QuestionIs there a way to open the hood of a 911 Porsche manually? The car is driven every once in a while and so the battery is disconnected; unfortunately, popping the hood is done electrically. Now it won't open when I try to pull the lever. Any suggestions?
AnswerHi Kat...I've got to admit that electrical devices are surely convenient...but when they can't get power, egads!
You don't want to hear how the older cars were fixed when the hood cables broke...it involved removing the bumper and drilling holles. Egad again!
Here's an idea. I assume the "lever" you are referring to is actually a switch that activates the hood unlock mechanism when you pull it. If so, then there should be two wires coming into that lever assembly. One will be grounded to the body and one normally is connected to the battery's positive terminal.
If you splice into these wires and add a couple feet to each one, and if you touch (briefly) the new wire ends to the corresponding positive and negative terminals of a spare 12V battery, the disconnected battery should be bypassed and the unlock should work.
The possible fly in the ointment is if the switch activates a relay which in turn activates the unlock. This gets more complex but is still doable.
Write back to me with what you find....two wires at the pull handle??? an unlock relay???
Dave
