Disabling the Alarm ? on behalf of Gareth Finch

We are travelling into Europe with our 996 this Friday by ferry from Hull and I need to work out how to lock the car, but disable the tilt sensor so the alarm isn’t triggering with a rolling north sea! According to the handbook, I should press the key locking button twice which should result in a double blip on the horn to confirm it’s worked. I’ve tried this and thought it had worked as I got the double horn blip. However, when I tried the driver’s door it was unlocked. I’ve tried three times, all with the same result! Has anyone any experience/knowledge of this? Kind regards Gareth Finch Member Number 144195

It works on my 986 Boxster, which I would imagine is the same, i seem to remember that you have to press the locking button twice Quickly. The door definitely remained locked, as I checked it.

Press remote locking button twice within I think 2 seconds. Unless 996 is different from 986 and every Porsche since, the car responds with a long flash on the indicators.

Thanks for your responses, Steve and Brian.

A double horn beep indicates a fault on the system. When you double-lock, it only disables the interior monitoring sensor, not the tilt sensor. Triple locking is the emergency locking procedure, for when there is a system fault. In this case, the doors should lock no matter what the fault (excepting a door lock motor failure - in which 3 turns of the key should lock it).

Richard, in my experience you are always correct, but on my 986 the manual was quite clear that the double press on the remote button disables both the interior sensors and the tilt sensor. My 996 friends agreed at the time that theirs worked the same way. But in true Porsche style, these different facilities appeared in completely separate parts of the manual and not in the bit that had anything to do with the key! The tilt (or as Porsche call it "inclination") sensor reference was towards the end of the manual in a small section that had to do with travelling on ferries, if I remember correctly. It described only the inclination sensor switch off but was exactly the same double press as described in the earlier section that only told you how to switch off the interior surveillance. Bonkers. In all my Porsche's since then, the double press has worked in exactly the same way. Even in my 982 manual, there's a section on how to turn off the interior surveillance and inclination sensor which refers you to a different page. If you look at that, it only mentions interior surveillance and not inclination! It's always been badly organised and confusing.

You may well be correct about the tilt sensor, Brian. I only have a US 996 manual to hand, which doesn't mention it. The tilt sensors and sirens were only fitted as standard to cars that needed them for insurance purposes. (Thatcham Approval in the UK). My point mainly was that if Gareth is getting a double-blip on the horn, there is a fault with the system. For conditions such as an open compartment you should get a single-blip. The driver's door not locking might indicate a problem with a microswitch in the door lock, which is quite common. I would suggest a diagnostic check, which would show what the fault is.

Thanks for clarifying Richard. I've been following your entries on here and elsewhere for decades - your knowledge, resources and helpfulness appear boundless!