I'm generally extremely happy with my 17-year old 2000 Boxster S that I bought new. However, running back and forth between Atlanta means that I've not been driving it as much as I have recently (although quite a bit more than I did in the 2008-2010 period). Last year, I replaced the battery with the same basic unit with a 48-month warranty, figuring that 7 years was a long time for a battery to last (yes, the previous one was replaced in 2010).

After returning from one of my trips back home, I tried to start the car, resulting in a very disappointing lack of lights when I opened the vehicle. I figured it was probably time to appropriate one of those nifty battery-powered jumps starting units (which I did, more on that later).

However, when I approached the car, I realized that getting the hood open (or front trunk, or bonnet, depending on your opinion on such things). The 2000 model has manual trunk releases, but the central locking system protects those releases through the use of a solenoid-actuated locking bar. Without power, that bar doesn't move.

After scouring the internet, I found a lot of information about getting past this problem on different models, but each of them is a bit different. Models a couple of years younger (I believe 2003+) have a terminal in the fuse box to energize the battery remotely to get past this. However, my model requires a slightly hackier operation.

Required items for this operation:

• 12V supply sufficient to start the car (I used a battery jump unit, but another car will also do)
• 6"+ piece of wire stripped at both ends
• Jumper cables
• (Your keys)

Operation

1. Open the door using the key to access the interior of the vehicle
2. Remove the fuse box cover (located in the driver's side footwell)
3. Using the fuse-removal tool, remove the C3 fuse (you should check the enclosed fuse map and look for "Central Locking", but it's C3 on my vehicle and elsewhere on the internet)
4. Insert a piece of wire in the C3 socket and replace the fuse
5. Connect the negative end of your 12V supply to the body of the car (I used the door hinge)
6. Connect the positive end of your 12V supply to the other end of the wire connected to the C3 fuse socket At this point, you should see interior lights energize and your fan may come on. If you don't see signs of life, there's something wrong with the wire placement or the fuse (or a deeper problem with your vehicle)
7. Rotate the door latch manually (to convince the car that the driver's side door is shut) This is essential and cost me a couple of weeks (time, not effort) in trying to figure this out
8. Now use the key in the driver's side door to lock and unlock the doors You should hear the click as the solenoid pulls the locking bar back and you should be able to freely operate the hood latch
9. Pull the door handle to unset the door latch - Failure to do this could damage your door system
10. Detach your cables from the car and remove the wire
11. Now, pop the hood and complete the jump-start operation