Dead battery = locked out

My battery died, and is now on life support (trying to equalize before giving up).

When I removed the battery, I accidentally dropped the hood, and now I have no idea how to re-open it. Ze Germans for some reason made every single lock electronic, so what does the Bentley Book of all VW Knowledge suggest to do in this situation?

As for the battery being dead, it's that simple. I measured parasitic load at 70mA at 12.6V the other day.

Insert the key in the door?
You aren't serious that there is absolutely zero mechanical connection between the key tumbler in the door lock and the release mechanism, are you?

I'm confused. Can't you open the door with the key and then simply pull the handle to open the hood?

Lugnut beat me to the punch by milliseconds !

I'm pretty sure the key hole on the door is also electronic. I had the tumbler out in the past, and noticed some yo-yo head that performed a window recall lost the bit that attaches it to the lock module. When I used my screwdriver to check the module, it operated electronically, not mechanically (zero turning effort). Maybe I missed something...

Open trunck and crawl through if door doesn't work. Try the key in any door/hatch lock.

The mechanism may be broken but I'm fairly sure that it's not electronic unless you found a TDI Phaeton

I'll have to pull off the engine cover tomorrow, but before I spend that time, is there a way to pull the cable from under the car? I only remember seeing the guide tube, but not the cable itself.

Never mind, I found a solution. The trunk lid is *assisted* by electric motor, but I thought was a full travel stop was just the resistance of the latch. By grasping the key blade and turning much harder, I was able to twist it open. The rest is easy. I have a B+ wire in the trunk that I can hook up to a battery to open the doors.

You'rs must be strange. the electronic part in the drivers door is a switch that tells the other doors to unlock, but it should not keep you from opening the drivers door. Unless whoever 'fixed' your door broke something.

Of course, this explains why these cars can be broken into using a screwdriver to force the lock.

BTW: is it now, or was it ever true that a key lock also exists on the passenger side, but is covered by a bit of plastic? And that you can pop off the plastic cover and open the door with the key?

You remind me of the lady who called 911 on her cell phone panicked that she was locked in her car with a dead battery. Her door lock/unlock button would not work. The emergency operator recommended she try lifting the button that was in the door... the 'stuck driver' was so embarrassed... but 'saved'. Did you actually TRY the door lock?

I didn't try to use the remote

No, I didn't try the door lock, but for a good reason.
Once upon a time, before I owned the car, something must have gone wrong with the lock module. If it was replaced, the piece of the tumbler that connects the cylinder to the module was lost. Therefore, the door cylinder does nothing. I've not bothered to replace that cylinder to get that piece back.

I did try the trunk lid, just not hard enough. It took a fair amount of extra effort to unlatch it than in its normal powered mode, and more than any pure mechanical lock mechanism I've owned. No, I didn't call 911.

Anyway, all is well, so nevermind the noise.

jcrews said:

Ze Germans for some reason made every single lock electronic, so what does the Bentley Book of all VW Knowledge suggest to do in this situation?

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They say don't blame the designing engineers for some 'murrican bonehead screwing up.

jcrews said:

I had the tumbler out in the past, and noticed some yo-yo head that performed a window recall lost the bit that attaches it to the lock module.

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Make that one 'murrican bonehead, and then you for not rectifying it when you previously could have.

And who locks their doors while they are working under the hood, anyway?

Lug_Nut said:

And who locks their doors while they are working under the hood, anyway?

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Maybe those working IN the Hood...

I can blame the german engineers for how porsche's are designed. The hood release in any post '99 porsche is electronic... which is where the battery is located. If the battery dies there are 2 ways to open the hood; jump power to two poles in the fuse panel or to pull the bumper and mechanically release the hood.

rsrmatt said:

I can blame the german engineers for how porsche's are designed. The hood release in any post '99 porsche is electronic... which is where the battery is located. If the battery dies there are 2 ways to open the hood; jump power to two poles in the fuse panel or to pull the bumper and mechanically release the hood.

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Or get the cigarette battery adapter people use to keep settings when changing the battery!

Somebody on here had one, just search the dead battery threads

rsrmatt said:

I can blame the german engineers for how porsche's are designed. The hood release in any post '99 porsche is electronic... which is where the battery is located. If the battery dies there are 2 ways to open the hood; jump power to two poles in the fuse panel or to pull the bumper and mechanically release the hood.

