S40 (New) General : help! cant open doors manually. now locked out!

[reevesy]

hi all

got a 2009 s40 1.6 diesel ...which broke down on me the other day...RAC came out...long story short battery and alternator both knackered so dead car...RAC got me to a mates garage by disconnecting the alternator and putting a new battery on

that got me to the garage where he then took his battery back...i order to stop the alarm going off with the battery disconnected the car was locked with the horrible metal key thingy that is inside the key fob. ..this was very stiff but locked ok

next day i got a battery and a new alternator ready to be fitted...trouble is now the horrible metal key thing is turning in the lock and not doing anything...battery is knackered so i've no way to get into the car!

basically i'm locked out with no obvious way of getting in except breaking a window

.....does anyone know how i can effectively break in!?

any help asap would be most appreciated

cheers

...stressed owner !

[eagle58]

Try opening the passenger door with the key??

[reevesy]

Originally Posted by eagle58

Try opening the passenger door with the key??

The driver's door is the only one with a manual key slot as far as I could see

Another bit of design genius

[wynnj]

Don't know if you will get enough access but if you can get the front jacked up and supported, remove the under tray and connect a wire from your new battery to the permanent positive connected to the starter or the alternator permanent live terminal (the ones with the heavy duty cable), whichever is easier to get to. It doesn't need to be a heavy duty cable as you're not going to try to start the car with it. Make sure the connection doesn't touch anything else though. Connect another wire from your new battery to a suitable earth. You should then be able to operate the remote control again, but always remember to connect the earth lead last and disconnect first.

[eagle58]

Call the RAC and get them to fix it?

[reevesy]

Originally Posted by wynnj

Don't know if you will get enough access but if you can get the front jacked up and supported, remove the under tray and connect a wire from your new battery to the permanent positive connected to the starter or the alternator permanent live terminal (the ones with the heavy duty cable), whichever is easier to get to. It doesn't need to be a heavy duty cable as you're not going to try to start the car with it. Make sure the connection doesn't touch anything else though. Connect another wire from your new battery to a suitable earth. You should then be able to operate the remote control again, but always remember to connect the earth lead last and disconnect first.

Thanks ....car is left at a garage...their last words were leave it with us and we'll see what can be done
I
Will have to chase them up tomorrow

[reevesy]

Originally Posted by eagle58

Call the RAC and get them to fix it?

That did cross my mind ....but as I've got it with my car insurance I wasn't sure it was covered ...and wasn't sure they could do anything .

...plus if the only option is to break a window.


I was hoping to claim on the insurance .

[reevesy]

Originally Posted by wynnj

Don't know if you will get enough access but if you can get the front jacked up and supported, remove the under tray and connect a wire from your new battery to the permanent positive connected to the starter or the alternator permanent live terminal (the ones with the heavy duty cable), whichever is easier to get to. It doesn't need to be a heavy duty cable as you're not going to try to start the car with it. Make sure the connection doesn't touch anything else though. Connect another wire from your new battery to a suitable earth. You should then be able to operate the remote control again, but always remember to connect the earth lead last and disconnect first.

well..they managed to finally get to the bonnet catch via the front grill....so now the alternator and battery are fixed!

now worried if i ever lose a battery/power in the future i'm going to have the same problem!

so now i'm thinking of fixing cables (maybe house wiring size?) to the new battery...including earth ...and have the cable long enough to be tied off somewhere underneath the front of the car somewhere .....isolated off...so if it happens again a battery can be used to have power to use the remote key


got a couple of questions though....1.5/2.5 mm house type sized cable should be ok to use?

do i just need to fit live and earth ?

obviously the live just goes to the red live battery terminal but where do i fit the earth to...and finally when it comes to using another battery for power should i need to ...red to red on the new battery but what do i connect the hanging down earth cable (from the car ) to when it comes to connecting ?

hope that makes sense ...and thanks again or the help

cheers

[Dippydog]

Would it not just be better/simpler to fix the door lock?

[reevesy]

Well yeah ...but at what cost ..

I gather the whole door liner has to come off ...which apparently is not that easy (no suprise there )...,then most likely a new lock...again Im guessing not cheap...

I did originally plan to change the car at some.point this year ...go back to petrol .

Seems to me the easiest option would be the cable ...just to get out of a jam if needed .

Working on the fact this was the only time in 3 or 4 years of owning the car that I've had to use the manual key ...and the fact it's now got a new battery and starter motor ....I would like to think the problems not going to come up any time soon....plus I've just ordered a couple of spare batteries for the key fob..1 that I intend to keep in my wallet

Not taking into account Murphy's law though !