Cayman battery issue
Discussion
Hi All,
I have stupidly let the battery drain sufficiently to not start the car but allow access into it. Trying to open the bonnet to get a battery charger you can hear a "click" which is trying to release the bonnet but it just wont "pop up". Any ideas please ??? Its a 2015 718 if that makes any difference .
Thanks
T
I have stupidly let the battery drain sufficiently to not start the car but allow access into it. Trying to open the bonnet to get a battery charger you can hear a "click" which is trying to release the bonnet but it just wont "pop up". Any ideas please ??? Its a 2015 718 if that makes any difference .
Thanks
T
Hi Hooky, been there and done that !
I stupidly left my Boxster 718 in the garage for only about 4 weeks and came to find it was completely dead, couldn’t unlock from remote so used emergency key to get in.
Tried the procedure in the handbook to hook up 12V battery to fusebox, no joy, great. Looked online and found comments saying to remove front left hand wheel and wheel arch liner to access “emergency” release cable.
This I could not do as car parked hard up against garage wall. After much swearing and disbelief, rang Porsche who called out AA.
AA guy turned up and said no problem, we just hook up a 12V battery to fusebox and you’re in. Explained I’d tried this but he had a go anyway, didn’t work, so he consulted one of the brand specialists on line who explained the access via wheelarch liner which wasn’t going to be possible. So solution was:-
Jack up right hand side of car and remove under valence at the front of the car just behind the front bumper (about six screws). Lying under the car you can then look directly view the underside of the front boot lock mechanism and the “emergency” release Bowden type cable (silver in colour, not in a sheath) which is threaded through to behind the front left wheel arch liner. He hooked the cable with a long screwdriver and gave it a good tug and the end of the cable pulled through from the wheelarch liner to below the catch. Pulling that released the front boot lid.
Jumped the battery and all came to life again. Put my battery charger / conditioner on and the battery seems to have recovered ok. I’m now aware that I need to either run it more often or leave the front boot open when locked in the garage just in case.
Absolutely mental design, we both had a moan and a laugh at this ridiculous design. We coiled the cable up under the front valence and cable tied it there for next time (still secure, needing to jack up car and remove front under valence).
Porsche could surely have come up with a better solution for a convertible car, say a physical cable and key operated mechanical lock.
Best of luck, make sure you have appropriate axle stands in place as you need to get right under the front of the car to be able to spot the cable with a torch.
P.s. Those AGM batteries are not cheap, about £300 and need coding to the car !
ETA: Locking wheel nut is normally stored in the toolkit in the front boot, so if you can’t get in there due to flat battery you cant get at locking wheel nut to get front left wheel off to access emergency release cable. Did Porsche engineers really think this was an acceptable design.
I stupidly left my Boxster 718 in the garage for only about 4 weeks and came to find it was completely dead, couldn’t unlock from remote so used emergency key to get in.
Tried the procedure in the handbook to hook up 12V battery to fusebox, no joy, great. Looked online and found comments saying to remove front left hand wheel and wheel arch liner to access “emergency” release cable.
This I could not do as car parked hard up against garage wall. After much swearing and disbelief, rang Porsche who called out AA.
AA guy turned up and said no problem, we just hook up a 12V battery to fusebox and you’re in. Explained I’d tried this but he had a go anyway, didn’t work, so he consulted one of the brand specialists on line who explained the access via wheelarch liner which wasn’t going to be possible. So solution was:-
Jack up right hand side of car and remove under valence at the front of the car just behind the front bumper (about six screws). Lying under the car you can then look directly view the underside of the front boot lock mechanism and the “emergency” release Bowden type cable (silver in colour, not in a sheath) which is threaded through to behind the front left wheel arch liner. He hooked the cable with a long screwdriver and gave it a good tug and the end of the cable pulled through from the wheelarch liner to below the catch. Pulling that released the front boot lid.
Jumped the battery and all came to life again. Put my battery charger / conditioner on and the battery seems to have recovered ok. I’m now aware that I need to either run it more often or leave the front boot open when locked in the garage just in case.
Absolutely mental design, we both had a moan and a laugh at this ridiculous design. We coiled the cable up under the front valence and cable tied it there for next time (still secure, needing to jack up car and remove front under valence).
Porsche could surely have come up with a better solution for a convertible car, say a physical cable and key operated mechanical lock.
Best of luck, make sure you have appropriate axle stands in place as you need to get right under the front of the car to be able to spot the cable with a torch.
P.s. Those AGM batteries are not cheap, about £300 and need coding to the car !
ETA: Locking wheel nut is normally stored in the toolkit in the front boot, so if you can’t get in there due to flat battery you cant get at locking wheel nut to get front left wheel off to access emergency release cable. Did Porsche engineers really think this was an acceptable design.
Edited by Itsgrimupnorth on Sunday 14th July 16:58
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