Dead Battery-Locked out-Alternative Emergency Unlock Procedure

[Qsilver7]

I know that this is nothing new but thought I'd just share an experience that may help a noob out in the future that may find themselves in the same predicament.

I got a call from a friend that owns a 91 735iL. It had been sitting for a while and the battery was dead and the car doors were locked. I gave him the usual emergency unlock procedure for the e32:

1. go to passenger door
2. lift & hold up handle
3. turn key in lock cylinder clockwise (to the right)
   
   
4. {if that fails, go to driver's side, lift & hold handle, while turning key in lock cylinder counter clockwise (to the left)}
   
   

They called back and said that it didn't work...so I suggested after questioning if they followed the procedures correctly etc... that they spray some lubricant into the lock cylinder since the car has been sitting a while.

Got another call and was told that it still didn't work...so I went over to check it out and bring moral support and perhaps another method of "getting in".

Got there and attempted to open the doors using the emergency procedure outlined in the owners manual and how I had opened the doors to this very same car when I used to own it (sold it back in 2005). Sure enough, no matter what I did (lift & hold, lift & jiggle, lift & pump, lift & half hold & jiggle & pump, etc)...the lock pin would rise a bit but never far enough to unlock the door.

So as I was getting ready to move on to another method (reaching under the car to connect to the positive battery cable that runs to the starter). If you're not familiar with this method...if you have the M30 engine it's real easy to see...look at the positive emergency jump post in the engine bay and you'll see that a thick cable runs from that pos jump start post directly to the starter.

Not really wanting to get on the ground to reach up and around stuff to get to the starter...I thought about if there was something easier and less dirty. And that brought me to the trunk and the trunk light. YES!

So we open the trunk (I honestly forgot where the trunk light was located) and it is below the rear parcel shelf. Since this light comes on when the trunk is opened regardless if the lights are turned on (unlike the rear tail lights)...I figured connecting low amperage to the pos/neg leads would be similar to those cig lighter thingys that can provide enough juice to keep the battery charged. So we popped the trunk light assembly out, pulled the leads off and pushed the protective cover back to expose the crimped wires. Hooked up one of those portable jump packs to the positive wire (had a red stripe) & negative wire (had a black or brown stripe?).

As the owner held on to the clamped wires (to make sure they didn't touch)...I walked around to the driver's door and as I turned the key I could hear the electronic "thunking" that the actuator makes just before the door pin rises (I think my heart leaped a little in anticipation )...and sure enough...the pin rose along with the final "clunk" of the actuator unlocking. I lifted the door handle and we were in!

Thought I'd share this story...it may help someone in the future that may have the same issue. Again, I would caution when using this method that you use LOW amps if connecting to the trunk light...high amps or voltage going thru those small wires may cause damage.

[shogun]

good one, Q, good that you sometimes find back to your old field of activities= E32

here we have it all:


unlocking doors via trunk light connections

The emergency unlock is known by lifting the passenger door handle and then turning the key over a certain resistance.
Even with a dead battery the trunk can be opened with the key by turning it anti-clockwise and then push the door unlock button.

To avoid wrong connection of power to the wires or to blow the fuse, Timm from the 7 series register in the U.K. has made a nice write-up:

A few pointers to connecting power to the boot/trunk lamp:

Firstly, the boot/trunk light is a good place to connect power as it is constantly connected to the battery via Fuse 33. However, you must only use a charger at this point, and only one that can supply a maximum of 10A. If you use a fully-charged battery you will blow Fuse 33.

The boot/trunk light has two wires going to it, RED/WHITE is the positive supply, connect the chargers +ve terminal to here. Connect the charger-ve lead to somewhere on the chassis.....this removes any possibility of reverse polarity.

When the charger is connected and charging, allow 10 minutes before trying the central locking, this is just enough time to get enough charge in the battery to supply the locks.

If you have not got a charger you can use a battery but MUST connect it via a 55W (headlamp) bulb. This reduces the current to a safe level.

DON'T connect to any other lighting point, these go via the LKM or General Module and it is not a good idea to stuff power up these!
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DEAD BATTERY DOOR LOCKED

A great thing with the Bmw E34/E32 is that it is almost impossible to open the doors without the key... But when your battery dies this feature might get you stuck outside of your car.




Unlocking procedure: ( Procedure courtesy of "the Master" Bill R. )
1. Insert the master key into the front right door.
2. Pull up the door handle.
3. Turn the key counterclockwise to emergency unlock position 1.
4. Open the door.
5. Close doors and turn the right front door lock to the synchronize position 5.

This is for the driver door. The passenger door is the mirror image of the picture

If you cannot do it, try Stewart Ebrat's trick taking the trunk light bulb out and connecting the positive jumper cable to it. Now the car has power to open it.


Another trick from Mike S:
My wife has a 1991 525i. She had a dead battery, and the doors were locked. I did not know about the factory E34 unlock procedure. What I did was open the trunk lid, and take off the trunk light cover and light on the right side. With a voltmeter, I was able to sense enough voltage to tell what polarity each leg of the light was. I then carefully jumper clipped a 12VDC NiCad? pack to the light socket, and was able to open the locks with the key (in the drivers door). The front right door in that car is a little screwy, so the normal procedure wouldn't have worked anyway.
I thought I would share this as I told it to a BMW mechanic friend of mine, and he said that in thirty years he had never heard that one.


Another trick from Eric:
My battery was to low to open the doors but it had just a little bit left for the alarm. the solution for me was:
First the thing you need:
- a second car or battery
- starting cable (booster cable)
- an extra hand

Place the minus on the engine (crawl under the car). On the driver side is the alternator, take the rubber seeling of and place the plus on it. (same can be done with the starter)
Let the second person open the door.


Another trick from Dan S:
I recently had the battery on my 1989 535i (a five-speed manual) go flat while the doors were locked. All the resident $90 per hour geniuses said the driver's door would open manually. Wrong. A locksmith friend, whom I've seen pop a "high-security" Corvette lock in 25 seconds, worked on the BMW for half an hour and couldn't get it to open with a "slim jim."
Unfortunately, I didn't see your site's contributor solution until some friends and I came up with our own, but I thought I'd pass it along. Credit goes to my gearhead buds down at Star Cycle (Ducks, old British crocks of any stripe, and enough Japanese chunks to clog up e-Bay for a year), Jimmy N. and Brian "Cliffy" A. One of those wits came up with the idea that I should jack up the car, and charge the battery using the positive cable on starter motor. It will handle a hell of a lot more current, safely, than the delicate trunk light circuit and I don't even want to think about going near a $550 BMW alternator and getting that crossed up.


How To Open A Deadbolted Door: ( Procedure courtesy of Russell Jones )
Just had a successful weekend regarding the locking on my 89 525 - where the rear door had deadlocked itself and wouldn't undo, so I was stuck with a door I couldn't open. As there were not too many ideas on this issue I thought I'd post the solution, in case anyone else has the same problem sometime.

1. Take out the base of the back seat
2. Peel off the door seal from the inside and remove plastic trim fixed to the floor (held in by large trim clips)
3. Undo the 3 screws in the trim (1 in handle, 1 behind door operating handle and 1 behind ashtray) & unscrew lock pin.
4. Pull the trim off at the top by the chrome trim, then using a long thin rod, pry out as many clips as you can down each side of the door.
5. Using a large screwdriver, push the cable end out of the door operating handle.
6. Open the window, and leaning in, grab the handle in one hand and the armrest bit in the other,, and pull the trim up and out. This will be a bit stiff but it will go eventually.
6. With the trim off, disconnect the window switch and take trim out of the car (wahey!)
7. You can now take out the offending lock solenoid using a 6mm ring spanner, and unlock the door.
My lock seemed to have corroded pins on the connection, so I cleaned these up and although I thought the solenoid was knackered, thankfully it seems to be working ok now.

If you leave the solenoid disconnected (as I was going to do until I got a new one) the deadlocking and the alarm will not work. What I was going to do if it was dead, was connect the solenoid back up, but not connect it to the locking mechanism - and just mount it as far away as the drilled fixing holes will allow.

Here's a simple fix from Neil on Vancouver Island:
My 90' 535i battery drained as I had been away for a while. There was no way the door would open with the key as specified, I guess this method needs a little power from the battery ?. I saw the previous posts about applying power through the licence plate bulb holder and also one about going in through the trunk so I opened the trunk with the key to have a look around. I noticed the trunk courtesy light and simply flicked it out of it's position with my fingernail, exposing the light fitting with two wires. I removed the lamp and measured the voltage across the terminals with a multimeter to check polarity and found the black/red stripe to be + ve. I simply attached my small trickle battery charger connections across the terminals with the lamp still removed and powered up the two lamp terminals (+ve on red black and -ve on the other. I also closed down the trunk lid so the circuit was not looking for any power, waited a few minutes and opened the door easily as the electrical system had picked up enough power. Within five minutes of opening the trunk I had solved the problem. Seemed like an easy solution to me.

Emergency Hood Release
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ht=screwdriver

[Cookiedough]

Tried the counterclock wise on my 03 X5 4.4i on driver door. Nothing! Key is dead & alarm soinds off every 5 mins or so. All doors are lock & can't get in now for two days!! Roadside assistance twice & still not open...help!!!

[shogun]

Better ask the experts on the X5 forum here, they can help you, this procedure is for the E32 and E34.

[Cookiedough]

Is there another alternative to gain access to my deadlocked '03 E53 X5 4.4i ? I've tried the manual way & nothing! Roadside tried to access by attempting to pull the door handle from inside with the inflatted ballons from driverside.

[shogun]

Ask on the X5 forum, we own E32 and know the E32 details, but not the X5.
Always ask in the correct model forum. https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/f...-(E53-E70-E71)

[CroughtonE32]

Is there another alternative to gain access to my deadlocked '03 E53 X5 4.4i ? I've tried the manual way & nothing! Roadside tried to access by attempting to pull the door handle from inside with the inflatted ballons from driverside.

There's a YouTube video out there that has a guy with a locked X5. He uses a 12 volt jumper with long cables. Takes the positive cable and gets under the X5 and puts it on the pos of the starter. Then he takes the neg and clamps it on to the brake caliper for ground. Door opened right up. Can't find the video again or I'd post it.


OK I found the video.....................https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veh1eGTWZ7M