W215 CL65 Dead Battery / Dead Trunk Adventure (and solution)
02-19-2017, 06:07 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
W215 CL65 Dead Battery / Dead Trunk Adventure (and solution)
UPDATE - Another dead Battery BUT I did confirm the following:
1 - Insert Small Metal Key into Trunk
2 - Turn the key JUST 1/8 turn to the left (I was turning it WAY to far)
3 - Push up - you SHOULD hear the lock release.
PS - The metal key seemed to go in both ways so if it doesn't work the first time, take the key out and put it back in upside down (hope that makes sense).
PS2 - I used a pair of pliers to help get a grip on the key - but now that I know only to turn the key 1/8 to the left, I might not need them any more.
Hi everyone,
For all us W215 CL65 owners who end up with a dead battery - this post is for you.
I accidentally left my lights on last night (switching them to ON versus AUTO since it was getting dusky outside and wanted to ensure my lights were on). When I came back outside a few ours later, I saw that my headlights were still on and the cursing commenced. I couldn't even use my fob to open the doors, so I pulled out the metal key, manually unlocked my door, jumped in, and sure enough, nothing. Battery was dead.
No problem I thought, its not the first time I've dealt with a dead battery - called a buddy who was near by to bring over some jumper cables and help jump my car. A few minutes later he arrives, we are both laughing at my dumb mistake with the lights as I walk to the trunk, and thats when our smiles quickly vanished. The trunk of course is controlled electronically, and no amount of fob squeezing and trunk button pushing was working because the battery was dead.
We then popped the hood to give it a boost through some auxiliary battery heads - like I have done with my 2000 BMW 740iL a bunch of times - and we can't find any.
We turn to google to see if there are any helpful videos - we find a couple but it requires opening a black box, undoing or uncovering a wire, attaching the cables carefully to a specific wire etc etc ... and of course next to it were other videos warning what ever you do never mess around with these wires.
It doesn't help that its night time, and our cell phones are dying making light a premium, but finally we peer under the latch of the trunk and there we see a manual key opening!
Once again we are relieved, laughing, anticipating a jumped battery in just a matter of minutes. I pull out the tiny, skinny, finger torture device - the name we gave it AFTER an hour of trying to open the damn trunk with it.
We finally give up and decide to come back the next day - hopefully google will provide some additional answers.
And it did - I discovered from within a post somewhere, that there is a very specific sequence of steps required, and within another post there was a tip to use a pair of pliers to help turn the tsftd.
We combined the two and voila, the trunk opened up. So I thought I'd post everything we did in a single location.
Step 1 - remove metal key from fob.
Step 2 - with your fingers, lightly insert the metal key into the key hole on the trunk (located right next to the button we push for auto opening).
Do not push it any further or turn it - just insert it.
Step 3 - using a pair of normal medium size pliers, grip the metal key and twist it to the left.
Step 4 - still with pliers, push upwards - the key and hole assembly will depress like a button, and unlock the trunk.
Step 5 - Push up on the heavy trunk and open as wide as possible
NOTE - It took a couple tries and even though the instructions I initially read, said turn the key FIRST, push SECOND, I think what ultimately worked was pushing the key in with the pliers, AND THEN turning it.
Hope this helps.
1 - Insert Small Metal Key into Trunk
2 - Turn the key JUST 1/8 turn to the left (I was turning it WAY to far)
3 - Push up - you SHOULD hear the lock release.
PS - The metal key seemed to go in both ways so if it doesn't work the first time, take the key out and put it back in upside down (hope that makes sense).
PS2 - I used a pair of pliers to help get a grip on the key - but now that I know only to turn the key 1/8 to the left, I might not need them any more.
Hi everyone,
For all us W215 CL65 owners who end up with a dead battery - this post is for you.
I accidentally left my lights on last night (switching them to ON versus AUTO since it was getting dusky outside and wanted to ensure my lights were on). When I came back outside a few ours later, I saw that my headlights were still on and the cursing commenced. I couldn't even use my fob to open the doors, so I pulled out the metal key, manually unlocked my door, jumped in, and sure enough, nothing. Battery was dead.
No problem I thought, its not the first time I've dealt with a dead battery - called a buddy who was near by to bring over some jumper cables and help jump my car. A few minutes later he arrives, we are both laughing at my dumb mistake with the lights as I walk to the trunk, and thats when our smiles quickly vanished. The trunk of course is controlled electronically, and no amount of fob squeezing and trunk button pushing was working because the battery was dead.
