I know there are many threads on this topic, but given that there are probably many who are getting their cars out for the spring driving season I thought I'd post up my experiences should anyone find themselves in the situation I did this last weekend.
Here is what went down:
- 2000 Boxster had been sitting in the condo parking lot and hadn't been started in about 8 weeks
- It was time for an oil change and I was preparing to drive over to the my garage to do the deed.
- Unlocked door using metal key has the remote function deactivates after 5 days of being dormant.
- Got in the car and attempted to start it to no avail, starter didn't even click. Battery was dead.
- Since I live in the city I do lock my car, which means the battery died in "lock-mode" and even though I could get in to the car, I could not open the front/rear trunk to get access to anything that would allow me access to the battery, which obviously needed charging.
I read on some of the forums that you could get enough charge to the battery using a charger plugged in to the cigarette lighter. Figuring this might be the easiest route I bought one of these devices from Advanced Auto and plugged it in.
Immediately after plugging it in to the cig-lighter the car alarm starts going off, albeit very quietly. I get out of the car and use the key to lock the door which deactivates the car alarm. So that worked...
However, even after having the car hooked up to the charger for a few hours, and locking/unlocking the door with the key, I could not get the trunk release levers to release thus giving me access to the battery.
So I decided to try the other method...
I went to work taking the lining out of the passenger side wheel well in hopes of accessing the double-secret emergency frunk release cable that lives a dark and lonely life tucked in where abouts unknown in the front fender. Some observations from this exercise....
- The plastic rivets that secure the wheel well lining can be difficult to extract if you're working with the wheel still on, the car on the ground, and with limited tools like I had (car was stuck in the condo parking lot that is ~2 miles from my garage where all the good tools live). The method for extracting these that worked best for me was using a large flat head screw driver to partially pry the plastic rivets out, and then using the claw end of a hammer to pry them the rest of the way out. Getting good leverage can be somewhat challenging if the wheel is still on the car.
- There are some plastic bolts that hold this lining in as well, but there not on tight and can be removed with pliers if you don't have access to a wrench.
- The bottom of the wheel well liner is secured to the front bumper cover with Phillips head screws. This sounds straight forward but if you're working with the car on the ground like I was, you'll need a VERY short screw driver to be able to unscrew them from the car.
- While we're talking about those screws... they were all in awful condition and full of gunk after living 16 years and 154,000 miles on the front of a car that has seen rain and road gunk. Be prepared for this to NOT be as easy unscrewing as screw. The heads on 3 of the 5 screws I took out were completely shot. However, some of the screws can be backed out with pliers because the other end of the screw is accessible via the lip on the bumper cover.
- With the front rivets, plastic bolt, and Phillips head screws removed, I was able to peel back the wheel well lining enough to get access to the secret hole that houses this double-secret release cable.
- In order to reach this life saving cable, you'll need to go full-shoulder deep in to the compartment in front of the wheel. I found the cable by reaching up and along inboard side of the alien skull headlight assembly. Given that I couldn't see anything, my best advice for finding this cable would be to reach around up there wildly like a scared raccoon until you find something.
- You will know this cable when you find it. In a pinch I think this release cable could also double as a guitar string (Definitely the "E", maybe even the "A" string). It feels very foreign compared to everything else you'll find in that cavity.
- Once you locate the cable, you'll be so excited that you found it that you won't even care that the cable is so thin that you're likely to slice your finger once you pull hard on it. F-it, you're almost there.
- Pull hard on the cable. It will move approximately one millimeter and then all of the sudden "THRUMP!". The frunk is released. You've conquered the fire swamp. You'll scream with excitement, open a bottle of champagne, and confuse the hell out of your neighbors because no person should be this excited about just getting the trunk open on a car that won't even start. Disregard them and joyously celebrate your achievements. You've earned it my friend.
Since I live in a condo, I took the battery out and hooked it up to a tender the dining room. The girlfriend came home for dinner and instead of flowers she found a Bosch battery on the dining room table. Oh well, she should be used to it by now.
After about three hours on the tender I couldn't contain myself and took it out to the car and the old girl fired right up! I then removed the battery again and took it back inside for a nice long session on the battery tender that should have it fully charged in a day or two.
I guess I'll be changing my oil next weekend now...
Hopefully you guys have better luck than I do... but for those who don't, I hope you can find this thread useful if you're ever in this situation and have limited access to tools, jacks, and electricity.
Thanks for letting me share!
Cheers,
-Rob
