exc911ence

Weird question, but... Can you not leave a 996 unlocked?

I picked up a 2001 Carrera yesterday and once I was done aimlessly joyriding in my new toy, I parked it in my garage with the windows down and doors unlocked as I have all of my past older (read: pre-1988) Porsches and went into the house. I came out not long later and noticed that there was a tiny yellowish light on in the roof-mounted courtesy light housing, as well as the frunk and engine cover button lights lit up near the driver's side door-sill. All other interior lights were off. I waited and waited but the lights never went off... it was only after I locked the car with the fob that those lights finally extinguished.

And that's when I discovered that the car had a motion sensor inside... reaching in the open window with the car fob-locked resulted in the alarm going off and nearly giving me a heart attack.

So now the car is fob-locked with the windows up in my garage.

All I wanted to do was park the car open to the air in the safety of my garage but it wasn't having it... so did I do something wrong?

c didy

I can't tell what happened with your car but I leave my windows open in the garage all the time so I can air it out. It really helps to get the old smell out. There may be increased battery draw because the car thinks it's in the ready position but I have it on a charger if it's more than a week or so and I've never had problems.

sanyata

How soon was:
Those lights will eventually go off. I have a 2001 TT and I never lock the car when it's in the garage. The lights will shut off but I can't tell you how long it takes as I never paid it any attention. Also, if you lock the car and don't use it for an extended amount of time, the fob will be disabled, and you'll have to unlock it with the key inserted in the door.

GC996

Never lock my 2002 while in the garage. Sometimes I keep the windows down. Sometimes I keep them up. Yes, it takes a minute or two for the interior lights to turn off after shutting the door.

One thing that I always do when parking it in the garage is I pop the frunk just in case the battery goes dead. Been doing it for years.

exc911ence

All good information, thank you.

My biggest worry was the lights staying on constantly and draining the battery... through a relay fault or some-such. I'm not much of a technology guy so a 996 was a MASSIVE leap into the future for me, and the paranoia of unknown electronic systems failure is strong.

Love the car though.

exc911ence

So I tried just waiting for the yellow overhead and button lights to go out and they finally did on their own... it was accompanied by a solid clunk sound that told me that the doors had automatically locked themselves at the same time. Unless turning a small LED off makes the same noise as throwing the main breaker on my house panel? Regardless, with no lights on in the interior and the alarm red LED not flashing on the dashtop, my worry of a drained battery is somewhat relieved.

Somewhat.

The car windows are down in my garage so mission accomplished.

exc911ence

I found the car's Owner's Manual hidden in the frunk... I didn't think I had one! Anyway, the lights in question are referred to as Orientation Lights and it's apparently normal for them to be on when the car is unlocked. Who knew? Oh yeah, the manual....

The lights-off/clunk was actually the car auto-locking after 60 seconds of being unlocked with the fob, but no doors having been opened. Who knew? Oh yeah, the manual....



This car is smarter than I am, I think. The manual is, for sure.

Gary12000

I wonder if you have a non-factory alarm fitted my car does not auto lock, it is a 2000 (996.1)model year.. i only assume it has a factory alarm as the LED on the dash flashes when it is fully locked. its never gone off.. maybe the later model years got newer better stuff..
I can tell you at some point you may well be dealing with a flat battery and not be able to get into your Frunk... better do your planning now , because i'm an ex-car mechanic and i had the keys and it took me 2 hours to get into mine with a flat battery just so i could get to the battery to charge it... i now have a C-tek trickle charger that i connect if i'm not using the car for a couple of days..

GC996

Yep. I learned my lesson to always run a good battery. Keep it trickle charged in the cold weather months, and park it in my garage with the frunk popped. Saves quite a bit of time just in case

hkovalcik

I drove across the country in March with a fully packed car and left it unlocked in every motel parking lot. My car doesn't lock tho.

Porschetech3

I have tested the parasitic drain on the battery on 996's many times locked vs unlocked..They will both go down to less than 30ma within an hour..

Locking the car will make the drain go down to less than 30ma within a couple minutes, and leaving the car unlocked can take up to an hour to go down to 30ma, but usually within 5-10 min...

Leaving the car undriven for more than a week the alarm will go into a "deep sleep' and the remotes will not function until the car is manually unlocked with the key..

I have had my 996 for 15 years and leave it unlocked in the basement with windows down all the time with no issues...

SoCal911t

How do you get it up and down the stairs?

Porschetech3

In Bama some basements have drive in doors on them....the real problem is me getting me up the stairs..lol...I really wanted a Ranch style house this time because I knew in my old age any stairs were going to be murder...but there are not many Ranch style houses around here ( foothills of the Appalachian Mts.)and this was a deal I just couldn't pass up..a HUD house way bigger/better than I could've normally afforded after two divorces,, it's Colonial Style and I still love it, but I hate the stairs....

tooslow964

Brilliant tip

irontmp

Locking the car puts it in sleep mode If you leave it parked unlocked for a week, you will have a dead battery since there are several sensors that still run, and the A/C blower still moves some air