SkiTaxi

Hi All,

Ive been camping with family over the 4th and tried to drive my car today. Unfortunately, my key fob stopped working and so I can’t unlock the car. The physical key slot in the door seems to have something stuck in it (I tried to loosen it up for an hour last week, then figured I’d go to a locksmith when I got home from camping...).

The story is that I had AAA come and try to break in, but of course that didn’t work because the car is deadlocked and the door handles/central locking button don’t work. Tried switching key batteries with the one from my uncle’s Audi and that didn’t help (have comfort access, but that doesn’t work... discovered the broken key slot when trying to re-initialize like that last week). The AAA guy left and suggested possibly towing to the dealer, but that breaking a window is probably cheapest because I can fix it myself, and the car is parked in a way that will make it very difficult to drag onto a flatbed (in gear, at an angle, wheels turned pretty hard).

Any other options for getting in? Maybe not best to share online, but please message me privately if you have ideas! One suggested possible route is through applying power to the switch for the hatch glass. Really hoping to avoid breaking the glass, as I’ve got a long drive home on Saturday and need to drive to Boston later in the week. Thanks!

donpb

Let me share my story.

I locked my keys in my trunk. Thanks to the overly helpful auto trunk lock. I had no keys, no cellphone. I was able to grab a security guard and use his phone. I called AAA. Locksmith showed up in an hour. He was bragging to me how it takes him 2 seconds. He's gotten into so many new Bimmers. 1.5 hours later, he's still not in. He gave up.

We have a computer office where I live. I got in and Googled and communicated with a non-AAA locksmith via email. He showed up with the same story. 1 hour later, no dice. He didn't give up. He had some weird gizmo with dials and said he'd pick the mechanical trunk lock. Haha. I said good luck. A couple minutes of dial twiddling later, he's in my trunk. Wow. I got my remote and opened the car. I paid him $175. But he told me if I tell AAA their locksmith failed, they will reimburse me. They did!

I then shared my adventure with my indy dealer, and he told me I didn't have to go through all of that because a BMW Dealer can open the car for you remotely.

kd7iwp

They might be able to remotely assuming you have their BMW Assist (or whatever they call it) service. I wonder if the battery inside the car died? I can't think of an easy way to connect any other battery to it to jump start it. I don't suppose any wire down into the keyhole can clear out any potential obstructions either? If you shake the car does the alarm go off (though it has its own separate battery...) or does the panic button on the remote do anything? Can anyone think of anything that could be reached under the car to connect another battery to? Was thinking of the self-leveling pump but I doubt that would do anything as the relay would keep it disconnected from power.

I think I have an LCI right-rear tail light that I could send you if you broke yours. That said, I don't see much how breaking would help. It's possible you might be able to get to the battery through it. Unfortunately there is no emergency release handle inside since it's a wagon.

SkiTaxi

Thanks for the info! Unfortunately, I called the dealer today and they told me my car is too old to be remotely unlocked. I’m not sure what year your E61 is—mine is an ‘08. Was worth a shot though!

SkiTaxi

I tried the panic button—was hoping I could at least get something to happen, but no dice. I was afraid to set off the alarm in case I couldn’t disable it (the car isn’t parked at home right now, it’s on the street by people’s houses). That said, I probably will tomorrow if I end up having to smash a window.

The wagons do have an emergency release in the trunk, but you have to remove the inner trunk cover and pop a little cover off the latch. Then you can stick a screwdriver or finger in the hole and pop it. Obviously that won’t work in this case though.

Thanks for the tail light suggestion! I did wonder if the battery is dead, but the little light still flashes on the rear view mirror, indicating that the alarm is armed. Luckily the car is a stick so at least if I break in, I can bump start it.

I wonder if a dead battery would disable the deadlock feature? Seems like that would be a good design.

kd7iwp

I also assume you have tried using the key fob really close to the back window? The antenna is in the rear spoiler up there and the antenna amplifiers often fail on E61s and so the range can get awful. When I got mine it would only unlock if I held it up by the rear window.

kd7iwp

I could just be overlooking it but I don’t see an emergency release handle, nor would I expect it to have one since it isn’t a fully separated trunk. Here’s the view of the inside of the tail light. I think you could fit a hand in if it was smashed. There is still the cover over the battery below. Mine has a philips screw holding that cover on, not sure if yours still has that.

SkiTaxi

I tried holding it as close to the spoiler and to the antenna as possible yesterday, but no luck. I briefly had that issue with my other E61, but sadly it didn’t work this time.

SkiTaxi

The screw on my battery cover isn’t there. Might be good if I discover the battery is dead. The emergency release isn’t so much a handle, but rather a way to mechanically operate the latch. If you look at the black plastic part right above the latch itself (the part that sticks out in your photo), you’ll find a small rectangular cover that can be popped out. Inside that is a switch-like thing that can be pushed side-to-side to manually operate the latch. Sadly that would be impossible with the car locked!

donpb

I have an e60, not e61. A locksmith could pick your manual lock if it wasn't buggard up. My e60 is 2006. I was just going by what I was told, but maybe mine is too old for remote unlock but I didn't need to go that route though.

The locksmith picked the manual trunk lock. The other locksmith wanted to drill a hole behind my license plate in order to access the manual release. I told him NO.

What both locksmiths did and failed, was they used a pump up bladder to prop the door open enough to get a long wire inside. Then they pressed the unlock button on the dash, then took the wire and pulled on the inside door handle twice. It kept looking like they were home free, but every time the door unlocked, it quickly relocked itself. It kept doing that over and over again. It was kind of hilarious to watch.