Ger's 2003 Porsche Boxster S

[ivexpron]

Great work on the Boxster.

[Nevergrowup]

Still alive, and still have the Boxster! Great to see you and your great car again!

[geraintthomas]

Thank you, appreciate it very much. It's great to have it back on the road.

So I've got a plan with my bi-xenons. I'd love the 4-LED Panamera style ones but I really don't think they'd fit in the housing.

Instead I'm looking to modify these:



The square style matches the aesthetics of the modern Porsche headlights, but the halo ring is horrible.

Unless I mask up the lenses so that I'm spraying the halo's black aside from 4 circular spots on the corners.

From this:



To this:



If you see what I mean? I get a similar look with the 4-LED layout, and they're 2.5" so they'll fit.



I'll see how it goes.

[Silver']

I look forward to seeing the results Ger.

I've been admiring a couple of 9x6 retrofits that I've seen pics of recently. Lots more work in these though as they are using the a simple screw in projector, but are mounting them using custom hardware and even fabricating a trim piece in the dual setup. Very nice work.

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by Silver'

I look forward to seeing the results Ger.

I've been admiring a couple of 9x6 retrofits that I've seen pics of recently. Lots more work in these though as they are using the a simple screw in projector, but are mounting them using custom hardware and even fabricating a trim piece in the dual setup. Very nice work.

Holy cow! Is there a thread for these?

[particlewave]

..........

[geraintthomas]

So here's how last night panned out.

Went to bed, didn't sleep as I'm suffering a bad throat since New Year (slightly overdid it), started to drift off to sleep at 3:50am.

4:00am. Woke up to the sound of the very, very loud alarm going off on the Boxster. In a very, very quiet cul-de-sac.

Panicked, realised it's because of a flat battery and ran around the house trying to find the trickle charger to wire it to the battery to give it charge and stop the alarm.

4:15am. Found the charger, tried to open the boot... wouldn't open. Battery is properly dead. I can't get to the battery to charge it and to stop the alarm going off.

Pulled the emergency bonnet fuse tab that has the copper contacts on to attach a charger to which sends power to the boot so that I can open it. Negative on the door latch for a ground, positive on the emergency pull tab. Didn't work, still no power.

4:30am. All the lights are now illuminated on the dash as if it's about to start, but the key isn't in. I decide to put the key into the ignition switch and leave it there. The car is trying to ram the spoiler shut even though it's shut.

Finally the alarm stops. Hopefully it's because it's recognised the key just in time before it went completely dead, which, it did. No lights, no nothing. Car is dead.

4:45am. Realised that there's an emergency pull cord in the drivers (UK) side wheel well. Realised that I need to take the wheel off, and I can't, because the locking wheel nut is in the boot.

More googling reveals that while the charger is connected to the emergency pull tab in the fuse box, you need to use the key fob to open the trunk, and not the switch by the seat. At this point I'm terrified of trying again in case I give the alarm some power and set it off all over again. Even more googling shows that a trickle charger may not work as, although it supplies 12v, it may not supply enough amps.

5:00am. Found out that the best option is to use another battery rather than a trickle charger as it'll supply enough amps. Great! I have a fiesta. I'll remove the battery and will use jump leads that are... umm... in the boot of the Porsche. Which I can't open.

At this point I realise that it's 5am, the car is still miraculously quiet, I can't sleep for fear that the alarm will go off again and decide to stay awake. Drove to work two hours later, and here I am, sleep deprived and p*ssed off.

Luckily my next door neighbour who I caught on the way to work mentioned that he may have a charger that has a cigarette adapter, which people online have said works in this scenario to give it enough power to pop the boot.

So there we are. Going to try that later, and if that fails I'll be jacking the car up, turning the wheel in as much as I can to pull the wheel lining away. Someone online mentioned that they managed to do it. Hoping that the cigarette lighter charge will do the job though.

Next job, re-route the emergency pull cord to the tow eye location. This could have been sorted in 10 minutes.

I'm tired.

[Qingdao]

Why not charge from the alternator? There is a large fuse on top of the engine that you can access from the engine cover. That wire is directly connected to the batter and should jump your car off real fast.

[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by Qingdao

Why not charge from the alternator? There is a large fuse on top of the engine that you can access from the engine cover. That wire is directly connected to the batter and should jump your car off real fast.

Didn't know that was possible... could you direct me with a photo or a diagram at all? Would be much appreciated!

