Dead Battery; Hood won't open.
 

Back story:
Last week I couldn't start the car due to what appears to be a dead battery issue. After getting it jump started, running it around the block a few times, I discovered it wasn't enough to charge the battery. Car still refused to start. Or it appears something is draining the battery.

I finally decided to get the Schumacher SC1200A/CA Battery Charger, which came highly recommended by my Indy Mechanic. The charger arrived today (5 days since my last jump start), so I went to charge the battery. The car has been sitting untouched for the last 5 days, which seemed to have drained the battery to almost zero. The hood won't open.

Current problem:
After seeing countless youtube videos, and being guided by my Indy mechanic over the phone in real-time, my hood still won't open.

This is what I have been doing, which is what the little booklet that came with the car tells me to do:

1. Pull out the Red jumper/fuse in the Fuse Box using the Yellow pick.
2. Connect the Positive clamp to the Red Jumper
3. Connect the Negative clamp to the Door Latch (For grounding)
4. Let it charge (I tried from 10 minutes to 25 minutes)
5. Hood should pop open either with pull-up on car body or the remote key. IT DOESN'T.

Pictures:
http://www.luci5r.com/ASSETS/GRUBS/1.jpg

http://www.luci5r.com/ASSETS/GRUBS/2.jpg

http://www.luci5r.com/ASSETS/GRUBS/3.jpg

http://www.luci5r.com/ASSETS/GRUBS/4.jpg

What am I doing wrong here? Why won't it open?

Any suggestions/advice?

Thanks.

You may have to use the emergency release cable to get it open.

It is located in the front passenger wheel well. If you can remove the front couple of pins (about 2 o'clock position), you should be able to peal back the liner to get to it. It's a steel look located aft to the headlight tray.

BTW: if you ever remove the front bumper cover, it's a great time to relocated the cable so you can access it through the tow hook hole.

Thom - would you be able to expand on this? Maybe link to video/pictures if possible. I'm not sure I know what you're talking about.

Hook up a 12v battery instead of a charger. You are likely don't have enough amperage to actuate the latch solenoid.

try getting 12 volts through the cigarette lighter. Some of the battery jump boxes have a adapter that plugs into the lighter plug. (do not try and jump start the car through the cig lighter) All you need is enough juice to power up the the alarm to turn it off. Once the alarm is off you can pop open the hood. Hope that helps.

The charger I'm using has a 3 volt or 12 volt option; I'm using the 12 volt option. I don't have a 12 volt battery but I don't believe the charger would provide less juice then a 12v battery on the 12v option.

I don't have the plug that can plug in to the cigarette lighter, and in all of this, no alarm went off, so I'm not sure about the alarm you're speaking of.

I'd still like to explore the emergency cable option but can't seem to find any specific directions on it.

You're not just worried about 12 volts, you need amperage as well. The question is how many amps the charger delivers. Chargers typically deliver a very small fraction of the amperage a battery can deliver unless the chargers are made for starting the car. If your charger has a high amperage setting try that. Other than that, you might consider getting a set of jumper cables and a second car to use the fuse box trick, be sure to use correct polarity and also be sure not to short the cables. Your battery does not seem to be taking a charge, so it may be of no value in getting trunk to pop.

Unless it has been moved, the emergency cable is dressed between the right headlight and the trunk wall. That's behind the right front tire, and I believe under the inner fender well. I moved mine when I had the front bumper off to clean the radiators, but the hood has to be open to do that. Best of luck.

Right, hook jumper cables from another car battery onto the fuse box/door latch. That will get u the amps u need.

+1 on this method. I tried the method the OP used and it didn't work for me. I had an old cellphone cigarette lighter charger and cut the end off. I then connected to a battery charger and let it sit for a few minutes. I was then able to pop the trunk.

I recommend everyone have one of these in your garage (see link below), it comes in very handy for jump starts and situations like this. It is also a must have for taking with you on long trips. I have one similar pictured, it has saved my bacon a couple of times, plus I use the light whenever we have a power outage at the house.

Sears.com

There's a picture in Frodo's #9 post were you can see the sliver loop just above the screwdriver: Here's the URL:

http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/39337-cant-open-front-trunk.html

Your link takes us very nicely to Sears home page

It worked fine for me. :rolleyes:

Thanks guys for all your replies.

Today I'll be working on locating that emergency cable release, see if I can find it & grab it. It does appear to be somewhere behind the passenger side wheel well.

I don't have anything that has a cigarette lighter connection so for now that option is out for me. I also haven't been able to get the alarm to go off that everyone keeps talking about turning off, I'm not sure when the alarm is supposed to go off.

