X5 Driver Door Locked, Unable to Open, Help!

[talljames]

I will post a quality comment when I install it. cheers.

[talljames]

Hi all, ok interesting question. My door actuator that was supposed to arrive last week got lost in postage. So, I ordered another one. But now, I have another issue. My car has been sitting for 5 days (and i know it has a slow battery leak somewhere). Just checked and my remote will not open the drivers door. So, I use the key to manually open it, but because of the door actuator problem I would hold the key to the right for 5sec and it would open the window and i would reach in an open the door that way. Now because I have no battery voltage I can't even do that. Any ideas on how I can get into my car?? The passenger front door does not have a key lock. All ideas appreciated!!

[andrewwynn]

If you have a hitch with power you can apply power to the right pins and backfeed to get enough power to the battery to operate the lock.

If you locked with the alarm set the doors will be double locked you can't unlock by pulling the inner handle so locksmith tricks will not work.

There's a trick to pull the cable that unlatches the door when dhc is broken but the door can't be locked so that won't help you.

There's a way to get into the hood from outside but you have to pull a kidney and cut a bit of the plastic around the radiator.

[talljames]

Ended up dropping out the tailgate light cover and supplying power to the globe with earth connected to the exaust pipe from a motor cycle battery. That enabled me to unlock the car with the key fob. Then I could get in and open the bonnet. I have roadside assistance on the way to give me some good cranking power to start the car. Of course it had to be in the hottest part of the day in the hottest day in summer here..lol

[andrewwynn]

That's a hell of a tip. Wonder why there's power on the light when it's presumably off. Is it ground switched?

[talljames]

You just need to provide the power from a spare battery and the light shines. Easy thing to get the cover off. Unfortunately, not my ingenuity. Got it off YouTube (thanks whoever). But his suggestion said that I could open my boot lid but it didn't work. Might be my model. Was about to give up then I tried the key fob. Had to try a few times (the drivers door would pop up and down which is not what I wanted!!) but eventually all locks (including rear ) popped up. Trying to get down on a bung leg being 6'8" tall and looking up at the rear registration light was not an easy task, especially in such heat! because it was parked away from my driveway.

Road assistance has been (jump start) and gone. No cost because I am covered. Now have the charger on in my drive way.

Need to fix that leaking battery and I think it is the FSR. Can't leave the car more than 3 days.

Little lesson for me and now looking forward to the new door actuator part to arrive. :0)

[andrewwynn]

It would not be difficult at all to install an emergency hood/bonnet release but you are still at the whim of the key fob and the DLA!

[talljames]

If I ever really get stuck I could just do this:

On each side of the latch there is an 8mm screw that can be removed through the front, between the hood and grill They are aprox 6" apart.

The latch itself has two locator pins that slide into the front suppoprt behind the grill.

After removing the two screws, gently pry the whole latch away from the support. The hood can be raised, taking the latch with it.

Access to the release lever is behind the latch. It is now exposed.
pull the tiny release lever toward the drivers side and latch will come loose.

[talljames]

From Bogdan Odwazny off fixit.

[talljames]

Well, presented with another problem. The battery is all charged up now but only a couple of instrument cluster lights come on. None of the meters, speedo, etc. So, I tried the trick of removing fuses 1,45 and 43, turn ignition to 2 then take key out and replace fuses but it didn’t work for me. Next step is to disconnect the battery and see if that fixes it.