[Silver']

Originally Posted by geraintthomas

Holy cow! Is there a thread for these?

No, not that I’m aware of. I found them in a Facebook group: Boxster Outlaws.

I’d use any old wire laying around to connect the jump battery to that special terminal in the fuse panel - no need for it to be a jump cable. It only needs to give the circuit 12v long enough to pop the frunk. Definitely find that cable and re-route it if it isn’t already behind the tow bung.

[grc0456]

Sorry for your troubles. Yeah, re-route the emergency pull cord for the frunk, and also - I recommend ditching those lug locks. Any competent thief who wants your wheels - I doubt they would - can defeat those locks in seconds. Just replace with standard lugs. Get a trickle charger that charges through the lighter as well. You must have very nice neighbors!


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[particlewave]

Come on, Ger!
Relocate your emergency frunk release (forget the charging through the cig port) so you can always access the battery, and keep vital stuff (like wheel keys) in the passenger cabin.

This is noob stuff!

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by Qingdao

Why not charge from the alternator? There is a large fuse on top of the engine that you can access from the engine cover. That wire is directly connected to the batter and should jump your car off real fast.

That’s not a fuse. It’s a power distribution block.
Also, if you can open the top to get to the top of the engine, then you have enough power to pop the frunk.

[Qingdao]

Originally Posted by particlewave

That’s not a fuse. It’s a power distribution block.
Also, if you can open the top to get to the top of the engine, then you have enough power to pop the frunk.

Coulda sworn I've weaseled it out before, but very good point. Might be just as difficult to get to the distribution block as it is to get to the lever behind the tire.


You might be able to get to it by taking the front engine plate off?












Can you power the fuse directly? Like give it just enough amps right at the fuse itself?




Could always just push start the car. LOL

[particlewave]

Well, my point was that if you relocate the front trunk emergency release, you’ll always have access to the battery.

I do like having backups, though. There’s a distribution block in the passenger footwell, too.
I’ve considered attaching a large gauge wire to it with a jump point inside the passenger cabin (or from the engine distribution block to one of the rear wheel liners for access from the outside).

[78F350]

If you remove the seat and get access to the blue connector for the immobilizer/central locking module, you can power the latch mechanism directly. Shown in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk8-yJXKUxA

[grc0456]

Originally Posted by particlewave

Come on, Ger!
Relocate your emergency frunk release (forget the charging through the cig port) so you can always access the battery, and keep vital stuff (like wheel keys) in the passenger cabin.

This is noob stuff!

PW, what's the problem with maintaining through the lighter? Seems to work fine for me.

[maytag]

Originally Posted by grc0456

PW, what's the problem with maintaining through the lighter? Seems to work fine for me.

Slow.
Waaaay slow.

If your battery's dead and you need to get into the trunk, or worse, get to work, you probably won't have enough time to charge through the lighter. I've never tried it, but I bet it takes an hour or more?

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[geraintthomas]

Originally Posted by grc0456

Sorry for your troubles. Yeah, re-route the emergency pull cord for the frunk, and also - I recommend ditching those lug locks. Any competent thief who wants your wheels - I doubt they would - can defeat those locks in seconds. Just replace with standard lugs.

They are standard lugs, just have nice caps on them to make them look pretty and not dirty - for cosmetic sake only, though I don't have them anymore.

Originally Posted by particlewave

Come on, Ger!
Relocate your emergency frunk release (forget the charging through the cig port) so you can always access the battery, and keep vital stuff (like wheel keys) in the passenger cabin.

This is noob stuff!

I know I know! I didn't think it was a priority before and then yeah... it happened.


It's all good, managed to find some spare jump leads, took the battery out of my other car to provide power to the emergency pull tab in the fuse box, and popped the front hood. Got the long jump leads out of there, put the battery back into my other car and used that to jump start the Porsche. It's now on a trickle charger.


It was so dead though. Not a single light would come on, not even the dash. Going to test the car with a multimeter tomorrow to see if it's the alternator or not. I hope it is, because I've been through 3 batteries now!

[grc0456]

Originally Posted by maytag

Slow.
Waaaay slow.

If your battery's dead and you need to get into the trunk, or worse, get to work, you probably won't have enough time to charge through the lighter. I've never tried it, but I bet it takes an hour or more?

Oh yes, I was thinking only about the effectiveness of using the lighter to maintain a good battery.

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