the trunk itself and the windshield. There are two handholds for pulling the piece up, one on each side. Once this large cover is removed, you'll see the battery to the left center, as well as the brake fluid reservoir. You can then attach your charger cables to the battery terminals. Porsche recommends placing the negative charger cable on the metal post that I'm pointing to in the last picture, just outboard of the brake fluid reservoir. It's a ground marked with a (-).
Because I don't have a battery source or charger, I called Porsche Roadside Assistance on Sunday afternoon when this happened. They were pleasant and responsive, and sent someone to the house within the hour. This was an eye-opener. Porsche doesn't send a Porsche-trained tech or response person, but instead outsources to a generic local roadside assistance company. The tech was very nice, but had never dealt with a Porsche battery before. He didn't know the procedure for unlocking the front trunk, accessing the battery, etc. Thanks to google and rennlist, we figured it out together. Plugging his charging unit into the battery didn't provide enough juice to get the car started, so we did it the old fashioned way and pushed the car out of the garage, then jump started it with his work truck. I drove the car for a bit, and it's been fine since.
So thumbs up for old rennlist posts and internet searching, and thumbs down for Porsche designing a system that locks the battery away from you when you need to access it, and outsourcing their roadside assistance.
Hope this is able to help someone at some point. I ordered a CTEK battery maintainer today. Sorry for the dirty car.
08-21-2017, 09:35 PM
#6
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
