how to open the hood with a dead battery question

[Gilles]

I am trying to help (remotely) a friend of mine that has a dead battery and needs to open the hood.

The problem is that the contactor that you pull out of the fuse box to connect the jumping cable is pushed too far into the fuse box, I told him to try to pry it out with a small screw driver, but if this does not work, can you unbolt the fuse holder and push the contactor from behind into it's intended position so you can pull it out by hand?

Your comments will be greatly appreciated!

[particlewave]

Yes. Remove the 4 screws behind the fusebox cover and the whole trim panel will come out (bottom first). Then I believe there are 2 bolts that hold the fuse panel to the body. Remove those and you can twist the panel around for access to the back.

[jcslocum]

There is a pull cable under/behind the left headlight. It can be quite hard to see and find. Pull on that and the frunk should pop.

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by jcslocum

There is a pull cable under/behind the left headlight. It can be quite hard to see and find. Pull on that and the frunk should pop.

do you have to remove the wheel liner to access the pull cable..?

Sorry, forgot to mention that my friend's car is an 07 Carrera but I am assuming that should be the same as the 986…

[ReallyDirtyThirty]

You can see my experience with this situation on this thread:

http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/61089-another-dead-battery-locked-frunk-thread.html

Good Luck!!

[Gilles]

Yesterday, we removed the fusebox to retrieve the red contactor that fell behind the fusebox.

But now with the contactor in the right place and connected to the jumping cable the hood still does not open (and does not make any noises), but it seems that the jumper cable is providing some power as we could manage to turn on the running lights, but no horn or anything else…

Could a completely dead battery be causing this?

Is there another option besides searching for the cable behind the wheel liner? As the car is parked very close to the wall on the passenger side.

Thank you in advance

[rick3000]

Two other solutions worth trying:
-Check behind the front tow cap, sometimes a dealer or previous owner will route the frunk cable there for easier access.
-Try a cigarette lighter battery maintainer, and let it sit for a few hours

Getting at the cable via the wheel well is difficult enough with the wheel off, that should be a last resort. Have you checked the fuses? Not very familiar with the 997, but if the jumper was providing power to the lights, perhaps a fuse is stopping power from getting to the frunk lock.

[Gilles]

I thought the same thing (blown fuse) but checked all the fuses and were ok.

What could be causing the switch for not operating when applying power, a completely dead battery?

[PorscheFan5]

Gilles,

A dead or very low battery is quite likely. Given the situation I would try the battery tender from the cigarette lighter connection. Don't turn or use anything after connecting the tender for a few hours. Just hit the trunk and see if you pop it. GL!

[Gilles]

Thank you for the suggestions, I contacted Deltran...

http://www.batterytender.com/Automotive/Battery-Tender-Plus-High-Efficiency.html

And they told me that their charger will work through the lighter plug only if the lighter plug is always hot, this means that you don't need the key to open the switch.

Update, I checked my car and the lighter plus is hot without the key, so I went ahead and order the battery tender and the lighter adapter, hopefully after a couple of
days will allow us to open the front hood without having to search for the elusive cable ..Ha,

Thereafter my friend will have the battery tender and keep this from happening again

[pjq]

on my 2004 the cable was on the passenger side below the headlight, here's what it looked like with the cover off;


there it is on the far left.


the finished position in the tow bolt hole. I did this about two years ago and I just used it this year because i forgot to connect my battery tender for the winter and had a dead battery. It felt good to know i could just pull the cable from the tow bolt hole.


Washed but not yet chamois off.


maybe with a coat hanger you could reach it through the passenger wheel-well?

[pjq]

What about fishing through the side light, it only snaps into place? Because of the lead of the cable you need to pull it in this direction or the wheel-well.

[rick3000]

The cable alone isn't quite long enough to make it to the side light. I may or may not have routed mine to this location with an extra long zip tie on the loop of the wire cable to extend it behind the side light.