I still keep coming back to the charger vs 12volt battery. I understand the Volt & Amperage requirements; but this thing is 1200 Amps / 12 Volts and is designed specifically for jump starts & charging; everything from automobiles, trailers, boats, etc. I can't possibly imagine this charger is lacking something that a 12 volt battery will provide.

@Jager: That is one of many very handy items to have; I myself plan on getting the Stanley 1000 (Similar to what you posted) at some point. But all of these are useful if you have the hood open! I have a battery charger which will easily charge my battery to 100% within 6 hours -- but again -- for either a charger or jump starter to work, you will need the hood open, which is what I'm struggling with. Without the hood open, the jump starter / chargers are pretty much useless.
Just FYI: This one is half the cost and I have personally used it on my Boxster; seems to work flawlessly and is quite acclaimed: Stanley 1000-Amp Peak Jump Starter with Compressor - Walmart.com

@Wallace: The link worked for me as well. It's the product page at Sears.

@thom: Thanks for the picture. That helps! I will be looking into this today.

I think it's because we are in Canada and this is the Sears U.S site. It knows we are in Canada and flips us.

Before digging too deep into the emergency cable - take a real good look at the front passenger side of your car. This is a known issue and there is a good chance whomever owned the car before you has already done this fix. Look for a little metal cable and loop. When I got my Box, the cable had been moved and was just behind the left lower grill vent.

Cable looks like:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1424189042.jpg

a used the Black&Decker jump pack which is meant to to jump start the battery from the cigarette lighter. But rather than actually attempting a jump start this way it will provide just enough juice to light up the dash and unlock the latches.
This was back in the mid 2000's when batteries for portables were HUGE. Now the jump packs are small. I carry a Cobra JumpPack (QVC or HSN) to jump start the battery once the hood is open.
According to the Amazon reviews it will jump start an SUV with no issue. It's about the size of small 1" book. Handy to have in the car if you ever get stuck in the middle of winter late at night.

I tried the method of trying to find trunk release cable which was a PITA.

If you went to the link you would discover the problem with using a battery charger: The charger will only charge if it senses it is connected to a battery. Using the red jumper fuse will not work for most chargers. You will need to use a 12v battery or a jump pack.

Cable could also be behind the tow hook hole cover.

I opened my hood after accidentally closing it with the battery removed from the car by hooking up the charged battery to the fuse box terminal and door jamb ground as pictured and then using the switch lever by the seat. BUT, it didn't work at first. Then I messed with both the clamps on my jumper cables at the fuse box connection and door latch, pressing in the teeth to make sure I had a good connection (especially the ground) and it worked.

Let's try it again:
Sears.com

If that doesn't work look-up: DieHard Platinum Portable Power 1150

Hook-up one of these to the fuse block terminal and to ground and I bet you can open the frunk.

The emergency cable release is looking further & further a possibility. There is nothing under the vent or the sides, as some members had suggested; I don't believe the previous owner did anything.

The liner behind the wheels doesn't look like it'll come off unless I take the wheel off, which isn't a possibility for me. I don't have all the equipment necessary. I wish they had made this more simplistic; it almost feels like they wanted to make sure you could NOT get to that cable.

You hit the nail right on the head; Dead center if I may add. How stupid of me! Even when I had everything connected, I noticed the 'Charging' LED was not lit. I figured maybe it's not lit because I'm not connected to a real battery; it never occurred to me that it's not lit because it's not charging because it's not connected to a real batter. Let me re-state: How stupid of me!!

I don't believe the Emergency Cable Release is going to be the solution for me. I just don't see any way of being able to get to it without removing the Wheel. So at this point, one way or another, I need to bring current to the red jumper fuse. Which means I need to try the 12 volt battery route.

Since I don't have one, I need to go buy one. I'm looking for the cheapest possible route; but also one that doesn't send me back to the store again and again.

Let me ask you this; is something like this going to work:
Energizer A23 12-Volt Alkaline Battery (2-Pack)-A23BPZ-2 - The Home Depot

If not, what is my cheapest option for a 12 volt battery that will do the trick?

Thanks guys!!

Yeah. That's the idea. You don't want thieves gaining access ;)

Probably not.

Your best option is to get a friend or family member over there with another vehicle and just use jumper cables off of their battery.

If I get the Jump Starter I had linked to previously (Stanley 1000-Amp Peak Jump Starter with Compressor - Walmart.com), since it's something I was going to eventually get anyways for these kinds of situations - would that be able to provide the current to the red jumper fuse to pop open the hood? Those jump starters don't have a similar issue like chargers, where they won't supply the current unless it's actually connected to a battery, do they?

