Can't open trunk! - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Yoadrian · 03-16-2010, 11:50 AM

Hi All,

So I have had the Boxster for a little over a month now and am running into annoying issues.

The most recent issue is that I cannot open the rear trunk. The remote has not worked since I got the car- replaced the battery and the LED lights up now when I press the buttons, but nothing happens. Dealership wants $65 to run a diagnostic to see what the issue is...

I have been using the manual latches to open and close both the front and rear trunks. The rear trunk latch will now not open the rear trunk. It doesn't move much and seems like it is locked. I have locked/unlocked the car many times and the lever will not budge anymore.

I have groceries and my golf shoes in the trunk! Help!

goldsc_78258 · 03-16-2010, 12:09 PM

The rear trunk button has a fuse in the left side of the foot well it is the same that operates the rear spoiler maybe is blown check it first and try the button again.

If that doesn't work use the manual cable on the back and have some one push down pn the trunk lid maybe that will loosen it up

Hope this helps

Yoadrian · 03-16-2010, 02:31 PM

Hi. I am thinking it is not mechanical as the remote hasn't worked since I got the car. When you say to have someone press down on the trunk while I pull the cable, are you talking about the lever mechanism by the driver's door? Is there a cable that I can look for as a sort of manual release?

Burg Boxster · 03-16-2010, 05:03 PM

on the '99 (I think thru '01..) it's a mechanical release from the cabin. Electric release from the keyless remote. Problem that typically happens w/ remote is cable gets frayed in trunk (easy DIY fix w/ a wire ferrule or the like . If you hear the motor release but nothing happens, that will be the case w/ the remote.

If the mechanical level on driver's sill doesn't work it could be a couple of issues. Most likely, the mechanical lock for the levers (both trunk and frunk) is not moving to the unlocked position when needed. (PS it only works when the door is open too but I hope you already knew that). If it's not freely unlocking, you can use a small screwdriver and manually slide it to unlock but slipping the skinny blade down between the frunk and trunk levers and sliding it parallel to the bumpers.

Try that and report back. You can also search threads here for manual rear trunk release to find more posts as subject has been covered before.

Good luck

Yoadrian · 03-17-2010, 07:49 AM

Thanks. I'll try the screwdriver trick when I get home from work tonight. I havn't heard any noise when trying to release the trunk using the remote, but it hasn't worked since I got the car a little over a month ago. Hopefully I can just manually open the trunk using the screwdriver trick and then I'll just stop storing stuff in there... lol

Thanks again for the suggestion.

Boxtaboy · 03-17-2010, 10:42 AM

If that doesn't work, there is also a wire pull that releases the rear trunk. You can see it in this picture I took when we installed my Dansk muffler, and pulled the rear bumper off the car. The wire is located right below the left tail light and you can see it going thru a hole. Unfortunately, to gain access to it, you'll have to pull off the rear bumper of the car (instructions below). Maybe if you're lucky, you can just remove the rear wheel well liner, and see if you can fish out the wire to yank it, but probably not likely.

To remove your rear bumper, first remove the bumperettes (the two rear bumper guards) by removing them with an allen key in the hole below each bumperette. Then, remove all the screws underneath the bottom side of the bumper. I think there are 6 in total along the bottom, plus one on each side located inside each rear wheel well. The final screws holding the bumper cover on are located on top of the bumper cover, but those can only be accessed by removing the rear spoiler.

To do this, just manually raise the rear spoiler (turn your ignition on, and press the rocker switch that is located near the fuse panel in your footwell), push out the plastic pop rivets located in the black metal portion of the spoiler (you'll be able to retreive and reuse these once you remove the spoiler frame, as they drop into the frame), and pop off the painted top portion of the spoiler. After removing the painted top portion of the spoiler, you will be able to look down the hollow black metal frame of the spoiler and see two hex bolts. Remove these, and you'll be able to pull out the metal frame, which then gives you access to the screws holding the top of the bumper cover. Once this is done, the bumper cover is free, but remember to disconnect the electrical wire that connects to the license plate bulbs before fully pulling out the bumper cover.

Tip: When putting spoiler back on, tighten the hex bolts that secure the black metal frame of the spoiler while the spoiler is in the fully retracted position. If you secure the bolts with the spoiler up, when you retract the spoiler, it will end up sitting a bit too high from the bumper, and it will look like there's a gap between the spoiler and the bumper when the spoiler is in the down position. Good luck.

Yoadrian · 03-17-2010, 01:42 PM

Wow! Thanks for the detailed suggestion. I really hope that it doesn't come to my having to remove the bumper.

I live in a condo and don't have a garage of my own to work on the car, so stuff like this can become really irritating to me. I am hoping that the screwdriver trick works. Once I am able to get my stuff out of the trunk, I will not be putting anything else in there just in case it happens again... lol

Hopefully I can get this open by the weekend- it supposed to be 70 degrees and my golf shoes, driver and three wood are in the trunk! UGH!!!

Yoadrian · 03-18-2010, 10:12 AM

Update:

I got frustrated enough after not getting the trunk open so I dropped by the local Porsche dealership today to have them take a look.

They actually gave it a look at no charge!

The service manager came back and said that it appears that the alarm has taken on water- no suprise here ( I have another thread going about water leaking in). So they manually opened the trunk for me today- got my groceries and golf stuff out- thank goodness!

They want $150 to diagnose the alarm issue. They offered to do a "scotch guard type" treatment on the top as it has become porus over the years and water seeps through now when it rains hard- charge of $145.

I will be doing to the scotch guard treatment myself this weekend- also having a new window sewn in at an interior shop.

So next project will be to have the dealer run the diagnostic to see what is up with the alarm.

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys!

Boxtaboy · 03-18-2010, 10:34 AM

That's great that they go the trunk open for you, but that line about the scotch guard treatment is baloney. You can use Raggtop brand protectant to make your top bead water off when it rains, but in reality, water will still not permeate thru the soft top because if you look closely at the underside of the top, there's a rubber sheath in the underlining, which means NO WATER can actually go thru the soft top unless there's a hole in it. The scotchguard treatment is a nice way to extract a few extra bucks from you.

If water is getting into the area of your alarm unit under the seat, it is because one or more of your drains are clogged up, not because your top needs any sort of chemical treament spray.

Paul · 03-18-2010, 06:47 PM

Or the rear curtain on the back of the top is not properly installed.