Securing 996.2 for storage with battery removed?

[Marky911]

Evenin’ gents,

I haven’t had a chance to look at my owners manual so don’t shoot me but anyway…

Car going into winter storage by the 1st November. It’s indoor motorhome storage but there’s no power for battery conditioner.
I need to remove the battery for anti-theft as much as preserving power but how can I lock the doors once battery is out?

Also I’m guessing I’ll have to leave bonnet open.

The place is a proper facility with loads of other classic cars and things but me being me, I’m paranoid about any nosey scruff bags storing their old caravan and deciding to have a nosey at all the cars.
To be honest I have a nosey at other peoples although never touch them. :grin:

Any procedure to do this then? And will alarm sound off its own power too?

Muchos grassy-arse. :thumb:

 

[GT4]

The 996.2 has electric frunk and engine bay lid releases, so if you do the following, you will need to energise the vehicle via the low-current red terminal jump point in the footwell fuse box before you can reverse the locking procedure/reconnect battery (there are also physical cable releases, in theory under the rear nearside lamp and behind the front bumper on the drivers side, but there is no guarantee these have not been displaced from easy access).

Locking procedure with battery removal:

With the car unlocked
Open engine lid
Attach jump leads from an external battery/jump pack to the jump points in the engine bay (see manual)
Turn key to ignition 1 (this will disable the alarm monitor of the battery removal)
Open frunk
Disconnect front battery and remove
Close frunk
Remove key from ignition
Close doors and lock car (at this time the remote will still operate, it is also the last time you will have to close any windows or sunroof etc)
Disconnect jump leads from the engine bay
Close engine lid

Now the only way to gain entry (to the cabin) will be via the manual key lock in the driver’s door. Then you will need to get the frunk open.

 

[Marky911]

Firstly, nice to see you posting. I haven’t seen your name pop up for ages. :thumb:

Secondly, top info as always.
I’ll be sure to do exactly that and take a spare battery and leads with me.
I know my door lock works but I’ll also make sure my emergency cables under the light units are less tucked away than usual.

Thanks very much. :thumb:

 

[Griffter]

Is it a requirement of the facility that you remove the battery?
If you’re determined to use this place and on disabling the car, I’d be tempted to make things easier by wiring in a long, fused, lead to the 12v and earth at the battery terminal connectors on the car with a suitable connector on the other end. The sort of thing you’d use to connect a trickle charger. You could tuck the connector out of the way behind the front grill, in a wheel arch or even in the cabin (accessible with the key) and then when the time comes, just power up the car with a spare battery or jump pack. That would let you quickly get into the car and reconnect the battery etc. No need to physically remove the battery and go through the faff of gaining access with it disconnected. Just my 2p worth!

 

[Alex]

Just a thought - how is the car insured? Are you covered with the storage facility or your own Insurance?

Questions that may pop up if it got stolen from there:

Did you notify your Insurance that the car was stored for months at a different location than the address on the policy?
Why did you disable the alarm and immobiliser?
Why was the car left with the boot open?


Not saying they wouldn't payout but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they tried worming out of a full payout if you haven't kept to the terms and conditions of your policy?

Just a thought worth running by your Insurance company before you store it.

 

[Mac68]

I added second cable release the front bonnet mechanism. It was some picture hanging wire and a couple of key ring clips. I routed it to behind the front DRL as it's easy to open and much easier to access compared to gaining access to under the wheel arch liner.

 

[Teffers]

The 996.2 has electric frunk and engine bay lid releases, so if you do the following, you will need to energise the vehicle via the low-current red terminal jump point in the footwell fuse box before you can reverse the locking procedure/reconnect battery (there are also physical cable releases, in theory under the rear nearside lamp and behind the front bumper on the drivers side, but there is no guarantee these have not been displaced from easy access).

Locking procedure with battery removal:

With the car unlocked
Open engine lid
Attach jump leads from an external battery/jump pack to the jump points in the engine bay (see manual)
Turn key to ignition 1 (this will disable the alarm monitor of the battery removal)
Open frunk
Disconnect front battery and remove
Close frunk
Remove key from ignition
Close doors and lock car (at this time the remote will still operate, it is also the last time you will have to close any windows or sunroof etc)
Disconnect jump leads from the engine bay
Close engine lid

Now the only way to gain entry (to the cabin) will be via the manual key lock in the driver’s door. Then you will need to get the frunk open.

Great to see you posting again.
And thanks for the info - always good to have the procedure.

I own/run a car storage facility and still managed to completely ***** up disconnecting the battery in my own 996 :floor:

 

[Marky911]

Hi lads, sorry for late reply.
I’ll be brief and answer your points.
You only need to read the first bit. I just thought I’d include a little bit on my car storage experience last winter.

