Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Went to my 996 the other afternoon. Opened the car door (with the key as remote did not respond) and noticed the interior light did not come on. As I had not used the car for over a month and know the issues leaving it for more than two weeks,I thought, flat battery, No problem, just jump start it Unfortunately, when the battery is this flat, the engine compartment release will not activate, so dead car with no way to lift the bonnet or boot (nice one) Called trusted (and used on many other occasions) Martin at Shirley's in Meridan. Martin spent 10 minutes on the phone explaining how to get at the release cable using a 5mm Allen key. 10 Minutes later, jump leads on car and engine running
Again, super service from Martin.

So what's the secret?

How do you get to the battery when it's flat?

There are three plastic crommets (If its a manual release) on the inside of the lever unit. Pop these off with a small flat blade driver. You will need to move the drivers seat back and forwards to gain access to all three. Then use the long end of a 5mm Allen key to locate the Allen head bolt for each one. Undo the bolts three turns to loosen the lever unit. Carefully prise it up off its location and you will be able to gain access to the bonet and boot release. Like I said, it took me only 10 minutes (and I'm no mechanical genius) to be able to jump start my car.
I have since purchased a battery conditioner (again using Martins advise), so hopefully I will not need to do this again.

Excellent.

If I'd known this a few weeks ago, I could have saved someone a lot of heartache when a local garage (none porsche) I popped into had a customer car interior in about a million pieces, trying to find a way in to the engine with a flat battery.

Maybe I'll go and find out if they ever figured it out.

I use Martin Brown and he looks after my 993.

What he doesn't know about Porsches' is hardly worth knowing. I believe he used to work in Germany as a technician building 962's for Le Mans

He also does pre purchase inspections and is very reasonable; a lot more so than a certain person who writes in a certain magazine.

However he will not let the current owner of a vehicle be present when he does an inspection. Why you ask; well he does have a tendency to start taking them apart. This happened with the 993 I purchased privately. Before I knew it the comple light assemblies were out all around the car and lights being shone into the inner body shell structure

Martin has his own business which is next to Shirley's in Meriden. I think he and Shirley's operate similarly to Autobahn in Coventry and Gmund near Harrogate

You can find details about Martin Brown (Porsche Tech) on the Shirley's Garage web site