We then popped the hood to give it a boost through some auxiliary battery heads - like I have done with my 2000 BMW 740iL a bunch of times - and we can't find any.
We turn to google to see if there are any helpful videos - we find a couple but it requires opening a black box, undoing or uncovering a wire, attaching the cables carefully to a specific wire etc etc ... and of course next to it were other videos warning what ever you do never mess around with these wires.
It doesn't help that its night time, and our cell phones are dying making light a premium, but finally we peer under the latch of the trunk and there we see a manual key opening!
Once again we are relieved, laughing, anticipating a jumped battery in just a matter of minutes. I pull out the tiny, skinny, finger torture device - the name we gave it AFTER an hour of trying to open the damn trunk with it.
We finally give up and decide to come back the next day - hopefully google will provide some additional answers.
And it did - I discovered from within a post somewhere, that there is a very specific sequence of steps required, and within another post there was a tip to use a pair of pliers to help turn the tsftd.
We combined the two and voila, the trunk opened up. So I thought I'd post everything we did in a single location.
Step 1 - remove metal key from fob.
Step 2 - with your fingers, lightly insert the metal key into the key hole on the trunk (located right next to the button we push for auto opening).
Do not push it any further or turn it - just insert it.
Step 3 - using a pair of normal medium size pliers, grip the metal key and twist it to the left.
Step 4 - still with pliers, push upwards - the key and hole assembly will depress like a button, and unlock the trunk.
Step 5 - Push up on the heavy trunk and open as wide as possible
NOTE - It took a couple tries and even though the instructions I initially read, said turn the key FIRST, push SECOND, I think what ultimately worked was pushing the key in with the pliers, AND THEN turning it.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by PaystarCEO; 12-01-2018 at 03:41 PM.
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02-28-2017, 01:22 AM
#2
I had a dead battery and did try the key in the trunk but it didn't open. Maybe i didn't do it correctly.
I found open the hood remove the relay cover on the passenger side close to the windshield lift up the tray of relays and you will find a large red cable on the windshield side of the relay assembly. It has a lever type attachment send 12 volts down that circuit and you can use your key-fob to open things up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I found open the hood remove the relay cover on the passenger side close to the windshield lift up the tray of relays and you will find a large red cable on the windshield side of the relay assembly. It has a lever type attachment send 12 volts down that circuit and you can use your key-fob to open things up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
02-28-2017, 11:34 AM
#3
MBWorld Fanatic!
You should be able to just take the key, insert it, turn approx 1/8 turn, then push up to open the trunk, by hand. That's what I did shortly after I got my CL & realized it had a very weak battery. I then had to do it several more times because the new Odyssey battery was defective.
Another option if you can get in the car is pulling back the front passenger side carpet from the firewall, then removing the 3 10mm nuts holding the panel you will see there. Under it you will see the termination of the main positive battery cable at a relay/power distribution block. Jumping there is no different than hooking directly to the battery.
Another option if you can get in the car is pulling back the front passenger side carpet from the firewall, then removing the 3 10mm nuts holding the panel you will see there. Under it you will see the termination of the main positive battery cable at a relay/power distribution block. Jumping there is no different than hooking directly to the battery.
02-28-2017, 01:47 PM
#4
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Yes - those are both options I discovered searching on Google.
IMHO - I found both to be cumbersome and in the case of the solution under the hood, also littered with warnings.
The trick is to use a SET OF PLIERS. Normal size ideally.
The metal key is too small to get a comfortable grip - we tried for hours then the next day used the pliers and had the trunk opened in minutes.
I can't recall if we turned the key first THEN pushed in, or pushed in first and THEN turned the key. But there are only a few options so its just a matter of a couple minutes and problem solved.
IMHO - I found both to be cumbersome and in the case of the solution under the hood, also littered with warnings.
The trick is to use a SET OF PLIERS. Normal size ideally.
The metal key is too small to get a comfortable grip - we tried for hours then the next day used the pliers and had the trunk opened in minutes.
I can't recall if we turned the key first THEN pushed in, or pushed in first and THEN turned the key. But there are only a few options so its just a matter of a couple minutes and problem solved.
