Changing manual boot/bonnet release levers on 996.1

The early 996 uses manual bonnet and boot release levers mounted in the drivers side sill. These get a fair amount of wear and tear over the years from shoes rubbing over them. The silver ones seem to show the wear a lot more than the black one. Mine were in a pretty bad state, since a new pair are over £200 from Porsche I decided for now to swap them over for a spare pair that I had around which are in much better condition. I will probably then try to refinish the worst pair to re-fit later. Here is how the swap over is done. It is easiest to get at these with the drivers seat removed. Put the key in the ignition and turn to position 1. Disconnect the battery negative terminal under the bonnet Wait 30 minutes Pull the plastic covers at the front and rear of the seat base runners off to reveal the 4 torx bolts which hold the seat in place. Remove these bolts. Tilt the seat backwards to reveal the connector under the seat. To undo the connector there is a piece of plastic on the connector which slides out, as shown by the pointy finger. Remove the seat. On the inside edge of the cover there are three plastic covers. Remove these with a trim removal tool. Using a long 5mm allen key, loosen by a few turns the bolts under each of these covers. You don't need to go crazy with these, once they are loose they are fine. Using the trim removal tool, lever up the cover to release it from the clips: To release the cables, use a 3mm allen key to undo the small black bolts which pass through the loop at the end of each cable: Then using a screwdriver or pliers lever out the black plastic piece which supports the end of the cable. This was pretty stiff on mine. The levers are now free of the car. If you changing the whole lot you can put the new one back on, but if you are going to swap out the levers carry on. Turn the unit upside down and using long nose pliers or a screwdriver release the two springs, easiest to remove the end on the bracket first and then rotate to get it off the lever: Behind the springs you will see a small bright metal clip on a black pin, remove this by pulling it out with long nose pliers: The pin can be pulled out and the levers are now free. Clean up, lightly grease and fit the new levers. Refitting is the reversse of the above. There is a metal arm on the bottom of the assembly which engages with a solenoid at the back of the unit, make sure that this is in place. This operates the central locking function on the arms to stop them being opened when the car is locked. On the levers I am putting back in the part which is blocked by this mechanism on the boot arm is broken as shown in the top of this picture: This means that on my car I will be always be able to open the boot to get at the engine even if the battery is completely flat, meaning I can get at the 12v terminal to put a battery charger on the car. There is no way to get in to the car from there and there won't be anything stored there so this seems like an upgrade to me. Final pictures showing the old and new levers. Be very sure to reconnect the seat connector before connecting the battery or you will get an airbag warning. MC

Great info MC. Can't remember how bad mine are but they all get a hard life don't they. The hardest thing about painting them is losing the symbols. Our mate runs a graphics place so we aim at some point to try and make those symbols in vinyl. Then I'll respray and restore my levers. Good guide that. Thanks for writing it up. :thumb:

A bit of a thread revival. I took the old release levers from the car and rubbed them down with fine wet and dry to get the old paint and transfers off. Then sprayed them with silver paint. I had a sheet of water slide transfers made up and put these on before going over the lot with 1k lacquer. Photos here are up to the stage where the transfers are on, with the lacquer they look very similar. I will be fitting them I the car when I swap the seats over some time in the future. MC

As a point of reference my body shop charged me £150 to do this.

Any idea where I can get a set of them decals? On my project to do list to refurb mine on my c2

Nice job Martin. I hope mine turn out as well when I do them. I can't believe the condition of your originals mind. They've even managed to scuff in the little recesses where the symbols are. Talk about careless. At least it's in good hands now. :thumb:

Thanks to MC for this great guide and the decals did my levers today and great result