928Benz

So my car battery died last week. Why? because over time, the trunk bolt that holds the trunk lid down got loose and and the trunk light sensor would not close, meaning the trunk interior light stayed on for god knows how long. So with the battery completely drained, I could not get into my car with the key fob and then the manual metal key did not work in either the door or trunk. And my GF comes all the way from Queens to help me jumpstart it. While I was contemplating getting a locksmitch, my GF grabbed 2 coathangers and pulled on my window. Got the coathanger through the slight gap and with a little fishing, hooked on the handle and opened the door. I was dumbfounded at how quickly she got this done. Took her like 5 minutes, seriously. So I crawl into the backseat, fold down the seats and crawl through the trunk. Removed the trunk liner and pulled on the trunk mechanism to release the trunk. Pheew, thank god I left my rear seats somewhat open. Got my car jumped and now I'm good. Just thought I'd share in case anyone ever gets in the same predicament.

BTW, now I tried to get under my hood to clean out some debris which I think is causing a minor leak in the passenger seat compartment and guess what? I think I broke the red hood latch underneath the dash. Anyone know how to get under the hood if the latch is broken? My car is becoming one project after another.

shane1000

My best time breaking into a car is 13 seconds. Yes, 13 seconds. I work for the fire department, and I sometimes need to break into cars. For example, sombody locks their keys and their baby in the car. Most cars are really easy to get into with little to no dammage.

As for opening your hood, try taking a pair of vise grips and latching onto the remaining part of the handle to extend the length. If too much of the handle is missing, remove as much of the handle as possible, and grab the wire with needle nose plires or vise grips. When you pull the wire, the hood will release. Replace the handle asap, before you dammange the pull wire.

MMM430

FYI....
The next time you are locked out of the trunk there is a sub-Battery terminal under the hood / driver side near firewall. You connect jumpers to it and while it wont jump your car it will give you enough juice to use the trunk pop switch on the shifter console / unlock doors, etc.....Thus saving you from having to go through pulling the seats down from the inside like that.
Cheers.

sfclk

can we also use those terminals under the hood for jump?

Dan Wang

Yes. That is what their intended purpose is for.

A1EK

yeah I was wondering why you went to the trouble of getting into the trunk? Pretty much all the Mercs I have had and BMW's have a positive terminal in the engine area that is covered and you then clip the negative terminal to any good chasis ground... simple!

928Benz

Shane, thanks for the reply. It looks like the hood cable came off the red interior latch some how. I will try to use a vise grip to pull at it and see if it works. Been searching the forum on how to fix this, but don't seem to find anything.

A1, I would have jumped the car by the lead under the hood like the new cars have, but going by the owners manual, it specifically tells you to jump the battery in the trunk. Didn't want to screw it up. I used my GF's new BMW which has the lead under the hood to jump my car. It all worked out.

Now if I can just figure out how to get the hood cable attached to the interior latch. hmmmmmm.