I foolishly allowed my new(ish) to me 2011 Boxster to sit idle for a week or so without a trickle charger. This obviously resulted in a rather dead battery, with no easy way to gain access to the frunk to charge it. To make matters even better, the key is in the ignition since I didn't realize that the battery was dead until I tried to start the car. Sigh.
I have read quite a few web pages on how to resolve this, including some threads in this forum. Things I've tried so far are:
Plug a trickle charger into the lighter socket. The charger will not even start charging.
Pull the fuse panel and apply power to the magic "fuse". I get a nice click that sounds like a relay that is close to the fuse panel, but there is no joy in frunk ville.
Remove the wheel well liner, which is fun with the tire in the way, and yank on the lovely little steel cable hard as I dared.
Am I missing some magic step in #2? Do I need to pull harder in step #3?
Is this some sort of Porsche owner hazing ritual? I've never had this issue with BMW M cars (they took 2 weeks to kill the battery and access to the battery was easy).
Firstly, I would say that your battery shouldn't be going flat within a week or so. I've left mine for three weeks without a charger with no issues.
With regard to step #2, I've read that if you connect a slave battery to the terminal, you should leave it connected for 10-15 minutes and then try to release the frunk.
Not slamming you at all but if you ever fall under the spell of Porsche mystique, invincibility and purity -- remember that dead battery. The rest of the industry produces cars which preserve their batteries for weeks, not Porsche.
More practically -- my '06 has a hood release connection in the fuse panel and I've used it several times.
[Working from memory, apologies if there are errors...] ... Apply the minus clamp of your battery charger to a good ground -- I use the metal door catch on the frame -- it's bare, shiny metal.
Pull the fuse panel cover, and there's a ribbed plastic rectangle (low in the panel, below the fuses??) -- insulating the plus hood release contact. Pull it out about 1/2" -- note it doesn't come off all the way, just slides back ...
... Revealing a copper contact on the barrel the cover slid over -- attach your battery charger plus clamp to that, turn the charger on. After a few seconds, the hood pops, I've never needed to use the drunk unlock button -- it just pops when it gets power.
My 45+ year old family heirloom battery charger handles the load involved. There may be a page in your user manual devoted to dead/flat battery starting.
Good luck,
-PM.
You'll need more than a "smart" trickle charger/maintainer to do #1 or #2. Even if they do sense the battery, the current would take several hours to build-up enough charge to open the frunk. If you have another car, try using it as a donner battery. Or get yourself a real charger (5 - 50 amp).
I've never tried the cable in the wheel-well, but I recall others saying you really need to pull - it is just a last resort method.
BTW, if it is still the original battery, it is probably time for a new one. And - going flat will likely be fatal anyway - so .... time to visit your friendly Walmart... Hey, there's your solution. A new battery and some jumper cables for #2.
I've been using a fully charged motorcycle battery for #2 (my motorcycles have been on chargers all winter), but I'll pick up a new battery today and give it a shot. I agree that the one in the car is likely very dead and not worth playing with even when I do pop the frunk.
Thanks to all of the advice so far. I'll follow up when I get a chance to try a new battery and/or just pull harder on the cable. I suspect one of those will work.
You need to use a real battery to apply power.
IT'S ALIVE!!!
The key appears to have been the key in the ignition. I picked up a new battery, hooked it up to the jumper, and tried the switch on the floor to no avail. I then tried the remote and noticed that I could remove the key from the ignition. Hitting the remote again after the key was removed worked.
Thanks again for all of the advice.
