Had a state inspection and had completely forgotten about the OBD drain issue. Came out 2 days later to a completely dead car, no trunk access of course. Connected trickle charger to the front terminals and it charged to 3.6 and would not charge further - and was still not enough for me to open the trunk.

Seems my trickle charger isn't strong enough (or the battery is shot, I'm not sure which). Can I safely try to jump the battery from the front terminals, hopefully enough to open the trunk and get proper battery access?

 

yes, that's what they are there for.

 

Battery maintainers can’t charge a completely dead battery - they don’t turn on until they detect something like 5V. A battery that low has given up some (or all) of its life. An battery charger connected to the front jump points should allow you to open the trunk. But as mentioned, you can jump it from there too.

 

I have a 2016 as well and if that is your original battery its time to go. I had to replace mine a few months back. And hook cables or a booster to the front points and it will allow you to pop the trunk and gain access.

 

Trickle charger can't keep up with charing battery and overcoming the battery drain issue. You need to first disconnect the battery for 30s to reset the battery drain issue. Then connect trickle charger and it should charge it up after that. Give it 24 hours or so

 

I'd suggest a blend of the good advice above. Disconnect the battery to reset. Try recharging again. And, shop for a new battery - you're due. Even if you get the current one working for now, you're on the clock. It's not that big an expense, and it's a pain when the battery fails. For reference, my MY17 battery was replaced a year ago under warranty by the dealer, and I replaced the original battery on the MY14, just to be safe (Costco/Interstate). And, if your trickle charger is an old-style unit, I suggest getting a CTEK with a reconditioning function. My F-Type probably doesn't sit still long enough to NEED one, but I got a space set of pigtails for it and the lawn tractor, so it's easy to move around. (And, the lawn tractor has been on the same battery for the last 7 years, so the claims about extending battery life are probably well-founded.)

 

Dumb question, sorry - but I can't open the trunk because the dead battery. How am I to disconnect the battery when I cannot access it?

 

If you have another car and jumper cables, connecting that cars battery to the front jump points should allow you to open the trunk.

 

Yeah, I was hoping mostly to just get enough out of it for the rest of the season - I plan on picking up a replacement at Costco. Unfortunately I'm unable to access the battery to disconnect it since the trunk won't open - and saw on another post that someone attempted to jump the car from the front and caused big sparks, and it seemed like folks thought the front terminals were for a battery tender only. So I'll give it a jump to hopefully at least get the trunk open for now. Thanks for the advice!

 

Palm, meet forehead. Duh. Thanks.