Locked out
 

Hi everyone
2003 diesel sport,battery went flat managed to open bonnet put jump leads on powered up but remote won't open door,lock not working with key any ideas how to get in

break a window...if key cylinder won't open...only 1 way ...

How dead is the battery? Like is it just slightly discharged or deeply discharged?

If deeply discharged, it may take a few minutes for the battery to build up...and make sure that you have the jumper cables hooked up properly to both the positive & negative terminals in the engine bay. Sometimes people try to ground the negative jumper cable to something they "think" is grounded...and not the "special" hex bolt that was designed for jumping/charging from the engine bay.

Again, if you are using jumper cables and another vehicle...give the battery a good 3-6 minutes. If you are using a battery charger or one of those portable jump packs, it may even take longer.

Once the battery has had sufficient time to build a charge, then try the remote key again, or try turning the key in the driver's door cylinder. It doesn't take a lot of juice to initiate central locking (FZV).

Again, make sure that you have the jumper cable hooked to the "special" negative battery terminal on the left side of the engine bay (left as in perspective from driver's seat):



And just an FYI about attempting to open the doors from the inside if the vehicle is in "double-lock" (this is when the vehicle was locked with the remote key from outside the vehicle, or manually locked from outside the vehicle using the driver's door cylinder). The interior door handles will NOT open from the inside when the vehicle has been double-locked without a specfic procedure for BMWs from the 2000 model year-up.

Prior to the 2000 model year...there wasn't a way to open the doors from the interior without a working key. From the 2000-up model year...if the vehicle has been double-locked...you must:

1. press the central lock/unlock button on the center console, then
2. pull twice on an interior door handle

If you don't press the interior central lock/unlock button first, you can pull all day long on the door handles and they won't open. See the description in the 3rd paragraph in the info below which applies to the e38/e39/e46/e52, and e53 generation of BMWs: