Locked Out.

C

Craigyp

New member
Hey there,

I'm having a bit of an embarrasing problem with my 2003 Z4 Roadster. It developed a couple of problems late last year which meant I had to take it off the road until I could afford to repair it. During that time (4-5 months) the battery has gone dead, which is fine as I have a recharger.

However the main problem is that the battery in my key has gone dead as well and I cannot get into the car (The barrel has gone in the manual lock, something I didn't notice when I bought it). The key is less than a year old (The previous one's battery died completely) so I'm fairly sure that it'll be fine if I can get it charged but cannot get into the car to do this.

I went to the local BMW dealership who couldn't think of any other solution other than a locksmith who will charge £200+ to open it (even this is guaranteed apparently) or breaking the window to gain access (I'm loathed to do this as I've read that the doors might still be deadlocked?)

Can anyone offer any advice on how to gain access? I've thought about trying to get something into the cabin and pulling on the door handles, would this open the door?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Craig.
 
Can you get into the boot ? Battery is located there. Alternatively you can open the bonnet by removing the kidney grills and fiddling the latch.

I believe the key can be recharged using the base charger for a toothbrush.

Have a search - someone else had almost exactly same problem in the last couple of months.
 
They did. Gained entry through the boot using the key, charged the battery and all good. Occasionally the car will revert to transport mode requiring a dealer reset.
 
Thanks, I have no problems getting into the boot and recharging the battery, it's the key battery I'm having problems with.

I've just purchased a Oral B toothbrush so will give that a go when it arrives. If not will pulling the handles using a coathanger or something unlock the door or will the central locking prevent that?


Thanks!
 
Craigyp said:
If not will pulling the handles using a coathanger or something unlock the door or will the central locking prevent that?
Click to expand...
There is some evidence that dead locked doors will not open with a dead battery. But then, out of curiosity, I did lock myself in once a while back and the door unlocked with two pulls of the handle. Of course, the battery was connected, but the process felt completely mechanical, no central locking intervention was noticed. If you get the battery charged, I'm certain two pulls will unlock the door.
 
Hey there,

Just to end this thread, I tried the electric toothbrush thing and it didn't work at all. I'm not sure that anyone has actually seen it work, seems to have become a bit of a myth on the internet, the idea is sound but in practice I'm not so sure!

Finally got in though, found something long enough to prod the central locking button in the cabin and hey-presto it unlocked!

Just charging the battery up again and the car doesn't want to start now, fingers crossed that it'll fire up after that.

Thanks for the advice anyway. :thumbsup:
 
You can change your battery in your Diamond key type. It should not affect you opening your door manually.

Use a cutter to rip off the lap in between
Open it slowly
Remove battery
Install required battery

follow this link. This actually helped me with my E46 M3 key.

http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/miscellaneous-x5/63324-replacing-battery-key-fob-e53.html

Another thing "why the spare plastic key works even without a battery inside it" :?

Hope this helps you :)
 
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