SOLVED

I'm not an electrical genius, quite the contrary, so I don't fully understand how it worked; why it worked; and what exactly is it that I did, but ultimately I got the hood opened. This is how I did it.

Essentially it was a spaghetti of ideas & trials. 7 or 8 years ago I used to have a PSP for which I had a car charger. The charger plugged into the Cigarette Lighter socket. I went digging for it and fortunately found it! This is a $5 MadCatz car charger for the PSP that I bought off of eBay, which I haven't actually used in over 5 or 6 years probably.

I stripped out the wires; I know the inner/center one is positive and the outer core that wraps around is the negative. So essentially I wrapped the positive wire around the red jumper fuse, and the negative around the latch on the door, and plugged in the Charger into the Cigarette Lighter socket.

Well, nothing happened! Absolutely nothing. Zilch. Messed around with the wiring for a few minutes but nothing.

For whatever reason I decided to break out my battery charger one more time. This is the Schumacher SC-1200A/CA that I bought for charging the battery. The same one that I tried the first time and didn't work; the Charging LED would never come on and as later discovered, it didn't work because it doesn't actually charge unless it's connected to an actual battery.

I decided to hook it up one more time; however, for possibly no other reason but sheer laziness, I didn't remove the PSP Charger - that was still connected - and I plugged in the clamps for the battery charger ON TOP of the PSP Charger connections. For the first time, the "Charging" LED came on. It looked like the Battery Charger was actually charging. The dashboard started to dimly light up as well.

However, the hood still wouldn't pop. Neither from the door panel, nor from the remote Key. I messed around with the clamps, wiring, turned things on & off several times - kept playing with it - even waited like 20 minutes to see if maybe it just needed to charge up a little. Still, no go!

That was a point when I had decided to pretty much give up. I disconnected the PSP Charger wires; re-connected just the Battery Charger - Still no go!!

I was getting ready to wrap everything up and call it a day - when I decided to try one last crazy thing.

I took the positive wire on the PSP Charger; wrapped it around the red jumper fuse; plugged in the charger in the Cigarette Light - but I DID NOT WRAP the negative on the door latch. Then, I connected the Battery Charger on top of it like I had been - Negative Clamp on the door latch and Positive Clamp on the red jumper fuse. Turned it on - hit the hood opener on the door panel - IT POPPED! First Try!

Like I said. I have no idea whatsoever why this worked. With only the positive going from cigarette lighter to the red jumper fuse; negative going nowhere - and my battery charger connecting like its' supposed to.

My uneducated guess is - when the positive wire from the Cigarette Lighter was connected to the red jumper fuse, somehow, IT TRICKED the Battery Charger into believing that it's connected to an actual battery. Somehow completed the circuit - I'm not sure why.

So the major challenge is over. Unfortunately it's too late today to leave the Battery Charger plugged in with the hood open today; so tomorrow Part 2 begins. I didn't close the hood this time; it's just sitting down pretty, not fully latched. Tomorrow I'll connect the Battery Charger to the battery and let it charge for 6 - 7 hours and hopefully it'll give the battery a full charge.

Thanks all for your support / ideas / suggestions and most importantly some of the knowledge & education I gained during this process. I hope my detail helps someone in future.

So you don't have to repeat this process, you might want to click the latch on the hood into the closed position with the hood up or open. That way your hood won't latch closed accidentally.

Just don't forget to unlatch it before you do close it for good.

With a completely dead battery it takes a few minutes to get the voltage up and a charge after connecting a battery charger. It's always a good idea to wait a few minutes after connecting jumper cables or a battery charger to a battery before attempting to start the motor.

That's a great idea! I will certainly do that.

I have a question about battery charging.

I have read the manual; read instructions across the Internet; seen YouTube videos, basically done my research. Just want to confirm if the following sounds about right before I begin charging the battery tomorrow using my battery charger:

A. Remove the terminals from the battery posts.

B. Take the positive clamp from the battery charger & attach it to the positive post on the battery.

C. Take the negative clamp from the battery charger & attach it to an unpainted metal on the chassis (example: the hood latch on the car body).

D. Plug the charger in the wall. Set the options. Good to go!

Sounds about right?

Thanks guys!

If you remove both terminals from the battery posts you will need to connect both clamps of the battery charger to the battery.

If you remove just the positive terminal you can connect the battery charger the way you described.

