Flat Battery - Locked out. Any Ideas?

[Masher]

ORIGINAL: TTM

ORIGINAL: pauljmcnulty
Mine is a 1990 car and there is no issue with the doors opening when the battery is flat: you have something else going on there.

The small white plastic linkage with the small ball joints may have come off both sides. They can be put back with a flat screwdriver and a mountain of patience. If they came off then it won't be possible to lock/unlock the doors whitout the electric assistance.

Good call - I remember having this problem on my 964
Mick

 

[924nutter]

One difference is that my cab only has a single latch pin, so it opens easily; could it be that you think that you have reached the travel stop when infact you have taken up the slack and are at the point where a little more twist will open the hatch. Even the boxster and 996 on which are all electric, have a manually unlocking door which gives access to the voltage input terminals in the fuse box in the passenger compartment, so I can't see Porsche not making provision of some kind on the top of the 944 range Turbo

 

[Hilux]

Charge it via the starter motor positive terminal if you are stuck

Bit of cord on the bonnet catch made accessible under the front of the car will allow you to open the bonnet if you have recurring problems

 

[944 man]

John, 1989 and later 944 coupes have an electro-mechanical hatch release. The isnt a physical connection between the key and the 2x hatch release latches. The pawl is replaced by a microswitch.

 

[924nutter]

It appears that the cab with a single latch has mechanical release too, but then again it has a different lock, now that I have looked closely, but you have got me thinking now. I am now only almost certain that I can open the boot with a flat battery, but this might be because the gap is so small it is impossible to crawl in to get to the battery compartment on the cab, and we are a million miles away from the fact the flat battry or not one of the doors, possibly the passenger door (LHD design?) should unlock manually to give access to the passenger compartment shouldn't it? Still, an interesting discussion, and I am not too big or think myself too clever to admit that not everything on the cabriolet transposes to the coupe.

 

[Chrishazle]

On my cab I have emergency releases for both bonnet and boot. The boot release is a cable behind the ventilation duct in the passenger side B pillar - but you have to have the door open to get at it! The bonnet emergency release is again a cable, this time behind the nearside driving light - remove the indicator and driving light (quite easy!) to get at it. OK, mines a 968 not a 944, but it would not surprise me to find later 944's are the same.

I've also had the door card etc off drivers side when the outer "trigger" stopped working and I could only open the drivers door from the inside handle. I did a write-up with photos, it's available here :

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3FX3V_kb7JvNmEzYWFiOWQtNDliNi00YzIzLTk3OGUtZmQ3MWRkZDNkMzYz/edit?usp=sharing

HTH.

 

[charlieb]

Is it possible that the mechanical 'barrell' so to speak on mine has been totally removed as part of the alarm system when this was fitted? When you turn the key in the lock it is a smooth action, with no resistance or mechanical feel to speak of.

As I mentioned, if I put my ear up very close and turn it, I can hear a faint 'click'

Does anyone else have door pins that flash when the car is alarmed?

Will have a long look in a week or two when I am next with the car and try and report back with what I find for future reference if any one else suffers with the issue since at the moment it appears I am on the only one with the door issue.

The hatch set up seems more common mind you.

 

[Chrishazle]

Charlie, both my 94 coupe and my 92 built cab have factory fitted alarm immobiliser with lock pins that have little red lights that flash when the car is locked.

 

[924nutter]

ORIGINAL: charlieb

Is it possible that the mechanical 'barrell' so to speak on mine has been totally removed as part of the alarm system when this was fitted? When you turn the key in the lock it is a smooth action, with no resistance or mechanical feel to speak of.

As I mentioned, if I put my ear up very close and turn it, I can hear a faint 'click'

Does anyone else have door pins that flash when the car is alarmed?

Will have a long look in a week or two when I am next with the car and try and report back with what I find for future reference if any one else suffers with the issue since at the moment it appears I am on the only one with the door issue.

The hatch set up seems more common mind you.

I have looked on Pet re the mechanical back up for the rear hatch. It seems that up to '90 there were extra parts in the linkage but it is difficult to see how the ass'y goes together to effect manual release because they are hand drwan sketches than dont enlarge well, but certainly post '90 there were fewer parts which lead me to conclude that the manual release was deleted '90 on. However the passenger door has manual unlocking components which clip onto the ball on the key barrel so the original poster should have been able to unlock at least the passenger door and unlatch the bonnet.
As a footnote, my friend with a 968 has told me there is definitely no manual hatch release on his 968, furthermore he tells me that his key goes in horizontally and turns to the vertical

 

[Veerzigzag]

here's a pic of my '89. The white plastic wheel at the rear of the lock has a raised lump that you can see at the 4 o'clock position. If the key would turn clockwise (which it won't) that would push against the metal tab (the big tab at the 2 o'clock position) and mechanically open the boot. Those two items don't take any part in the electrical opening process, so I guess they initially provided mechanical opening, then it was electrical-only, then in 1990 they were removed. Am tempted to take the lock barrel out and fettle it with a needle file so the key turns both ways.

 

[Mr.FixitNorm]

When my '88 'S' flattened the battery with a dodgy fan switch, and mine doesn't have the under bonnet connection, I hooked up a small 12v mobility battery via an old cigarette lighter plug, plugged it in and hey presto the boot lock worked !

Norm