Need help to diagnostic a door mechanism..

[Gilles]

About a year ago I removed the driver side door panel to reengage the spring on the latch as it was not returning to the full closed position.
When the same spring failed the second time, I decided to replace the hinge mechanism, but Luke at Sunset advised that the new (re-designed) component required that the latch itself be replaced as well because the design of the new hinge was not compatible with the old pulling cable design.
All went more or less well as the door operated properly (with some minor collateral damage of a couple of broken plastic parts that had to be replaced) but the door handle works great now.
However, yesterday I needed to move my car and could not locate the car keys, so I got the spare key and found out that the battery for the remote was dead and when I tried to open the door manually I was not able to unlock the door (..!), then after finding the keys I was able to move the car.

But… the key cannot unlock the door manually, it seems that when I replaced the door latch somehow managed to disconnect the outer mechanism with the actual door latch? I know that I need to remove the door panel, but wanted to know if someone that has done this job (properly..) could please share some light, thank you.

[Dmitry at Pelican Parts]

Hello - take a look at the link below to a DIY tech article on the door panel removal. I'm also attaching a link to our general section for tech articles on the 986. If you have any additional questions about the procedure, please feel free to post a Comment just below the article and one of our techs will get back to you with more details.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/76-BODY-Door_Panels/76-BODY-Door_Panels.htm

https://www.pelicanparts.com/boxster/boxster_tech.htm

[Gilles]

Dmitry, thank you for the link.

My younger son help me out today and we had to remove the door panel, the window motor and the metal panel behind just to access the door latch.

The door handle has a nylon rod with a flat edge that goes into a slot inside the door latch, this is the piece that I failed to engage when I replaced to door latch several months ago.

After a big cut on my thumb and a couple of hours later, now you can lock/unlock the door using the key as I was very concerned when parking the car at the airport for more than a week, as the computer goes into sleep mode requiring the key to unlock the door.

I am really glad it's working the way is supposed to do...