Click to expand...

I second the cigarette lighter method. Or jumping power to the fuse box directly is also easy enough. Dealer probabily has a cool adapter to do either(or both).

Just because you dont have the proper tools to fix your vehicle in the back yard doesnt mean the engineers some how screwed it up.

So let me get this straight....if the car battery is dead, and the doors are locked, there's no way to get into the car? I think the inventors of the Otto cycle, Diesel engine, and bratwurst & spaetzle would have thought about this a little more thouroughly. So what do we do, call AAA, a locksmith, or smash a window?

jcrews said:

No, I didn't try the door lock, but for a good reason.
Once upon a time, before I owned the car, something must have gone wrong with the lock module. If it was replaced, the piece of the tumbler that connects the cylinder to the module was lost. Therefore, the door cylinder does nothing. I've not bothered to replace that cylinder to get that piece back.

Click to expand...

When I was younger, like many people, I used to like to take things apart and put them back together: carburators, transmissions, VCRs, TVs, lawnmowers, etc. I'd always end up with an "extra" screw or some other part. I was usually to impatient to take the item back apart to find where the part should go.

I learned my lesson when I decided to try to rebuilt the carb on my 1976 Grand Prix. It was a 2 barrel Rochester (IIRC). The engine started fine, but then gasoline started pouring all over the intake manifold. Luckily it didn't catch on fire.

Maybe it's time to replace that insignificant little piece...

I fought with an Audi the other day, because the battery cable was bad and some bonehead locked the keys in the car.
It turns out that the driver's door lock doesn't have a mechanical connection, but the passenger's door does. I don't know if that was intentional, or if some bonehead messed it up.

I've wondered about this on my '05 Beetle. There doesn't feel like a mechanical connection exists between the drivers side door lock and the lock mechanisim. On my '05 there isn't a passenger side key lock or a key lock on the trunk. If the key lock on the drivers door is purely electrical, how the h#ll do I get into my car (short of wedging under the car to find the hood release - after removing the belly pan - and recharging or jumping the battery)?

No key on the trunk? On my 04 Jetta, it's actually inside the VW emblem between the bottom parts of the W.

slpopp said:

I've wondered about this on my '05 Beetle. There doesn't feel like a mechanical connection exists between the drivers side door lock and the lock mechanisim. On my '05 there isn't a passenger side key lock or a key lock on the trunk. If the key lock on the drivers door is purely electrical, how the h#ll do I get into my car (short of wedging under the car to find the hood release - after removing the belly pan - and recharging or jumping the battery)?

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Practice.
Practice with the trunk open or windows down or the passenger's door open.
Open the hood, lock the doors, disconnect the battery, try to unlock the door using more than your thumb on a key fob.
If it unlocks you have no problem, now or imagined.
Humans are one of the few species credited with the ability to postulate, to apply conjecture, to consider possible scenarios and develop actions far in advance of the realization.
Do the radio waves from a remote key lock system scramble our thought processes to the extent that the result is a de-evolution of hundreds of thousands of years of concious thought patterns applied with logic to potential problems?

Lug_Nut said:

Do the radio waves from a remote key lock system scramble our thought processes to the extent that the result is a de-evolution of hundreds of thousands of years of concious thought patterns applied with logic to potential problems?

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Me thinks, yes.

Lug_Nut said:

Practice.
Practice with the trunk open or windows down or the passenger's door open.
Open the hood, lock the doors, disconnect the battery, try to unlock the door using more than your thumb on a key fob.
If it unlocks you have no problem, now or imagined.

Click to expand...

I tried it as you sugguested and there is a mechanical linkage between the key and the lock. On my '05 Beetle the mechanical locking and unlocking occurs in the last few degrees of rotation of the key (unlike the typical GM, Ford or Chrysler vehicle), well after the electrics have already done the job. I guess that's why it felt like there was no mechanical connection.

Lug_Nut said:

Do the radio waves from a remote key lock system scramble our thought processes to the extent that the result is a de-evolution of hundreds of thousands of years of concious thought patterns applied with logic to potential problems?

Click to expand...

I thought it was my cell phone that did that but maybe it is all those remotes I have.