Hi Griff, no it isn’t a requirement of the facility. I just wanted to take the battery away for A) an extra step of security and B) to keep it topped up as no power in storage unit.
I have a fly lead from the battery for my carcoon and have the same fittings on all of my chargers and cars.
Trouble is if you just leave the battery connected and let it die, when the voltage drops to a certain level the alarm sounds.
Plus it’s not good for the battery which to kill it dead and leave it for months. I had to replace last year due to a different storage place that I was paying good money for.
Also the gage of wire for a trickle charger is way smaller than jump leads or booster pack leads so I’m not sure it would start the car, although it may allow entry to then couple up a battery properly to jump it.

Hi Alex, yes you always need to inform the insurers of the postcode wherever the car is being kept. I always do that anyway. :thumb:
As for the battery yes I’m guessing it should be coupled up for the alarm but I’ll see.

Hi Mac, yes a physical release is always best. I’m going to make sure my existing ones are located properly under the lights to ensure I can get to them when I go back.
I’m sure I could rig up an extra one if needed.

Hey Teffers I saw your GT3 at CG the other month, looking lovely. 8)
Bit of a coincidence as we hadn’t been to CG since 2019 and on that occasion your C4S was there having GT3 wheels fitted.
:thumb:

Anyway, thanks lads. :thumb:

—————————————————————————————————

Bit of a story regards my thoughts on this winters storage, due to my experiences last year.
Last year I used a place near Darlington. A farmer had built this nice new insulated barn and he said “Every car gets a cover and a battery conditioner”.
Great setup, so I put the GT3 there for 6 months.
Come the beginning of May I was due to collect the car on a Saturday morning and take it about 10 miles along the road to my Indy in Stockton. I always leave the car there for a week and collect it the following Saturday so he can order any parts if he finds any unexpected issues. Also, I live 50 miles away from there.
Anyway the Friday night before collecting the car from storage, the farmer rings me and says “The brakes on the car behind your car have seized on and I can’t get it moved. If you can leave yours until next Saturday that’ll be great.”
I said “Sorry but no, my mechanic has a 2 month waiting time if I miss my slot tomorrow”.
I’ll come down and help you move the car behind.
So I get there Saturday morning with my mate Craig, meet the farmer and I walk towards the nice storage barn. He shouts over “No, it’s in this one over here.”
Puzzled I walk into a minging, old, damp, filthy barn, full of hay and mess and there’s my car sat with a cover kinda dragged halfway over it, not on charge and blocked in by an RS4.
We move the RS4 behind (I won’t go into that but let’s just say I wouldn’t be happy if it was mine) and I hop in mine and go to start it.
Nothing! No dash lights or anything. :frustrated:
Meanwhile my Indy is waiting for us 10 miles away as he opens up just to take my car off me on a Saturday morning.
My battery was toast. Got it jump started and had a pretty stressful drive to my Indy. The battery was so knackered that the car would barely run. If I so much as turned sidelights on, my gauges would all go crazy and the car would cut out and die.
Got there anyway and left the car with Jamie my Indy.
Absolutely filthy from storage.
Jamie had the battery on charge all week but it was dead so I ordered a new Bosch S5 and he fitted it when it arrived.

I was paying £120 per month for that storage, so £720 for 6 months. I was well pee’d off with the service.
I know for a fact if the RS4 wasn’t blocking mine and he’d have got mine started, he’d have moved it back into the nice barn for collection, or would have had it parked outside as if it came from the nice barn.
So £120 per month to sit in a crappy old barn and have the battery killed which cost me £120 for a replacement.

So this year I bumped into a mate I used to ride motorbikes with years ago. He has a Porsche in storage at a caravan facility nearer us. It’s £210 for 6 months indoor cover. But the drawback is no power for battery conditioner.
So I’m putting my old Volvo T5 in there from 1st of November and my 205 GTi went on Monday.
Trouble is, with the Porsche in my Carcoon my R1 can’t fit in with it so it gets condensation on it in my old garage. The carcoon can fit my R1 in though when I put my 205 in there.
So I have to decide -
GT3 at home in carcoon, with 205 in storage and R1 in garage getting damp.
Or same as above but take the R1 over to storage place too as I only pay for the bay and it’s a case of whatever you can fit in the bay, you can store.
Or, put GT3 in storage then R1 plus 205 in carcoon. Which is what I did last year.

I’d be way happier with the GT3 at home plus the batteries in Volvo and 205 can just be disconnected very easily and left. Plus they’re also worth less should anything go wrong.

Garage at home has Carcoon in, plus power and it’s alarmed on house alarm.

Jeez! Sorry for the essay. :grin:
Excuse the ramblings, but those are this weeks storage thoughts as we head into winter.