Didn't drive my car for over a week then went to start her up this past Saturday and found the battery dead. Tried to start the car ...nothing ...no lights on dash ...completely dead. To make things worse, key is now stuck in the ignition. Read the manual and tried to jump the front lid open from the fuse panel. For some strange reason, while trying to pull out the positive terminal A from the fuse box, I accidentally pushed the terminal all the way in and now cannot pull it back out with my fingers. Without being able to get the trunk lid open, I cannot get to the battery to jump start the car. So now I hook up my Porsche battery maintainer/trickle charger to the cigarette lighter to try to charge the battery back up. I knew it would take some time but two days later, there is still no sign of any power in the battery. Does anyone know how it takes the trickle charger to charge up an almost completely dead battery to the point where you can actually see some power (dash lights, interior lights, etc.)? Should I leave the trickle charger connected for a few more days or am I wasting my time at this point? Any good advice would be much appreciated.

 

What?!!

 

If your battery is completely dead, it should take a few days to charge your battery through a trickle charger assuming that the charger is putting out around 1 amp.

There should be a way to jump start the car from the engine compartment. The owner's manual goes through it in detail. I think that it recommends jumping from the engine compartment and not the front luggage compartment. Again, check the owner's manual on jump starting procedure.

Good luck

 

Problem is I cannot get either the engine lid or front trunk lid to open since the car is completely dead. Still hoping that the trickle charger will get enough juice to the battery to let me pop the trunk lid.

 

Ouch... sorry... that's a tough one.

What about connecting another battery through the cigarette lighter? I have seen people jump start cars through the cigarette lighter with a jump box... You could use the wires off a power adaptor that connects to your cigarette lighter. I wouldn't try to start the car this way, but maybe it will give you enough power to open the hoods. If you don't have another car battery handy, you could take it one step further and just connect jumper cables to the power cord and another car battery in another car. Again, I wouldn't try to start it that way...

Again, good luck

 

Try getting to the emergency release cable.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic...ost__p__174685

 

You are wasting your time thinking you can charge a battery (that most likely has a dead cell) with only the P cig lighter trickle charger. It'll never happen. I use my trickle only to keep the battery in good condition if i'm away and it does the job nicely. And if not using the car on the WE i connect it to restore the battery power level to 100% for the next cold start. In your case, you need to get yourself a pair of long nose pliers and get a grip on that red tab in the fuse box so to pull it out so you can get some power onto it to crack the hood open and access the main battery. Then, just change the battery for a new one. Forget restoring it. If it has died after 1 week of not being driven it's toast. FWIW the reason why these batteries don't last long without regular topping up on the trickle charger is because of the engine exhaust fans that continually turn on and off after youve left your car. So, the battery is never fully charged when you get to start the car anyway (unless she's been sitting on the trickle) and only a car that sees regular daily driving and, for reasonable trip lengths will be able to restore the battery to 100% full power. But then the exhaust fans knock it back again once youve parked it anyway. So it's a vicious cycle....for the battery. The best way of getting good battery life on a TT is to plug the trickle in on the odd night during the week and also over the WE. GL.

 

Thanks for the link. This is definitely an option if all else fails. Problem is car is in my garage parked close to the wall on its left side without any room to get the left front wheel off, not to mention the wheel lock is also in the front trunk.

 

Been there done that ED. Its a bugger plus you generally need a pair of long nosed pliers anyway to get hold of the lug on the end of the cable to be able to pull it hard enough to crack the lid. OP you need some tools mate. If you want to go that route you need a torx screwdriver or socket lit, long nose pliers and a torch, and then follow that link. You can get away with not removing the wheel (like how i did it as i had a lock nut on the wheel and the nut was in the front too) but you'll need a jack to lift it up high enough to remove the inner splash gaurd and get hand access to that area. It's fun If its stuck along the wall the push it out of the garage so you can get access to the LHS wheel.

 

Yup, should've used the long nose pliers to get the red tab out but instead my clumsy fingers pushed the damn thing all the way in so now it's extremely difficult to get to it.

I had a dead battery on my old 996TT and was able to get enough juice to the battery to start the car after using a trickle charger for couple days. This time the battery seems totally dead. Thanks for your help.

 

You'll be right. These things are sent as a test. Move the car out of the garage just enough and chock the wheels. If you've got one of those screw up colapsible jacks in your wifes car that is nice and low to begin with then slide that under the car where the p jack would normally go and wind her up high enough so the wheel is just off the ground. Undo the splash gaurds and slide them over the wheel. Then get the torch and the long nose pliers. Its a ***** but someones got to do it. I'd honestly try using the tab on the fuse box first. You only need a touch of power to activate the hood release and then youre away. However if that doesnt work and the battery is beyond toast then its back to the failsafe plan. No other way im afraid.

 

I've had enough of these tests ..no fun at all. I've owned 10 P-cars in my life and seem to have problems with the damn battery in all of them.

 

wow this is a bad dilemma lol ! good luck with this man ! I wish I could offer you some advice...

if you can cut the wheel all the way u may be able to get the plastic inner fender off..

I have done this on some cars to do HID kits and headlights

 

Been there .. Use the emergency latch opening method through the fuse box .. That will release the key and open the bonnet in one step ..
Just remember to open the bonnet with the key when using this method
Good luck ..

 

You can also get to the back of the fuse box with a torx set from your local auto shop. That will allow you to either push the positive terminal back out, OR hook a jumper lead to it from behind, and get the hood latch released.