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Old 04-17-2011, 05:20 PM   #1
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Battery is dead, can't open the trunk(searched threads)

Hi Everybody. My car battery is dead and I can't open the trunk to charge the battery. I know, not a new thing on this forum. What I can't understand is on my 03 boxster S, it has a specific spot in the fuse panel where I can attach the positive end of the jumper cables to and the negative end to the frame and it is supposed to work. I used a battery charger as my source, but despite hooking it up and waiting 2 hours, I still can't open the trunk. My car battery charger has an indicator when it is charging and it never came on. I can't get into the wheel well in order to try to get at that cable everyone talks about and I can't remove the wheel in order to get there because my low profile car jack is---you guessed it---in the trunk. I purchased a battery charger/maintainer that plugs into the cigarette lighter but the manual said that if the battery was super dead, it wouldn't charge...which it didn't. Any thoughts? Anyone with experience with those cigarette lighter to cigarette lighter car chargers?

Thanks,

Greg

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Old 04-17-2011, 09:25 PM   #2
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if you remove the drivers side tire and the plastic cover that encloses the wheel well you will have access to the cable that runs from the trunk release inside the car to the front trunk. carefully pull towards the car on the cable and it should pop the front trunk. i had to do the same thing once before.
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Old 04-17-2011, 10:32 PM   #3
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You really need a separate 12v battery instead of a charger as your main means of energy to the fuse box / chassis connection points....
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Old 04-18-2011, 01:38 AM   #4
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+1 Tinker

A normal set of jumper cables, attached to the two points, without the donor car running, is enough to pop the hood.
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Old 04-18-2011, 06:12 AM   #5
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Thanks for the quick replies. I guess it's just ignorance on my part, but I was concerned that by hooking up a donor car to these connection points on my car might fry some electrical circuit. Is this not a concern?

Greg
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Old 04-18-2011, 06:53 AM   #6
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Opening hood

I open mine with a battery charger plug in the cigarette lighter, thats work many times for me whitout any problem
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Old 04-18-2011, 07:59 AM   #7
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Be Patient

I would also suggest the cigarette lighter charger. But, it may take several minutes to get enough juice to pop the frunk.
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Old 04-18-2011, 08:19 AM   #8
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I unfortunately tried the cigarette lighter charger but it didn't work. It said in the manual of the charger that if the battery is super depleted, it won't charge. I may have bought a bad brand or something.
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Old 04-18-2011, 09:11 AM   #9
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I just had the same issue with my '02S. Switch the charger to 6a instead of 2a. That'll give the car enough juice to pop the frunk...

I just replaced my battery, and with the charger hooked up to the cigarette lighter set to 6a, I didn't even need to reset any of the codes...

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Old 04-18-2011, 09:29 AM   #10
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If you can carefully open the door you might try connecting a 12 vdc source to the so dedicated terminal in the fuse box with the negative lead on the door latch for ground. Check your owners manual for this or Mike Fockes pages for instructions. If I remember correctly your model year has this terminal
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Old 04-20-2011, 05:53 AM   #11
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Connecting to the positive terminal in the fuse box is like connecting a jumper to your battery. It is intended for the very purpose of using a second power source to enable you to open the trunk. Very little danger of frying anything. Having said that that is one really dead battery you have. ChecK that you don't have a disconnected terminal before you rush off to buy a new battery.
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Old 04-20-2011, 09:24 AM   #12
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Thanks for the tip. I will check the terminals because I had the car serviced a couple of months ago and the battery checked out fine. I tried to hook the battery charger up at 6 amps with no success but it worked with hooking up another car battery to it! So thanks everybody for the help. I am charging the battery right now and hopefully it will start up.

Greg

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