Dead Boxster

Related to my post from back in December about the broken convertible top, my ‘06 Boxster has a dead battery since it’s sat since then. One problem. The hood won’t open to allow me to get to the battery. The switch under the door broke when I tried that. I’ve tried hooking up jumpers to the thing in the fuse box. Nope. I called the local dealer. They suggested one of the devices the plugs into the lighter to see if that gets enough juice to pop the hood. I have one of those, but it hasn’t been used in 20 years, so it’s probably dead. I’m trying to charge it anyway. Their other option was to remove the left front tire and the wheel well cover. There might be a cable in there I could reach and pull on the try opening the hood. I don’t have any equipment for that. Of course, pushing the button on the key to open the trunk works. Any chance anyone here has another solution? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You'll likely get future usage from any charging device so as a first step why not replace that item and charge it via the lighter? It shouldn't need much charge to actuate the latch, certainly less than turning it over If that fails, then the wheel removal, fender liner and pull cable may be the alternative you have to try. If you store this vehicle in a garage I recommend leaving the frunk on the first click, simple solution to prevent an unnecessary and cumbersome problem. Edit: You could try using a lighter adapter to connect to a second car battery for a jump, not my favored option but you asked for options.

I opened the frunk a few weeks ago. Should have left it at the first click. I tried a full jump from my wife’s Lexus to the pop out in the fuse box to no avail. I’ve got the device that plugs into the lighter charging now. No clue if it will actually take the charge. I’ll check it in the morning. When I was putting the jumper cables away, I came across another portable device with a battery and short jumper cables I didn’t even know I had. The cables are too short to reach the pop out in the fuse box and the door latch to ground it. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I was suggesting a jump via the lighter plug port, not the kick panel. Might as well let it charge. The only issue is if that doesn't work and you have no meter to check the charger for proper output then you don't know if it ever was charging said battery or whether charging would work.

Yep. That’s what I’ll try in the morning, assuming it charges. If not, I’ll probably buy a new one of those and try again. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Are you referring to the rear trunk?

its strange that the footwell fuse jumper didn't work....has this happened to others before? edit: I read on this link some steps to use - forgot who provided the link earlier: Expert Solutions for Porsche Cayman Common Problems Symptoms with expert solutions for Porsche Cayman common problems. Find a diagnosis to the most common Porsche Cayman Issues. www.pcarwise.com ------------------------- A flat battery on a Cayman can be a pain. To access the battery or engine compartment requires battery power for the electric hood release – not easy with a flat battery. If this happens, use the following procedure: Open the left door Connect an external battery power source to fuse C3 in the interior fuse panel With the door open, flip the door latch mechanism to the closed position Use the key to lock and unlock the door The front hood release should now function ---------------------------

The only thing I didn’t do was flip the door latch mechanism closed and the lock and unlock the door. I’ll have to try that when it stops raining and I can push the car into the driveway. Can get jumper cables to the red pull out in the fuse box. Doesn’t that need to be grounded? Can’t just hook up the positive cable, right? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ground to car frame somewhere?

That’s what I tried yesterday, grounding it to the door latch. That’s about the only steel around. Everything else is painted aluminum. I’ll try again with the door lock and unlock step when the rain is over, which might not be for a few days. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This might not be common knowledge but you have to use the key fob to open the frunk when you use the fuse box. (Unless you go through the door latch procedure, I never realized that was possible...). But you hook up the 12V source, + to the Fuse and - to the unpainted door hinge. You can hear a power up and click noise. Then walk around to the frunk and use your keyfob to open the frunk. I just did this yesterday. I think in the future, I will hook up the ring connector directly to the battery and route the wire and connector to the cap under the windshield: Routing cable for trickle charger I bought a computerized trickle charger for my 987 and have to leave the frunk open when it is in use. Anyone sussed a cleaver way to route the cable without opening/closing the frunk? www.planet-9.com

That was the first thing I tried, hooking up the jumper cables from my wife’s Lexus to the thing in the fuse box, grounding it to the door latch, and trying the button on the key. Nothing. I don’t remember hearing any sounds when that happened. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The sound is pretty faint, like a relay clicking on. You can hear it when you connect the power to the fuse pull out. If you made that connection first and then connected it to the spare battery, you might not have been close enough to hear it.

bjf123, you may want to check the jumper contacts in the fuse panel and touch the ground to the door hinge instead of the latch.

(Except you may need to use the keyfob)

I’ve already tried that with no luck. The only difference is where he attached the ground, I have painted metal so I couldn’t get a good connection. I tried using the door latch, but it didn’t work. I also tried jumper cables from my wife’s Lexus. Same result. I’m going to try again when it stops raining and I can push the car out of the garage. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Dude in the video needs to raise his shoes as he exists his Porsche, good video though for sure.

