Oh dear, locked out of boot

Smokey26 · 6 Oct 2020 at 19:51

Hi all, today i made a stupid mistake but one that also highlights how stupid this BMW is.

I was changing my battery earlier in my 2009 BMW E92 and i got as far as disconnecting the battery and then it started raining heavy. So i ran inside and closed the boot, DOH!

Now i can't open it. Ive tried connecting up the engine bay points to the new battery and to other cars, nothing. I even tried with a electriction mate to get a current to the rear latch itself, nothing. I see in America there cars have a latch they can pull, but i can't get to the boot from the car, and there is no lock on the boot as they stopped that in march 2009. That is genuis.

So iam basically screwed. Surely you'd be in the same position if the battery died altogether? Stupid car design not having a mechanical lock.

Dis86 · 6 Oct 2020 at 19:54

Read the manual.

Diddums · 6 Oct 2020 at 19:59

You'll need a new car m8, soz

Smokey26 · 6 Oct 2020 at 22:01

Dis86 said:
Read the manual.

Not sure if serious.

Akagi · 6 Oct 2020 at 22:02

Smokey26 said:
Not sure if serious.

In seriousness though, if you don't have the manual, Google it. I just did and found the answer in 5 seconds.

Dis86 · 6 Oct 2020 at 22:02

Smokey26 said:
Not sure if serious.

It tells you how to unlock it so 100% serious.

Akagi · 6 Oct 2020 at 22:06

Post #4 runs through each thing you can try. Starting simple, finishing up a bit wild.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690147

ezekial · 6 Oct 2020 at 22:16

How did your mate try to get current to the rear latch?

I can confirm that this works with a disconnected battery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBBhjQkJVt0&ab_channel=DamoK

Rroff · 6 Oct 2020 at 22:26

Personally I hate this trend, like so many things these days it sticks its head in the sand when it comes to edge case but hugely inconvenient if they happen scenarios.

Fortunately on anything I drive which has an implementation like this there is a hidden manual lock.

Akagi · 6 Oct 2020 at 22:44

ezekial said:
How did your mate try to get current to the rear latch?

I can confirm that this works with a disconnected battery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBBhjQkJVt0&ab_channel=DamoK

Yep thats the same thing thats mentioned in the link I posted.

koolpc · 6 Oct 2020 at 22:58

Very clever

Akagi · 6 Oct 2020 at 22:59

When I first read it I thought you had locked yourself in the boot. I had this vision of you posting this thread on the forum by candle-light, stuck in the boot.

Howard · 7 Oct 2020 at 09:45

The first thing I'd probably try is applying 12V to a permanent live connection / fuse point. Cigarette lighter perhaps.

jpaul · 7 Oct 2020 at 10:07

Howard said:
The first thing I'd probably try is applying 12V to a permanent live connection / fuse point

He said he had tried that, and I thought too, that bmw engine bay battery connections were directly connected, and equivalent to power from the boot battery -
why are they different. ?

I had problems on a touring boot, where the lock button wasn't retracting fully, and sometimes stuck, so ultimately left the internal trim loose, so I could get to it, if needed.

Smokey26 · 7 Oct 2020 at 10:08

ezekial said:
How did your mate try to get current to the rear latch?

I can confirm that this works with a disconnected battery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBBhjQkJVt0&ab_channel=DamoK

Oh wow, that video is great, thanks very much, easy to follow. Ive managed to get the plug out and i can see the wire i need. Now iam crap with electrics and its not 100% clear in the video. The guy says using a 12v source, so i can use the new car battery ive got? So i just need to send the positive from the battery to the wire in the plug and the negative just needs to be ground to the seat bolt bracket etc?

Smokey26 · 7 Oct 2020 at 10:10

Acme said:
In seriousness though, if you don't have the manual, Google it. I just did and found the answer in 5 seconds.

Im all ears, please share.....

Akagi · 7 Oct 2020 at 10:16

Smokey26 said:
Im all ears, please share.....

Wow really?

I have actually already posted the link and told you the exact post to read, and someone else has posted a video since showing you that self same thing.

But you could have found it yourself with basic googlefu... "open e92 boot no battery".

Wow so difficult.

Acme said:
Post #4 runs through each thing you can try. Starting simple, finishing up a bit wild.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690147

Smokey26 · 7 Oct 2020 at 10:20

Acme said:
Wow really?

I have actually already posted the link and told you the exact post to read, and someone else has posted a video since showing you that self same thing.

But you could have found it yourself with basic googlefu... "open e92 boot no battery"

Wow, so difficult.

I found that link last night after posting, didnt see your reply.

Is this information in the Manual like you said it was?

Akagi · 7 Oct 2020 at 10:27

Smokey26 said:
I found that link last night after posting, didnt see your reply.

Is this information in the Manual like you said it was?

In which case I do apologise.

And I dont know, it wasnt me who said that.

Malt_Vinegar · 7 Oct 2020 at 10:48

Don't you also need to reset the charging system/register a new battery in the ECU on these when you replace them?

Oh dear, locked out of boot

Transmission breaker