Dead Battery FYI
07-19-2008, 01:07 AM
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Dead Battery FYI
Many of you may already know this but I thought it would be worth sharing.
After spending about 10 days out on the boat I returned to the parking garage to drive home. It was late in the evening and everyone wanted to get home. I push the button on the key to unlock the door and nothing. I figure I can just unlock the door with the key and it will reset the remote. When I open the door I notice the light does not come on. I turn the key and nothing! I now realize I have left my radar detector on and the battery is completely dead. I go to open the front to jump start and it is locked out. I call AAA and they have no clue how to get power to the car and tell me I need to wait until Monday and call the Porsche dealer. Just before the AAA guy is about to leave I decide to take a look in the engine compartment to see if there is a positive lead. Sure enough there is a positive battery connection covered by a plastic cover. Hooked up the jumper cable to this terminal and a ground and viola! Power! Started right up drove home and hooked up the charger.
Lesson learned... There is a power connection in the engine compartment.
Kris
After spending about 10 days out on the boat I returned to the parking garage to drive home. It was late in the evening and everyone wanted to get home. I push the button on the key to unlock the door and nothing. I figure I can just unlock the door with the key and it will reset the remote. When I open the door I notice the light does not come on. I turn the key and nothing! I now realize I have left my radar detector on and the battery is completely dead. I go to open the front to jump start and it is locked out. I call AAA and they have no clue how to get power to the car and tell me I need to wait until Monday and call the Porsche dealer. Just before the AAA guy is about to leave I decide to take a look in the engine compartment to see if there is a positive lead. Sure enough there is a positive battery connection covered by a plastic cover. Hooked up the jumper cable to this terminal and a ground and viola! Power! Started right up drove home and hooked up the charger.
Lesson learned... There is a power connection in the engine compartment.
Kris
07-19-2008, 01:22 AM
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If the battery is dead and your car was locked when the battery went dead you can't get the hood open to get to the battery. Until this episode I had only read about it and all I could remember was there was some kind of release cable in a wheel well somewhere. The other option might be using one of those jump start units that plug into the lighter socket to get power to open the hood.
07-19-2008, 06:35 AM
#6
Drifting
When you set the alarm on the car the levers in the door sill are locked and cannot be lifted up to open the front and rear. Then if the battery dies and you open the door with the key, the levers are still locked. That is why you could not lift up the lever for the front trunk. What I don't get is how you were able to lift up the lever for the engine lid.
07-19-2008, 01:13 PM
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07-19-2008, 01:20 PM
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Drifting
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So here's a tip - make up a cigarette lighter cable, with a cigarette lighter plug at both ends.
Make it long enough to go from one car to another - use to connect your dead Porsche to A N Other car, and you have instant power to operate your hood release and get to the battery.
Works like a charm - keep it handy in the central glove box
Make it long enough to go from one car to another - use to connect your dead Porsche to A N Other car, and you have instant power to operate your hood release and get to the battery.
Works like a charm - keep it handy in the central glove box
07-21-2008, 09:03 PM
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Before it happens again, remove your left side headlight (its the easiest way to get to the emergency cable) and find the cable running in the void behind the headlight and toward the right front wheel well. Pull the cable back into the fender void, and reroute it around the headlight and into the space behind your front bumper. From there, pull it out the front through one of your bumper plug holes. Use a short piece of fishing line to tie the loop in the cable to the back of your bumper plug. In the future, you simply pop out the bumper plug, retrieve the cable end, and give it a jerk to open the hood.
For you California guys with front plates (no bumper plugs) just secure it behind the plate where you can reach it in the future.
For the rear lid emergency relief, Porsche plans that you will have something flat like a spatula to pry up your left taillight unit, and something like a dentist's pick to retrieve the release cable. Not a well thought out plan. Temporarily remove your tail light unit and reroute the cable down into the area behind your rear bumper. Pick a likely spot, and secure it out of sight with a twist tie. It'll be right there when you need it .... and won't be where a Porsche savvy thief expects to find it.
