+1 on not the battery. Both of my keys had bad solder joints. (15 years of occasional drops to the ground take a toll). I did have to replace one battery but only because it didn't hold a strong charge and I already had apart to fix the circuit board.

It is possible the tang from the lock cylinder broke off and is stuck in a position that interferes.


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Bando, thanks! New key has already arrived at the dealer, but I won't be able to pick it up for a few days probably. Will post back after I receive the lock cylinder repair kit and new working key.

This only work if he has a working lock cylinder, but he doesn't have a working lock cylinder. There are many owners that posted on this forum that their door handle carrier is broken and the lock cylinder is also broken so they are asking how to get into the car without breaking a window.

If they had planned ahead and got their truck coded so that the key fob can lower the windows they can just reach inside and pull the inside handle twice to open the door. Lowering the windows with the key fob is also convenient in the summer to open all the windows and let the hot air out of the car before getting in.

I don't think any planning ahead involved with the fob other than they needed to be synced. I'm aware of the lock cylinder broken issue but once door open one 4-5mm hex screw from removing the broken cylinder where you could use a screwdriver to operate the lock. My comments about using key directly were aimed at after locksmith got in around the door. (Still not sure how that helped, the inside door handles and central lock are supposed to be disabled when you lock from outside)

Of course really the only point of auto-down on the windows is to vent the solar heat while walking to the car.


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In case you missed it...post #17 covers how to UNLOCK the doors from the inside when the vehicle has been double-locked. If a locksmith needs to get into the vehicle by prying the door slightly...if there's still power to the vehicle...there's a specific procedure that must be followed to get the interior door handles to operate.

SEE POST #17. :thumbup:

'03 X5 stuck in parking lot - can't unlock
 

I'll check. I would assume putting key in the ignition would kill the alarm and activate central locking. Interesting so it looks like you can press and hold central lock button then double pull the inside door handle. That will be tricky with coat hangers

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Yes, this procedure is tricky if all you have is a coat hanger...but a godsend to passengers that have incidentally been double locked inside the vehicle by the driver.

Prior to the 2000 model year...there was no escape from the interior if the car was double-locked. If the driver left passengers in the car, then locked the vehicle with the remote key to keep the passenger's safe...30 seconds after they'd walk away...the interior motion sensor would activate. At that point, as soon as someone in the car would move...the siren would sound off & the lights would flash...but the passengers inside the car had no way to exit the vehicle until the driver came back to the car to unlock it with the key.

This scenario made for some great stories back in the day...drivers found it hilarious but the passengers inside the car would be furious.

If this were to happen now...if the passengers in the car had been locked inside...they can press the central lock button, then pull twice on the interior handle. They can get out to escape the sound & light show then beat the snot out if the driver that locked them inside. :)

FYI...let your passengers lock the car using the central lock button, or manually push down the door lock pins. This only single-locks the car, and doesn't arm DWA.

That is some good advice. I learned the hard way about the motion sensor when I locked the car with the remote to "keep my kid safe" when I went in the gas station to pay. 30-40 seconds later the alarm sounds.

Using the two press to disable the motion sensor is a fun prank to lock somebody inside though :-) reminds me of a prank I did about 30 years ago.

Three kids were in the back seat of a car: me , my friend, and his sister. I happened to notice the child lock switch on the door edge as I exited and motioned to my friend who was at the other door as I flipped the switch. He did likewise as we both left the car and shut the doors with the sister "feet on the hump".

Not many cars had rear door safety locks and I'm pretty sure the sister wasn't aware that was an option on the car. She was quite confused over what magic allowed us to leave and yet she could not even as the doors were clearly unlocked.

(We were about 17, sister 15-16 at the time).

We weren't too mean: we let her out shortly after she realized we must have caused her grief.

-awr


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:)

I got the parts kit for the lock cylinder and am going to try to repair it this morning. Yesterday I popped out the old lock cylinder and was able to use a screwdriver to unlock the driver's door which allowed all the other doors, gas flap and central locking to all reset/work! After I did that I tried a key re-sync just figured it couldn't hurt and one of our two keys works! So many lessons learned the hard way through this ordeal! Going to the dealer this morning to pick up our new key and have it programmed at which point we will have two working keys. Also going to program the window roll-down feature into our keys adding to our ability to keep this from happening again.
I've also figured out the previous owner just replaced the battery in the X5 and that's why at least the one good key quit and why they started using the manual key/lock-unlock which led to the driver's door cylinder failing which ended up costing me $208 for locksmith and $234 more for the new key at the dealer! Luckily insurance says they're going to reimburse me the $208 for the locksmith.
I'll try to put up a couple of the failed lock cylinder and hopefully a "I got it fixed and back together" picture afterwards!