BMW.......Break My Window?

[streetsoffire]

My wife's X5 sat in our driveway for a month, while we went to Hawaii to set up our house...... The battery has died, and I can't pop the door locks to enter. The problem is, when I was into modding the X5, I changed the drivers side door handle/lock to the euro passengers side, so now you cannot enter the X with a key; just remote only.......well, no battery, no use of remote.
Is there a way to get some power to the truck, before I hafta BMW to enter?
Any idea on which window is cheapest or easiest to install ( front door, rear door)?
Thanks in advance.

[TerminatorX5]

if you dont have rear safety airbags, it might be easier to replace rear glass... have to match the tint on the glass if tinted... if you have factory hitch, might be worth a shot to provide power via the plug - not sure if it works or not...

[Qsilver7]

Do you have a trickle charger or float charger? If so, you might want to try removing one of the side lights and hook up to the pos/neg wires. It doesn't take much juice to unlock the doors. If your trickle or float charger has around a 2 amp setting...this may be enough to engage the remote UNLOCK...which will allow you to enter the cabin and raise the hood wher you can hook up a battery charger (or jumper cables) to the jump start terminals in the engine bay.

[streetsoffire]

TERMINATOR: seems like all the glass (front and rear) is coming up within $20 of each other......the rears are tinted, so I may crash a front window; no hitch on the X.......

QSILVER: at first light today, I will look into the side light option....... I will also call the dealer and see what they suggest.

Does it make any sense to call a mobile pop-a-lock? If I remember when I owned my 3 series, if the doors are locked, you can't just simply pull the door handle to open.......is the X made the same way?

[Bargain Bucket]

Get underneath the car and see if you can remove enough undertray to get to the starter motor. The starter has a direct power line to the battery (actually it may not be direct but it is certainly unswitched). Put the +ve lead of a charger onto the starter power lead and the -ve onto a suitable metal point under the car. And you will have all the power you need to operate the central locking.

[SilverFalcon5]

Last month the driver side door handle carrier mechanism went bad and while I waited for the replacement to arrive. my wife drove the X5 to work that day, she stopped at home to pick the kids up for karate class. She ran in the house and left the engine running. Needless to say all the other doors were locked and we only have one key. I called around and had a locksmith there within an hour $95 to open it up.

I had even called United BMW and their recommendation was to wait for the locksmith.

when he arrived he was in the car in about 2 minutes and everything was good. he used a air bladder similar to a blood pressure cuff slid it in between the top right of the door frame and the roof line. A few pumps and had his tool with the hook on the end and a twist of the rod the door was open.( No 12 year giggles please)

Spend the same amount for a locksmith as you would a replacement window and not drive around in a car that looks like it was just boosted.

[Qsilver7]

SilverFalcon5...your situation is slightly different in that the engine was running...thus the central locking system was in single-lock mode...which means all it takes is a pull of an interior door handle...and you're in.

When the vehicle is in double-lock mode...it's not quite as easy because the interior handles are disabled. Double-lock occurs when you lock the vehicle using the key manually from the exterior of the vehicle or using the remote lock feature. BMW did change the system slightly starting with the 2000 model year...in that there's a procedure where you can unlock the vehicle when it is double-locked...prior years and generations...you would be SOL.

To unlock a BMW (from model year 2000-up) when it is double-locked...you:

1. press the central LOCK/UNLOCK button (if the car has electrical power)
2. then, pull TWICE on an interior door handle

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by Bargain Bucket

...The starter has a direct power line to the battery (actually it may not be direct but it is certainly unswitched). Put the +ve lead of a charger onto the starter power lead and the -ve onto a suitable metal point under the car. And you will have all the power you need to operate the central locking.

Actually, you're correct. There is a positive battery cable that runs from the starter to the alternator to the positive jump start terminal in the engine bay, then back to the positive post on the battery...and onto the high-amp fuse box and the other fuse locations:

[diyanich]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

if you have factory hitch, might be worth a shot to provide power via the plug - not sure if it works or not...

It should work if he finds some positive wire.

[cn90]

In the E39 cars, directly under the driver LEFT foot is where the Positive terminal is located. This terminal feeds the starter motor.

Below is the photo of E39 positive terminal, if you look at the aft part of the LF tire, go directly inward, you will see the positive post: