Dead Battery; Hood won't open.

[Kurt V]

If you went to the link you would discover the problem with using a battery charger: The charger will only charge if it senses it is connected to a battery. Using the red jumper fuse will not work for most chargers. You will need to use a 12v battery or a jump pack.

[luci5r]

The emergency cable release is looking further & further a possibility. There is nothing under the vent or the sides, as some members had suggested; I don't believe the previous owner did anything.

The liner behind the wheels doesn't look like it'll come off unless I take the wheel off, which isn't a possibility for me. I don't have all the equipment necessary. I wish they had made this more simplistic; it almost feels like they wanted to make sure you could NOT get to that cable.

Originally Posted by Kurt V

If you went to the link you would discover the problem with using a battery charger: The charger will only charge if it senses it is connected to a battery. Using the red jumper fuse will not work for most chargers. You will need to use a 12v battery or a jump pack.

You hit the nail right on the head; Dead center if I may add. How stupid of me! Even when I had everything connected, I noticed the 'Charging' LED was not lit. I figured maybe it's not lit because I'm not connected to a real battery; it never occurred to me that it's not lit because it's not charging because it's not connected to a real batter. Let me re-state: How stupid of me!!

I don't believe the Emergency Cable Release is going to be the solution for me. I just don't see any way of being able to get to it without removing the Wheel. So at this point, one way or another, I need to bring current to the red jumper fuse. Which means I need to try the 12 volt battery route.

Since I don't have one, I need to go buy one. I'm looking for the cheapest possible route; but also one that doesn't send me back to the store again and again.

Let me ask you this; is something like this going to work:
Energizer A23 12-Volt Alkaline Battery (2-Pack)-A23BPZ-2 - The Home Depot

If not, what is my cheapest option for a 12 volt battery that will do the trick?

Thanks guys!!

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by luci5r

it almost feels like they wanted to make sure you could NOT get to that cable.

Yeah. That's the idea. You don't want thieves gaining access

Since I don't have one, I need to go buy one. I'm looking for the cheapest possible route; but also one that doesn't send me back to the store again and again.

Let me ask you this; is something like this going to work:
Energizer A23 12-Volt Alkaline Battery (2-Pack)-A23BPZ-2 - The Home Depot

If not, what is my cheapest option for a 12 volt battery that will do the trick?

Thanks guys!!

Probably not.

Your best option is to get a friend or family member over there with another vehicle and just use jumper cables off of their battery.

[luci5r]

If I get the Jump Starter I had linked to previously (Stanley 1000-Amp Peak Jump Starter with Compressor - Walmart.com), since it's something I was going to eventually get anyways for these kinds of situations - would that be able to provide the current to the red jumper fuse to pop open the hood? Those jump starters don't have a similar issue like chargers, where they won't supply the current unless it's actually connected to a battery, do they?

[luci5r]

SOLVED

I'm not an electrical genius, quite the contrary, so I don't fully understand how it worked; why it worked; and what exactly is it that I did, but ultimately I got the hood opened. This is how I did it.

Essentially it was a spaghetti of ideas & trials. 7 or 8 years ago I used to have a PSP for which I had a car charger. The charger plugged into the Cigarette Lighter socket. I went digging for it and fortunately found it! This is a $5 MadCatz car charger for the PSP that I bought off of eBay, which I haven't actually used in over 5 or 6 years probably.

I stripped out the wires; I know the inner/center one is positive and the outer core that wraps around is the negative. So essentially I wrapped the positive wire around the red jumper fuse, and the negative around the latch on the door, and plugged in the Charger into the Cigarette Lighter socket.

Well, nothing happened! Absolutely nothing. Zilch. Messed around with the wiring for a few minutes but nothing.

For whatever reason I decided to break out my battery charger one more time. This is the Schumacher SC-1200A/CA that I bought for charging the battery. The same one that I tried the first time and didn't work; the Charging LED would never come on and as later discovered, it didn't work because it doesn't actually charge unless it's connected to an actual battery.

I decided to hook it up one more time; however, for possibly no other reason but sheer laziness, I didn't remove the PSP Charger - that was still connected - and I plugged in the clamps for the battery charger ON TOP of the PSP Charger connections. For the first time, the "Charging" LED came on. It looked like the Battery Charger was actually charging. The dashboard started to dimly light up as well.

However, the hood still wouldn't pop. Neither from the door panel, nor from the remote Key. I messed around with the clamps, wiring, turned things on & off several times - kept playing with it - even waited like 20 minutes to see if maybe it just needed to charge up a little. Still, no go!

That was a point when I had decided to pretty much give up. I disconnected the PSP Charger wires; re-connected just the Battery Charger - Still no go!!

I was getting ready to wrap everything up and call it a day - when I decided to try one last crazy thing.

I took the positive wire on the PSP Charger; wrapped it around the red jumper fuse; plugged in the charger in the Cigarette Light - but I DID NOT WRAP the negative on the door latch. Then, I connected the Battery Charger on top of it like I had been - Negative Clamp on the door latch and Positive Clamp on the red jumper fuse. Turned it on - hit the hood opener on the door panel - IT POPPED! First Try!

Like I said. I have no idea whatsoever why this worked. With only the positive going from cigarette lighter to the red jumper fuse; negative going nowhere - and my battery charger connecting like its' supposed to.

My uneducated guess is - when the positive wire from the Cigarette Lighter was connected to the red jumper fuse, somehow, IT TRICKED the Battery Charger into believing that it's connected to an actual battery. Somehow completed the circuit - I'm not sure why.

So the major challenge is over. Unfortunately it's too late today to leave the Battery Charger plugged in with the hood open today; so tomorrow Part 2 begins. I didn't close the hood this time; it's just sitting down pretty, not fully latched. Tomorrow I'll connect the Battery Charger to the battery and let it charge for 6 - 7 hours and hopefully it'll give the battery a full charge.

Thanks all for your support / ideas / suggestions and most importantly some of the knowledge & education I gained during this process. I hope my detail helps someone in future.

[husker boxster]

So you don't have to repeat this process, you might want to click the latch on the hood into the closed position with the hood up or open. That way your hood won't latch closed accidentally.

Just don't forget to unlatch it before you do close it for good.

[luci5r]

Originally Posted by husker boxster

So you don't have to repeat this process, you might want to click the latch on the hood into the closed position with the hood up or open. That way your hood won't latch closed accidentally.

Just don't forget to unlatch it before you do close it for good.

That's a great idea! I will certainly do that.

I have a question about battery charging.

I have read the manual; read instructions across the Internet; seen YouTube videos, basically done my research. Just want to confirm if the following sounds about right before I begin charging the battery tomorrow using my battery charger:

A. Remove the terminals from the battery posts.

B. Take the positive clamp from the battery charger & attach it to the positive post on the battery.

C. Take the negative clamp from the battery charger & attach it to an unpainted metal on the chassis (example: the hood latch on the car body).

D. Plug the charger in the wall. Set the options. Good to go!

Sounds about right?

Thanks guys!

[mump]

Originally Posted by husker boxster

So you don't have to repeat this process, you might want to click the latch on the hood into the closed position with the hood up or open. That way your hood won't latch closed accidentally.

Just don't forget to unlatch it before you do close it for good.

better yet, roll up a towel and sit it on the latch. this way you won't forget and accidentally slam the hood down on a closed latch.

[Jager]

With a completely dead battery it takes a few minutes to get the voltage up and a charge after connecting a battery charger. It's always a good idea to wait a few minutes after connecting jumper cables or a battery charger to a battery before attempting to start the motor.