My experience with this has shown that often when someone thinks the connections are made correctly they are not. It is easy to think you have the cables on the right spots but if there isn't a good connection not much will happen. In addition, if the battery is really run down it will suck all the electricity you add to the wiring for 10 minutes or so. Checking to be sure your power source is connected properly and giving it some time in place will make what everyone has said here work.

I had a problem where the frunk latch would release just fine (key fob or control inside the car), but the hood remained down. I could hear the latch moving. My mechanic said this was a somewhat common problem and replaced some cheap part; working fine ever since. While having the problem I think my workaround was to push down on the hood while pressing the key fob and then releasing the pressure on the hood just at the right time so that the compression of the rubber bumpers would cause the hood to go up past the part where it was sticking. Side note ... my brother-in-law has the same car (oh... that's a funny story in and of itself, but I digress). Anyway, when he was out visiting we decided to test the emergency funk release pull in the passenger side door. I was reading the instructions to him as he was finding and then pulling. At one point I said something like "did you find the release pull" ... extends his hand upwards to show me a pull knob with a fragment of broken cable attached to it and says "oops... here it is!"

"Anyway, when he was out visiting we decided to test the emergency funk release pull in the passenger side door." UUUhhhh, on the 987, there is no frunk lid release in the passenger side door. That particular release is for the gas filler lid. Makes me wonder what "instructions" you were reading?

Temps are also back in the 30s with snow forecast for Saturday morning. Might not get a chance to try again until next week. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OMG. Oh dear. Thanks for that. Well... I guess I no longer have a gas filler lid release now.

LOL. You are NOT the first to make that booboo and won't be the last. And by the way, I'm told it breaks pretty easily.

Yup! I can verify that it breaks pretty easily. And I don't remember ever finding my filler flap "mysteriously" open, so it wasn't even effective at that. One thing I've taken to doing after leaving my car sit for two weeks during vacation is to pop the frunk before attempting to start the car. I'm guessing a two week sitting still wouldn't drain the battery enough to matter for the frunk, but after a start attempt better safe than (very) sorry.

The flap normally locks and unlocks when you lock or unlock the car. It doesn't open it, just unlocks it. I can only guess, but Porsche, in their infinite wisdom, determined if that little switch fails, you should still be able to unlock it to get gas. I guess that makes sense. Yet, even after applying all that wisdom, they hid the cable pull to open the frunk when the fuse jump routine doesn't work, underneath the driver side wheel well liner. That makes it a royal pain in the arse to access and pull to release the lid. Why wouldn't they actually install a cable to open the frunk in the door jam someplace, that doesn't break, to open the frunk? I guess because the engineers must keep all their family jewels in the frunk and want to make it difficult to access? Who knows. I just know it's an awful system and the many Porsche blogs are full of people trying to figure it out.

And there was much rejoicing! Had AAA use one of their heavy duty jump boxes. That popped the frunk and then they jumped the car. Going to let it run for awhile with the garage door open to charge it up. Not going to fully close the frunk until I’ve stopped and restarted it. Then I’ll take it for a short drive to charge it even more. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, looks like I’m buying a new battery tomorrow. I let it idle for about 45 minutes then drive it down the street and back. Turned it off and it wouldn’t restart. At least I didn’t completely shut the frunk so I can still get to the battery. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Generally speaking, I've found that once a battery goes dead, it won't be reliable even if it comes back. Certainly it's a good idea to replace it. What's more running the car to charge it could damage the alternator, as it has to work harder than usual to do this. Glad to hear you're getting a new battery. How old is the current one? If it's old, then this might be your only issue... if not, then you may have something draining your battery on the car that needs to be looked at.

The battery is probably 6 years old and the car hasn’t been started in almost 3 months, so I’m pretty sure it’s just the battery. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agreed. I've found, generally speaking, 5 years is about the life of a battery. Granted, these cars put them in a "cooler" frunk versus the engine bay, but if the car has been sitting on top of it then that could kill it, especially at that age. If you live in cold climates, that can kill it as well... and, again, once dead, in a cold region, this kills batteries even faster. Bottom line, a new battery is a good idea regardless of the issues you are seeing. I might also suggest a battery tender if the car is going to sit around. Even a cheap one is fine, IMO... I have an old Battery Tender Jr that works just fine, but you can certainly get fancier with CTEK models which are highly recommended here as well (the Porsche branded one is a rebadged CTEK ).

During the winter, my unheated garage gets really cold. The soft drinks sitting on the floor of the garage get as cold as being in the fridge. I really need to get some outlets added to that side of the garage for a trickle charger. The only plug is the opposite corner of the 3 car garage. I don’t really want to run a long extension cord and walk and drive over it for a few months. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk