If I needed a Jumpstart...
 

...What would I do?
Where is the access to the battery?
I have cables that I keep in my car, are they worth it?

The battery is located in the front trunk area under a plastic cover behind the radio amp. It doesn't do much good for you to keep the jumper cables in the trunk because you need electric power to open the trunks, and if the battery is dead, then there's no point. However, there are workarounds.
1. There is a metal wire pull hidden behind the pass. side wheel well. You have to take the wheel well out to reach it though. Yank on that wire, and the front trunk will pop open.
2. On 01+ models, there is a connection point in the fuse box that you can connect an electric charge to that will pop the trunk.
3. You can attach a trickle charger to the cigarette lighter and wait until there is enough power in the battery to pop the trunk
4. You can buy one of those jump starters that work by connecting one end to another car's cigarette lighter, and the other end to your cigarette lighter. This is a very clean option, as you don't need to ask the owner of the other car to attach any wires to their battery, and you also don't need to open your trunk to get to the battery. I have one of these jumpers that I just keep in my speaker storage box that is behind seats. It's only like $20 dollars.

value city has one of those chargers that you plug into your cig lighters and let charge for a few mins for $6

Where??? :)

Sounds like a more compact alternative to jumper cables...

Hi,

Jumper Cables in SC? I thought that was only part of the Yankee Roadside Troubleshooting kit... ;)

Seriously, they are most likely to be just extra weight. Check your Owners Manual, there is a very definite (and somewhat non-standard) procedure for jumping one of these cars. Failure to observe this could fry something expensive.

If my car were later, with the electrically operated hatches, I'd probably rig a 9-volt battery terminal to a Cigarette Lighter Plug (available through Radio Shack and such - observe proper polarity) and keep it, and a fresh 9-volt battery in the car. This would give sufficient power (Ignition OFF, key OUT) to pop open the lids to get a jump. Most likely the battery would be exhausted with a single use due to it's small capacity, but, it would work.

Other then that, if your car is a manual, you can always go with the Tried & True method of pushing it and popping the clutch in gear. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

i have a manual and non-electric latches, so either push it or just simply open the hood :)
i do have cables in ther jus in any case :)

better get me one of those cig. lighter chargers. My hatches wouldn't open last weekend, then I pulled the gas lid rip cord right off the car...

DJ, your hood is still electric, the handles lock when theres no juice. I rigged my release cable by taping it to the underside of my passenger side headlight triangle. Since my new bumper has no license plate or tow holes I needed a way to get to it in emergency.

Boggtown is correct, DJ...your manual levers will not work if the battery is out of juice.

Hi,

True, but if you use the 9-volt jumper I described, you can use the Lock/Unlock Tip Switch to open them. These are available from several Auto Parts Retailers and usually go by the name Memory Savers. Usually under $12. See: http://www.drivewerks.com/catalog/shopcart/TOOL/POR_TOOL_CAT439_pg3.htm
Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Thx. Great suggestion and product. It would have been a good idea to have one of these plugged in before I took my battery out for the winter -- to keep all electronics and memory functions in operating condition for the spring.

For me, it's easier to just carry the car-to-car cigarette lighter jumper. No need to carry an extra 9-volt battery in the car and periodically insure that it is charged enough to be of use during an emergency.

I didnt drive my car for two months over the holidays while at the same time it was super cold here and the combination of the two caused my battery to die. I tried using a trickle charger to get some juice but the charger decieded that the car was too much load with a totally dead battery and did help at all. It just kept going to "Fault" mode. Onto Plan B. So don’t be shocked if nothing happens with the trickle charger.

I opened the fuse panel to see if my car had the lead in there like people kept mentioning on this board (it’s a '02) and low and behold a little manual fell out with instructions on how to open the hood when the battery dies. I started laughing. Fortunately for me I have two cars so I hooked up the battery from my other car (as the instructions indicated me to do) and my car sprang back to life with horns and lights flashing from the alarm. I popped the trunk and hooked up my "serious" battery charger to the batter and nothing. Battery was dead dead dead and wouldn’t take a charge. I tried jumping off my other car with no luck either. My local AutoZone had a replacement in stock (the guy said they usually only have one in stock if any and only sell a couple a year). I used the new battery to pop the trunk again (I let it close by accident the first time) and swapped out the old one.

A bit of a pain, but long story short if you have a second battery, hooking up to the lead in the fuse panel is really simple.

Hi,

Many don't realze that a Battery can become useless if discharged. A discharged Battery can freeze in as warm as +20°F.

In addition, whether frozen, partially frozen or merely discharged, a battery always suffers some internal damage. It will never be as good again once it's been discharged, the extent of the damage (from dispositioned plates, to cystallized plates, broken leads and improper electrolyte solution, depending on numerous factors). The SAE released a paper last year stating that on average, a car (Wet Cell) battery loses it's ability to acquire and hold a charge by 15% each time it is discharged.

