Can't open door.. help

So i locked my door with the FOB and left it for a few days. I know that the car after a few days stops recognizing the FOB until its connected back to the ignition. Normally, you manually use the key to unlock the car and access the inside. However, apparently my locking mechanism is broken and does not un-lock the lock when I move my key back and forth. I keep pressing the FOB while turning the key both directions, slow, fast, etc, prob 40 times and it's still not working. The key does not unlock the lock (but it does turn, so it's not stuck). How can i open the door? windows are all up. If i open the door at least I can turn the car on (turning off alarm honking) and rematch my FOB, and take it to get the lock fixed. But until i can access the car, I cant do any of that.

It could be the battery is dead. You need to open the frunk with the emergency release cable (you have re-located it to just behind the tow hook plug...right?) and put a jumper on the battery. If you can't do that, then fish the engine lid emergency release cable out from under the drivers side tail light (use a spatula or a wedge to separate the bumper and tail light) and fish around to find the cable. Once the engine lid is open use the jumper points in the engine bay to power the car. Yes, after about 5 days the car shuts down the remote and stops listening for the remote to conserve energy. The mechanical key should work in the door to unlock, but if your battery is completely dead, it might not. Short of success with the above options, time to call a mobile lock smith to open the door.

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As DB said find your very thin silver frunk release cable, runs toward the right front tire behind the inner wheel well cover. Open the frunk and disconnect the neg terminal of the battery. Reconnect the battery and the immobilizer should reset so that you can use the fob to get in. Some folks have had luck finding it by removing the *side marker light and looking through the hole in the fender. *it snaps out. Push the front of the light back until it will unhook from the lip.

It's not there. How do I take off my wheel well cover? I popped out the light and couldn't see it. I blindly swept around with a clothes hanger and didn't get it..

Had the exact same thing happen to me. Lock mechanism just turned but didn�t unlock the door. Called AAA and they opened the door with their air bag slim jim device in 5 mins. Alarm went off as soon as the door was opened. I put the key in the ignition to turn the alarm off. Hopefully you have AAA. If not, it�s the best $50 you�ll spend. I replaced my lock mechanism the next day. Lesson learned.

Rear cable is much easier to find!

what's the rear release going to do? open the engine lid... but i dont have a dead battery.. my lock mechanism is broken. I mean, dead battery wouldn't matter in my manual turning of the key right? Door latch would still open with manual key unlocking even if battery was dead?

The door lock turns a paddle like thing in the door lock mechanism see #19 here http://www.autoatlanta.com/porsche-parts/hardparts.php?dir=996-99-05&section=804-20 That in turn operates the electro-mechanical door latch mechanism see #14 here http://www.autoatlanta.com/porsche-parts/hardparts.php?dir=996-99-05&section=804-00 I do believe the only true mechanical connection to the door latch mechanism is the bowden cable between the handle and door latch mechanism. The other stuff works electrically. No power no workie.

okay, so how do I access the wire from the back? The car is in my small garage, i don't have a jack, I'm not mechanically well-versed but can do basics. I do have a trickle charger that I can connect to the positive/negative ports to slowly recharge the battery if that's the case, and I can open the rear.

got the rear lid open via the wire; now the alarm has gone off. My FOB still doesn't unlock the car, nor does manually turning the key blade. Now the alarms going off. how do i stop it?

did you check the battery in the fob? just grasping at straws................

both batteries I think are good. So what I did was I got some old crusty jumper cables, brought around the civic and connected the jumpers to the civic and the rear engine jumping sites. Still not working (FOB nor the manual key turning). So now i'm going to try again to look for that stupid wire in the passenger wheel well, other than that, next step is to jimmy the window open and slide something through to manually open the door from the inside. If that doesn't work, then i'm **** out of luck. smash the rear driver window?

Call a locksmith before you break a window. If you insist to break a window, break one that moves not one that's glued in - easier to replace. I'd have that door open in 2 minutes with a coathanger & some dental floss.

I tried. Ended up breaking the back passenger rear window.

EDIT: nevermind, lol. I've seen footage of locksmiths prying a door or window back just a few mm, enough to feed a long piece of firm wire into the cabin to poke the door unlock button. Do you have any tools that would help you pry back the glass, like a nylon interior trim pry tool? If you came at it from an angle you may be able to hit the button on the dash. I think a straightened coat hanger would be long enough to reach.

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Well that shows your level of frustration. I did something similar with my son's X5. I set the keys down in the car and did not realize the doors were going to be locked when I shut the driver's door. After a while, I got so frustrated, I picked up a sizabes chunk of ornamental granite rock and beat the passenger rear window. I didn't realize it at the time, but not only did I mess up the window, I also broke the window regulator. Cost a few hundred bucks to fix everything.

luckily for me it's not a cab, so the window is fixed. I'm going to order one from ebay for $100 and have someone install it. So after I got into the car, i opened the frunk and took out the right headlight to look for that stupid cable. I see it running and it's nicely tucked into the front bumper, and I could have reached it from the front opening and felt for it. Oh man was I pissed. Maybe my indy placed it there so its easy to get and i forgot? i think that's what happened. Anyway, going to get that stupid lock mechanism fixed as well.

Why did you break the window? It took AAA 30 secs to slim jim my pass door open when the same thing happened to me. He inflated the little air bladder against the window to create a gap, slid the slim jim in there and bingo!

So the windows of the 996 slide down about 1/2" so the door can open, without that sliding down how can the window be jimmy'd open? Doesn't the top window not sliding down prevent the top from coming out of the seal?

What's done is done. The window glass has pressure against the seal, but with an air bladder or similar device, a small gap in the window to seal can be achieved, enough to put a slim jim or slim bar with a hook to grab the inside door handle and open the door. There are professionals (and thieves) that can do this in seconds. If you have ever replaced your window regulator, the window glass is quite flexible and one can pull the glass away from the seal to gain at least 1/2" clearance, enough to slide a bar with a hook to grab the door handle, or something long enough to reach the lock button.

I hate to say it but I've gotten quite good at breaking into my own cars (not the 996 yet)