how do i open bonnet with dead battery?

[Steve Murley]

Thanks Richard and Black80xsa for your continuing help,
Due to a close family members illness I have not had chance to look again at the problem properly since last week.

Mark Bennett posted the C3 fuse tip earlier in the thread, not sure how you get voltage to both sides of the fuse as its encased in plastic, it also sets the alarm off when removed and takes a while to stop.

Toolpants,
The pry bar idea is not so far beyond belief,
I slid a plastic kitchen spatula from the front corner of the bonnet to the centre section where the lever is to create a small gap, I put a small screwdriver in to move the red tipped bonnet release lever, the problem is the lever moves in an upwards arc so hits the underside of the bonnet before it releases anything.
I might get chance to have a quick look tonight.

 

[Steve Murley]

I managed to have a quick look in the drivers side arch last night,
I found a cable, or more what seemed like an outer cable which was black in colour, there was no end on it with a loop to pull, it came out from the gap between side of the headlight and the outer wall of the inner wing, but at the other end it disappeared rearwards into the top of the rear of the wheelarch, it had a foam ring on it, between the headlight and inner wing to prevent scuffing. I pulled it a bit in the middle section and nothing happened, didn't want to pull to hard in case it broke, decided in the end it couldn't be the right cable.
I will need to take the passenger side liner off and have a look there now.

Black80xsa,
I tried a screwdriver in the lever area, but couldn't get anything to move, not sure also what I was seeing to be honest, couldn't match things up to your pictures.
My torch was crap so that didn't help either,

 

[Mark_Bennett]

ORIGINAL: Steve Murley

I found a cable, or more what seemed like an outer cable which was black in colour, there was no end on it with a loop to pull, it came out from the gap between side of the headlight and the outer wall of the inner wing, but at the other end it disappeared rearwards into the top of the rear of the wheelarch, it had a foam ring on it, between the headlight and inner wing to prevent scuffing.

Of course it may be different, but that does not sound right to me. Mine is a "bare" metal cable, with a loop. It was taped to the side of the front boot ("trunk" for ToolPants []) when I found it.

This shows the sort of thing you are looking for (item 15), but unfortunately not it's exact position...

 

[Black80XSA]

This is a picture of the cable - as Mark says its a bare wire, aluminium in colour. Ignore the position of this particular one, the owner relocated the emergency cable to the towing eye socket, hence making it more accessible for future lock outs !

 

[Steve Murley]

Good picture Black80xsa,

That's the sort of cable I was looking for, but I wasn't sure if it went into an outer cable after it went back past the headlights, that's why I was reluctant to pull it too hard.

The cable doesn't look very long does it, I wouldn't have thought it would stretch much further back than the back end of the headlights, would you.
I had a good grope round in that area and I'm pretty sure it's not there. I''ll take the liner down on the passenger side when I get chance and have a look there.
I also try and rig something up electrically to put some volts into fuse C3.

It would be nice to find an easy fix to this stupid problem.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

It doesn't go far back. I doubt it reaches even as far as the back of the headlights [:'(]

I think the idea is it is reachable, up on a ramp, with the wheel off, wheelarch out, and a hook long enough to poke in and reach it...

When you have found it, you might want to devise an easier extension or something... But keep it to yourself what you do - or anyone could have access to your boot[]

I couldn't believe the US guys demonstrating that they had moved it to the tow-socket. Great idea, but letting the world know...?
Maybe they don't have the same sort of crime over there []

 

[Steve Murley]

Mark,

I was pretty sure it wasn't the black outer cable as well, that's why I didn't pull it too hard, but you never know with these cars.[]

You got me wondering now whether I looked hard enough between the light and the inner wing, I certainly had a good feel down the gap but didn't use a hook or anything.

I was wondering how possible it would be to run a cable from the battery into the cockpit part, in a similar vein to what the later cars have with a terminal in the fuse box for future use.
That is, once I get the f*kin bonnet open.

 

[Tool Pants]

In this picture you can see my finger in the middle of the picture. My finger is around the loop at the end of the cable. The cable is short and hard to find.

That is where the cable should be. Since this is a US LHD car it is on the right or passenger side. I do note that when the 987 came out the cable is on the other side - at least for a LHD.

Of course it is easy to see when the headlight is out....

 

[Tool Pants]

Here is the same car. I removed the headlight to replace a bulb and saw the cable was not in the proper location. Somehow the loop was under the headlight mounting plate, and there is no way you could find it or get to it by reaching under the black plastic fender liner.

It looked like this car had some front body work so I guess that is how the loop got shoved under the plate.

 

[Tool Pants]

Relocating the cable to the tow hook hole is something Dan Feinberg and I came up with 6 years ago at a Boxster BBQ. Too much beer I guess. In the past we extended the cable over to the side light with wire or string. But there was no wire or string at the BBQ. So I rerouted the cable to the tow eye to see if it would work, and it did.

But you can do this only if your cable is on the right side of the car.

When I bought my Boxster 9 years ago the first thing I did was to get some stranded picture hanging wire. Then I extended the cable over to the side light. I made a loop on the end of the picture wire. All I need to do is pop out the light and there is the loop to pull.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

Thanks TP - Brilliant info as always []

I like the last one - neat [8D]

 

[Steve Murley]

I have finally managed to get the bonnet open using the emergency cable, the cable was on the passenger side in the end, (1999 year with lever operation), I think it swapped to the drivers side when they went for push button operation in I think, 2001.
The cable runs across the front of the bonnet slam, underneath the plastic trim covering the bonnet latch, then it dives through a hole between the headlight bottom left corner and the inner wing, the loop on the end of the cable only just reaches the back end of the headlight but can be seen once the front inner part of the liner is removed,
I didn't take the wheel off, just jacked the car up to give more clearance.
It took a very hard pull to release the bonnet, I had to clip a belt from my race harness onto the loop to save my finger from being severed and to give me something bigger to pull on. It seems to be opening fine now and the battery seems to be Ok as well so far. (Remember, I couldn't open the bonnet before the battery went flat)

PS. I have extended the cable to a better acess point as well.

Thanks everyone for there help, its been very informative.

 

[keithhaskell]

Hi,
The information is very useful but unfortunately the pictures do not show. Would it be possible to load them on the site?
Thanks

 

[Steve Murley]

I don't know about loading up the pictures, but what Year your car is makes a difference, on our car, 1999 with a manually operated bonnet lever, the cable is on the passenger side, if your's is similar, jack the car up if you can, pull the plastic pop rivets out of the front side of the plastic inner wing liner and bend it out of the way.
Put your hand up between the inner side of the headlight and the inner wing and you should find a loop which is the end of the cable, (it's actually thin silver coloured wire).
You'll need a thick glove or something to pull the loop of the cable to open the bonnet.

Later cars, I think 2001 onwards, had an electronically operated lever and the procedure is different although there is still a cable one side or the other.