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Opening bonnet with a dead battery


Kennyfin73

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A topic that has been discussed many a time no doubt, here is the situation

Battery is dead: 2002 986s LHD

1. Connected battery pack to terminal in fuse panel - alarm goes off but switch doesn't operate bonnet or boot. No lights on dash

2. Connect charger to terminal in fuse panel, 2 types of charger used. CTEK: nothing happens. Connect 2nd older type charger, a lot of relay clicking and horn goes off but horn quite weak. No lights on dash

3. Remove wheel and wheel arch plastic, can't locate bonnet pull wire!

Would a higher capacity jump pack or charger be of any use and is there any value in charging through the cig lighter or OBD port

I don't think the CTEK has enough oomf for a dead battery, it struggled a bit last time but once older charger did its job the CTEK worked ok.

Any help greatly appreciated

 

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some ideas….. 


Jump pack May not do it. Natively they don’t push enough current, they only push the big amps when the draw demands it.  So catch 22.  Not enough default output to do it but car doesn’t ask for enough to trigger the higher load - some jump packs have a jfdi button to can be forced to supply higher. 
 

So use a donor battery if you can.  Check your connections.  Earth is important.  Door latch or door hinge is favourite.  
 

You may need to leave it for a few mins to get it to kick in. 
 

also. (And this seems to vary by model ) I think the circuit powers the remote release side of things (so key fob button) rather than cill mounted lever. 
 

emergency cable.  Try the other wheel arch.  Lhd will have release on the opposite side to rhd apparently.  Also. Sometimes people re-route them.  Check behind the towing eye cover in the front bumper.  

good luck. 

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Different models work in different ways.

The easiest was by far usually is to remove the central locking fuse and insert a short length of wire with the core exposed at each ends. Put the fuse back in ensuring the wire is pushed into the terminal tightly and then take 12v directly to it. On very early 986's, this is the only way to do it as the blade was a latter addition by Porsche. 

Tbh, it is quite rare for them to work from a jump pack, a running car is better. As Paul says above, sometimes it will power the remote and not the buttons on the sill plate. 

 

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1 minute ago, TROOPER88 said:

Yes but the handles are on the central locking system annoyingly!! :)

Only in the context that you have to open the driver's door to get to the mechanical handles, although the boot can be released from the remote, the bonnet can't.  No electric switches in the sill levers, at least not on my 2000 car!

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6 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

Only in the context that you have to open the driver's door to get to the mechanical handles, although the boot can be released from the remote, the bonnet can't.  No electric switches in the sill levers, at least not on my 2000 car!

Incorrect.

On the cars with the mechanical pull handles for the boot and frunk, as above, these will 'lock' with the central locking

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7 minutes ago, Kennyfin73 said:

I took the fuse panel cover off as I believe the cable was there but no such luck!

 

No, the cable is not there.

Do as I said above with a small piece of wire and you'll be in the frunk in a couple of minutes :) 

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44 minutes ago, TROOPER88 said:

Incorrect.

On the cars with the mechanical pull handles for the boot and frunk, as above, these will 'lock' with the central locking

OK, I get it now.  They are dead locked in effect.

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19 hours ago, Kennyfin73 said:

Success!

Gave it one last go with the jump pack on the blade, pressed the boost on the jump pack and pressed the key fob for opening frunk and it opened. 

Thanks for all the suggestions 

We do love a happy ending  ;)

 

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I've made up a lead with a cigarette lighter plug on one end and crocodile clips on the other to connect to my spare battery. Much easier than using the jump plug in the fuse box. If your using a charger you might have to leave it switched on for an hour to overcome the internal resistance of the dead battery. As for taking the wheel off to get to the cable, guess where the tools are ??? 

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Best answer I found, was once you get in is to reroute the manual release cable so it can be got at through the front passenger side radiator intake, so no further need to take the wheel off.

Also keep wheel locking key (if you have one) in the car and not the Frunk.

I may be wrong but lots, maybe hundreds have been in the same boat.

Cheers Dave

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On 6/23/2022 at 10:48 AM, Pordave said:

Best answer I found, was once you get in is to reroute the manual release cable so it can be got at through the front passenger side radiator intake, so no further need to take the wheel off.

Also keep wheel locking key (if you have one) in the car and not the Frunk.

I may be wrong but lots, maybe hundreds have been in the same boat.

Cheers Dave

I rerouted ours under the towing eye cover.

I remember PM'ing this in the past so it wasn't common knowledge but it turned out most idiots were happy with it being public knowledge  :laugh:

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