[sbloxxy]

I had a proper nightmare with my 2000my Boxster S the other night. Bearing in mind that I've just had a bit of a run in with my neighbour recently, the last thing I needed was for my alarm to go off at 11.45pm waking up half the village. Of course it was hammering down with rain and the Porsche decided that it was happy to let me open the drivers door but the boot and front trunk stayed firmly locked. No matter what I tried, the alarm wouldn't shut up. I also noticed a very loud whirring noise from the area of the filler flap.

I remembered the emergency front trunk release cable and in the pitch black and with the rain still pretty torrential, I managed to whip off the wheel arch liner and release the lid, giving me access to the battery. I disconnected the battery, the horn and the alarm and tilt sensor. At last, all was quiet and I cleared off back to bed.

Next day I had a look around. The connectors to the alarm/tilt sensor were really corroded and the tilt sensor as full of water, so I'm guessing that this was part of the problem. However, once the battery was connected, I started the car only for it to run really roughly, with a distinct misfire that improved slightly with more revs. I don't think it would be much fun to drive very far like this.

I turned the car off as I had to go out and intended to have another look later on. So fast forward 3 or 4 hours. I pull on to the driveway in my wife's car to be greeted with a loud buzzing/whirring noise. Again its coming from the area of the Boxster's fuel filler cap and the car seems to be disable: boot and bonnet locked and car won't even attempt to start.

I' m really at a loss as to what's going on: has anyone got any ideas as to where I should even start to look? Any advice would be most welcome.