Dead battery and door won't open

Hello Friends, I'm back, we had a bit of cold weather so I had not used the car in 2 weeks. I went to go for a ride today and i noticed when I hit the key fob the door didn't unlock. Looked inside and I see the red light is not blinking on dash. Ok, let me try to open the door manually use the key. No dice. I can turn it left and right and but it won't open the door. This was the first time I tried to used the actual key to unlock the door and I noticed that it will spin (I can rotate the key more than 360 degrees). I found instructions on how to open the hood using the fuse box trick but how do I get to the fuse box? Any thoughts? 1999 996/911 Cabriolet (if that matters). Thank you in advance.

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When you turn the key, can you hear it engaging the mechanism? Or it just spins? Is the car parked outside?

The car is my garage. It does not feel like the key is engaging the cylinder. It just spins

Whoa, that's a new one. There are emergency hood and trunk release cables. I don't know front factory default, but sometimes people move it to behind the tow hook cap. The engine release is, in the factory location, which means inside the driver side wheel liner. Just behind the rear driver tire, if you pop open (maybe screws?) the inside heat shield, the cable should be there to pull. Many people move this cable so that it is easier to get to, under the driver rear tail light. If you fish something thin in there, you might come out with the cable. Pull cable, open engine bay, use engine jump point. Good luck! Edit: I'm certain that a search here on these cables will show pictures and better discussion on locations.

I do wonder though. They go to sleep after a while so the fob won't work, and the physical key must be used to wake it up. Even if you connect to the engine jump point, I wonder if it will wake up to allow the fob. But if it's dead, then charged, that's similar to having the battery disconnected and reconnecting it, in which case I don't think it will be in the low power mode. It will be interesting to see if charging from any point will let you use the fob.

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This is my concern as well. The car is asleep right now.

After five days the immobilzer/security systems stops listening for the remote to conserve power. Then you must use the mechanical key in the door lock. Doesn't make sense that it just spins around, unless the cylinder lock pin has come undone. Best bet is the engine lid emergency release cable is under the left tail light. Put some painters tape on the bumper under the tail light. Drive a small wedge between the bumper and light. Fish out the cable with a hook. That will give you access to the engine bay and the engine bay jump points. Hook up a good battery or use jumper cables. Might have to charge up for a bit if the battery is totally dead.. Finally, when you have access, replace the battery. Finally, said time after time, relocate frunk lid emergency release cable to inside the tow hook plug. So easy and one tug and you are at your battery.

Sorry to ask a stupid question, but did you try to open the passenger side with the key? Even if the lock cylinder broke on the driver side I can't imagine both door locks would be in the same condition. Forget the FOB. As others mentioned, the FOB goes to sleep after a few days to conserve battery power. After you open the door with the key in the door lock place the key in the ignition right away and turn it one position or the alarm will go off (if your battery still has power).

996's don't have a key lock on the passenger side.

I just ran out to the garage to look at my car. Boy do I feel dumb! Right, there is no key lock on the passenger side. Most humble apologies!

Update: Called AAA they were able to "jimmy"(sp?) the door open and I was able to start the car just fine. Battery etc was fine. As DBJoe996 stated this is most likely that cause "After five days the immobilzer/security systems stops listening for the remote to conserve power. Then you must use the mechanical key in the door lock." I've confirmed that the lock my mechanical key fits into is not functioning properly. Does anyone know if a) do I have to get this done by the dealer? b) ballpark costs I should expect to pay? Thanks everyone.

You can do the door lock mechanism yourself. It's not that tough. Just need some patience. My guess it's the small plastic connector (forget what it's called) that slips over the connecting rod for the mechanism became detached. You need to pull the door card, the weather barrier to be able to get to it. I had this issue on my 99 C2. I think I posted about it if you want to do a search. Even though I have a different Pcar now, I never lock the car when it's in my garage and always have it on a tender.

See post #12 here, it shows the plastic piece that ties the door lock cylinder to the latch mechanism https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-detailed.html

A huge thank you to everyone in this forum. It's been a while since I've been a regular on car forums but it's nice to know there are still some great folks out there. Cheers!

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As an FYI for you and those who have similar problems of coming back to a dead battery in the Porsche and your Frunk is locked and you can't get to the battery....Antigravity Batteries has two solutions that make it so you can get back to driving you car immediately, or simply get into the frunk easily.... The first option is we make a Lightweight Lithium Battery that has WIRELESS built in Jump - Starting. So you will never be stranded by a dead battery again, nor would ever you be locked out of your frunk again. The reason is because our battery will put itself to protective sleep mode after it has been over-discharged. Then you simply press the wireless keyfob provided with the Battery, which awakens the reserve battery and starts your car and you drive away... or you simply press the keyfob and open the frunk if you just want to put a charger on it. So no more hassles like this ever again. Plus it weighs a crazy 35 pound LESS than a Lead/Acid Battery and has an 8-10 year lifespan. You can see them here>>> https://antigravitybatteries.com/pro...tive/ag-h6-rs/ The other options is a Harness kit that allows you to connect one of our Antigravity Batteries MIcro-Start Mini Jump Starters ( and a few other brands) to this harness and easily jump start your car, or easily open your frunk in the event your battery become over discharged. It works like this.... You connect this harness to your vehicles battery terminals... and route it to the leading edge of the hood and windshield on your Car. Then in the event you battery is over discharge you simply plug in the MICRO-START or another Jump Starter and start you car and drive away, or you open the frunk because the Jump Starter supplier the energy to your entire system..... so you don't have to go into the fuse box area under the steering wheel and mess around , which really doesn't always work well all the time anyway. As