If the battery just has no charge, the Porsche Dual Mode Battery Charger would also work by charging a dead battery (unless it's completely toast and needs replacement) as well as having a pulsing maintainer mode for when it's not driven (an ounce of prevention....)

 

I had a similar experience. Here are some threads my wife marysc6 wrote about it.


http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...gineering.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...l-chapter.html

 

How did I miss previous threads about the secret hatch release in the wheel-well???? I friggin set up a whole system of fail-safes and carry around more crap than a boy-scout to insure against getting stuck with an 'almost' dead battery!
Thanks

 

When I tried the recommended proceedure it did not work. I knew I wasn't getting power to the fuse panel/jumper. The recommended ground is the door latch, however, I noticed it appears to be either stainless or some other coated metal so the ground wasn't enough to complete the circuit. Instead when I attached to negative to the hinge it worked. Hope this might help!

 

So what does Porsche want just for a replacement battery without all the we need to open your hood service?

 

Back to the main question: is there a cable release yes or no????

 

Yes, you can use the cigarette lighter. If your battery goes dead and you either can find someone to help you with one of the portable battery charger/boosters, you can by an inexpensive cigarette lighter adaptor from Radio Shack, which you keep in your car. When you attach it to the portable unit, wait a few minutes and then you can use the electical hood switch to open the hood, then use the same portable battery booster to start the car. Make sure you leave the booster attached to your battery for at least five minutes before trying to start your car. At this point you can also use another car battery to boost your dead battery. I know this works, because it happened to me and this is how I got home from the airport parking lot in mid-December.

 

WHAT????? READ the manual?? That would cut into my 6Speed time

 

+1 Same issue when I left my key in the ignition overnight and kept trying the hood switch w/o success, but the key FOB worked perfectly.

 

Is there any warning that indicates that the batery is getting bud or when is the time to change it?

 

You can also connect jumper cables from another car or battery to the connectors in the fuse box to open the front hood. What I have experienced is that the key fob hood release works when the battery is flat with the jumper cables but the hood release next to the seat does not. Also in my experience when the battery was flat I was not able to start the car with a jump box through the cigarette lighter, just able to open the hood after several minutes. Then put a charger on the battery, a trickle charger through the cigarette lighter is also not sufficient to bring the battery back to life when it is so flat that the hood won't release.

 

One of the beauty's about the 996 against the 997 is that we have manual trunck and engine releases and not electrically operated releases. On the 996 Down by the drivers door with the electrical memory seat adjustment are two hand pulled release catches. Should one of these cables brake there is still a manual way to get under either lid. Behind the wheel arch on the front passenger side is located a looped ended wire when pulled hard releases the trunck. I believe under the drivers side rear light glass is the engine release wire. I accidentally found my trunck release wire when I had removed the front bumper to clean the debris from the condensors and radiators. As I was replacing the bumper I slit a 1inch cut into the air scoop and brought that wire out near the air temp sensor on the front of the car. I can now (if ever needed) release the trunck without having to remove or dig behind the wheel arch. I intend to redirect the engine release wire in the same manner when I find out where to direct it for easy reach from outside the car. First opportunity I suggest you should do the same. BTW the car can be jumped from the engine compartment and NOT directly from the battery itself. The 996 is not a sealed battery and needs to be charged and topped up with distilled water or things start to go wrong with the electrically working parts of a Porsche. Especially if heavy loads are put on the battery during short runs. BTW no more than 10amps in to the battery when charging and all inspection plugs removed as we had to do in the old days with all car batteries. God luck with getting your $350 back.

 

Its a bare silvery wire with a loop on the pull end. I think it is on the passenger side. Read my other message further down the page. I suddenly discovered it when I removed the front end bumper (uuuummmmmm now whats the hell is this wire for?) lol

 

Correct!. It happened to me once so i've done this job myself after extracting the instructions from the dealer. The pull wire is in the LHS front wheel well, very discreetly hidden behind the plastic inner splash guard which has to be removed. To access you need a torx to undo the inner guard from the body. To do this you need to jack up the front left of the car so the wheel lowers enough to gain sufficient access to the torx screws and to be able to get your hand in to pull the cable. Borrow a jack (from your wifes car). Undo screws, drop inner splash guard and look closely toward the very front upper of inside wheel well and you will see it. You will need a pair of pliers to pull it due to its position when the wheel is still on. It's a PIA to do but doable if you are resourceful and willing. Putting power to the fuse box won't do anything if you are feeding a completely dead battery with a dead cell so this is then the only other way to gain access to change the battery.....believe it.

 

If you're putting power through the fuse box to allow the electric switch to power the hood release, why does it matter if the battery is dead or not?