But, it's also important how you charge a Battery which it becomes discharged. Charging at a high amperage rate will damage the Battery, perhaps rendering it useless. This means that Jumping the Battery from a donor Car with a 120Amp Alternator is a bad thing. It's best to Jump it strictly from the other car's Battery with the donor car OFF. You want to re-charge it at the lowest Amperage available, which usually means a Trickle Charger of no more than 1.5 Amps. The issue you experienced is common. Had you left it on the Trickle Charger, it would most likely have started charging it in a hour or so, despite the warnings you received, unless of course the Battery had been damaged which is quite likely. The downside, is that a Full charge with a low-amperage charger, can take as long as 25 Hrs. People seldom realize that a Battery requires proper care and maintenance to give a long service life...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Hi,

Whatever works...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Route the emergency pull cable from the wheelwell to your tow hook cover on the front bumper. This give you a good reason to take off the front bumper and clean out your radiators. Actually pretty easy to do! While doing so reroute the cable. It has saved me once or twice in the last 3 years! :cheers:

BTW- the whole "my trunk is locked and I can't get at my battery to jump it" thing is the most assine feature of the Boxster. Great car, what they hell were they thinking?

Considering all the electronics you might fry with a jump, I'd def bump start it.

That's one of the first lessons I taught my kids, how to bump it forward and in reverse!

Jim, I assume that this 9 V memory saver can not be used to actually jump start the car, so one would need to have jumper cables on board, anyway. Looks like Boxtaboy's (lighter-to-lighter) solution solves both opening of the trunk and jump starting. Or perhaps I'm missing something.

Boxtaboy, how's that product called -- for an online search?

I don't have the manual handy to check on the proper jump start procedure for the Box. How is it different from the standard jump start?

Thx.
Z.

Yes, I agree... I think the cigarette lighter to cigarette lighter jumper is a simpler solution to the 9V suggestion, but how much do you want to bet that Jim steps in and comes back with a spirited counter? LOL ;) JK

In any case, here's a link to where I bought mine. No affiliation. Description tells you how it works. Basically, you just connect one end to the cigarette lighter to the doner car and then one to your car. There's a light that tells you when it's ready to perform the jump start (usually a 5 minute wait) and then you can start your car. Good thing is that you don't have to carry jumper cables, you don't need to pop any car's hoods (some people may not want you to put jumper cables to their car's battery and possibly connect a cable the wrong way and mess up their car), you don't need to touch your battery either, and you don't have to carry around an extra 9V around and make sure it's fully charged for when you need it. I can't see any easier solution. Hope this helps.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-Auto-Jump-Starter-Uses-Cigarette-Lighter-Socket_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ63687QQihZ013QQi temZ230079066287QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

I've seen this written up before. How does it impact the ability to install the tow hook? The Boxster isn't the only porsche with this issue. If you get ice on the cable and it freezes up, you can get locked out of a 911, 914 or 356 trunk. And, in the early 356's and 914s, that means you can't get gas into the car ;)

Hi,

You're quite right, this jumper will not start the car. But, it will alllow one to open the Hood/Trunk or the release levers (on the earlier cars). The Battery probably would function for a few cycles before being exhausted, and all other accessories should be OFF when using it, including a Hazard Flasher or other lights.

But, it is beneficial, especially for those people who's Battery runs down in the Garage from non-use (or any type of failure), so they can access the Battery and place a charger on it.

The downside of the cigarrette lighter booster is that you need access to an AC outlet to hook up the charger. And these chargers are low-amperage, so charging the Battery with these is time-consuming. Using the Cig lighter-to-Cig Lighter is also a good alternative.

So far as Jumping procedure is concerned, the main difference is that Porsche states that the donor car should not be running, only use the juice in the donor car's battery and not the supply from the Alternator. I assume they have the protection of the micro-electronics in mind with this caveat. Using only the donor car's Battery, will also take more time than jumping from a running car. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

@Boxstaboy - don't try to stir the pot! Keep it on point please.

i picked one up too ... My question will this work on like say a mercedes truck or any suv for that matter. The reason I ask this question is i know with thin jumper cables it won't jump start a mercedes truck since I have tried.

@MNBoxster. My comment was on point, in that simply, my offered solution made more sense than yours. Apparently, someone else agreed. I think that was pretty on point, no? Not stirring the pot, just making my point. If you don't agree, that's fine. It just kills you that someone might have a better suggestion on something than you, can you? ;)

Hey,

No prob. dude. I even stated that yours was a "good alternative". The Memory Saver is probably most beneficial to those who come out to the garage and find the Battery dead. Using the Memory Saver allows them access to the Battery to get it on a charger. It might be impossible/less convenient to try and run a jumper cable of any kind in that space, or to use it to fully charge the Battery as opposed to merely starting the car.

My only exception was your statement "but how much do you want to bet that Jim steps in and comes back with a spirited counter? " and jabs like "It just kills you that someone might have a better suggestion on something than you, can you? "

Firstly, I didn't, second, I don't think that's very constructive. That's all...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

No sweat Jim. Sorry bout the jabs. I know we're both just trying to help.

Hi,

It's all good! :cheers:

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99