BTW... How old is your battery?

better yet, roll up a towel and sit it on the latch. this way you won't forget and accidentally slam the hood down on a closed latch.

Ah! Thanks for the correction. I always thought you never clamp both clips on the battery.

So at this point, I just plugged the battery charger to the battery and started the charging process.

I removed the positive terminal from the positive battery post and clipped the positive clamp from the battery charger on it. I left the negative terminal on the negative battery post, so I clipped the negative clamp from the battery charger on to the metallic latch on the hood.

Fired up the Battery Charger; set up my options (it's mostly automatic), and the 'Charging' LED came right on. So it looks like it's started the charging process. I will give it a good 6 ~ 7 hour charge before I test anything.

I have the Interstate MTP-91 Battery (Batteries - Mega-Tron Plus 91 Automotive Battery Six-Year Performance 700 CCA).

I got this '05 Boxster 987 in April, 2013, with about $40K miles on it. I can't categorically state how old the battery is, cause quite frankly I do not know. Last week when I had called in help to jump start the car, the mechanic did look at the battery and tell me that the battery looks really new, like a couple years old. That it doesn't seem to have any wear on it.

A new one isn't very expensive; only around $148. That's a route I'm willing consider at some point if necessary. I don't really know much about what should be the life expectancy of these things.

Either way, I'll see how it makes out with the charging.

Thanks!

After 7 hours of charging, although there is little improvement, it's still pretty dead. The dashboard lit up just a tad and I was able to use the remote key to lock/unlock the door. But couldn't roll up windows or anything; dashboard is extremely dim.

I'm starting to believe this battery might be done. Might need to get a new battery.

Question: Is replacing the battery hard? If I picked up a new battery from a shop, can I replace it myself? Is it basically as simple as detaching the terminals, installing the new battery in place, and putting back the terminal posts? Do I need to worry about anything special?

Another Interstate MTP-91 is around $170 w/taxes and all around here. Unless I should think of installing a different battery.

Suggestions welcome.

Edit:
I'm also finding another battery for $159 locally, it's the Interstate MTP-48/H6. According Firestone here, that's the newer version of MTP-91 and the recommended one for my '05 Boxster. Any advice on this one as opposed to MTP-91?

Thanks.

There are most likely two clips that hold the battery in the car. They will be on either side of the battery near the bottom. You will have to loosen the bolts that hold them down. Then just unhook the positive and negative terminals and take the battery out.

On a side note you should invest in a battery maintainer of some sort. I use a battery tender jr. When batteries are allowed to discharge completely a few times, they don't last as long. As you can tell by your newish battery not taking a charge. Hope this helps :)

Good suggestion, but you should NEVER slam the hood or trunk on a Porsche. Not sayin you do this, just dispensing advice to the rookies.

Right, I did see those; those shouldn't be a problem.

I'm seriously considering picking up the Interstate MTP-48/H6. Unless anyone has suggestions otherwise.

I honestly don't know how long the MTP-91 has been installed; if it has been since the beginning, it's obviously over 10 years old. If it was replaced down the line, then anywhere between 3 to 5 years I would say. I'm not sure if that's normal or not.

Well look at it this way. A new battery costs around $150. A maintainer costs under $50. If you leave the maintainer hooked up to the car, your battery will last much longer and it will never be dead when you want to drive the car. You can get an adapter that plugs right into the lighter, so it's easy to use.

It's something I will definitely look into; possibly install - after I have dealt with this current issue. Definitely makes sense. Thanks.

Most auto stores have pretty good warranties on batteries and typically pro-rated.
I had one die after about six months, didn't even bother with trying to recharge.
I went back to the Advanced Auto store and the guy at the register just handed me a new one without even a receipt.
Once a battery has drained once, imho it really shouldn't used in the car again, it's never the same.
If it's out of warranty just keep it around the garage to power up something with an inverter.

Just wanted to post a finality to this story.

So I did pick up the Interstate MTP-48/H6 for $150 at my local Firestone. Had priced it around and they had it the cheapest. Came home, installed the battery, and the car started up right away. All ABS/PSM messages disappeared and the car has been running flawlessly for couple weeks now.

Lessons learned. No point re-charging a dead battery; just go buy a new one. The MTP-48/H6, purely in terms of specs, is a tad step up from the one I had installed (MTP-91).

I still plan on getting the $50 Stanley Jump Starter to keep in the car; for close encounters.

Also plan on looking into the maintainer, as someone suggested. But other then that everything seems to be working great.

Thanks again every single person who posted and tried to help! Really appreciate it.

On to the next project.