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      05-17-2014, 04:01 PM   #23
autoart
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All I did was remove the cover under the glove box. Find the gray/green wire, cut off some insulation and jump it with a 6volt battery. I will try and take pictures latter to help the next guy.
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      06-29-2016, 10:49 AM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by autoart View Post
All I did was remove the cover under the glove box. Find the gray/green wire, cut off some insulation and jump it with a 6volt battery. I will try and take pictures latter to help the next guy.
Old thread, but after reading about multiple folks following this thread to open, successfully, the trunk. All have mentioned the unnecessary stripping off insulation. You can simply PIERCE the insulation with a conductive metal pin making contact with the conductive interior of the wire, and apply the positive terminal connection to that pin...no need to strip (and retape, after you are done) insulation, and piercing with a pin is far easier than stripping.

Last edited by Wilt; 07-08-2016 at 07:34 PM..
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      06-30-2016, 01:12 PM   #25
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Happened to me, you can also take out your rear left speaker, dig under teh insulation and find a seat release latch wire, pull it on aboom seats fall down, your in the trunk.

if you dont have folding down seats though, you are screwed. Use a small battery like you did.
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      05-14-2018, 02:34 PM   #26
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Thumbs up Added instructions - no wire stripping needed

ctuna's isntructions worked! See post #14 on this thread. Thanks for the solution! And credit to my wife for finding this post.

To build on it, I figured out how to do it without having to strip a wire, or anything else invasive. This should also save you the uncertainty of hunting down the infamous grey wire with green stripe amidst bundles of wires. I'll post a video later. Note: I was working on a 2011 328i with a disconnected battery and a locked trunk.

If you're a layman like me, don't be intimidated by any of this. It's very doable. I'm not a mechanic or an electrician, so please pardon what is likely my ignorance of many things. I just want to be more helpful than "put your key in the keyhole and turn".

The goal is to be able to pull out the junction box ("A4010") to disconnect and access the backside connector ("Connector X14270"). Everything on a BMW seems to work like a Japanese puzzle box, so you need to do these things in order and reverse it when you put it back together.

You'll need a torque screwdriver, a phillips-head screwdriver, 1-2 feet of radio wire, and a 9-volt battery. Electrical tape, 1 small wire clamp, and a plastic prying tool are handy too.

1. Per ctuna's reply on this string (#14, line 4a), remove the bottom panel below the glove box.

2. Remove both cup-holders above the glove box. This is necessary for the glovebox to pull out (next step). You'll need to pop out the plastic trim around the cup-holders. Use a plastic prying tool if you have one, otherwise a flathead screwdriver will work - just be very careful not to scratch the trim or your dash. It should give easily; just pop one side and pull the rest out gently with your fingers. There should be 4 screws. After taking them out, the cup-holders should pull right out.

3. Remove the glove box. I think the reason ctuna couldn't manage to pull the junction box is because the glovebox locks it in. Open the glove box and there should be 6 screws. Once they're removed, the box should pull right out. Disconnect the connectors of whatever electronics are hardwired into it. I just had a USB charger and the glovebox light. Now you should have full view of your fusebox and the flat junction box below it.

4. Disconnect the junction box. First, disconnect the two wire connectors facing you (one blue and one black) and secure them out of your way. Next, there are 2 screws on the left and the right of the plastic "sleeve" holding the junction box secure. After you unscrew them, there's a plastic tab on the top of the box near the left screw. You'll have to feel around and press it down to unsecure the box and be able to pull it out. Note: You shouldn't be able to pull it all the way out - nor should you just yet.

5. Once you have the junction box loose, disconnect the wire connector behind it. This is the trickiest part. On the far right (as you face it from the seat) on the back of the box is a tab. Slide it all the way out to the right. It might take firm force at first. That should cause the connector to pull away from the box. And there you have it! That connector is the Grail. Pull out the junction box completely and set it aside.

6. Locate the correct pin hole (pin #12) on the connector for the trunk release. You'll notice the junction box has corresponding pins to send electric signals down these small square holes. On the connector, you'll notice the top row of holes has a "1" on the far right, and a "20" on the far left. Just count right-to-left to the 12th hole in the top row. On the other side, you should see the infamous grey wire with a green stripe. It's almost dead-middle of the connector.

7. Send a small electric current down this hole. I used a 9-volt battery and thin radio wire (usu. 2 very thin intertwined wires with a red and a white insulation for positive and negative respectively). To ground it, I wired the negative lead of the battery to a small clamp (with my white wire) and attached the clamp to the passenger seat rail. Now, I was paranoid here not to let your positive and negative wires touch each other or the same piece of metal for fear of shorting or burning something out. It's just a 9-volt battery, but better safe than sorry. Next, before attaching the other (red) wire to anything, I stripped about an inch of insulation off one end and shaved the wire thinner with a knife. You should then be able to slide that end of the (red) wire into pinhole 12. Be careful and don't force it; you don't want to end up with a broken piece of wire jammed into that hole. Once that end of the (red) wire is secured into pinhole 12, just brush the other end of it against the positive lead of the battery.

If all goes well, you should hear the beautiful sound of your trunk latch releasing and a weight of embarrassment (for getting yourself into this mess) lift from your shoulders.

PS - Just in case, fold down your back seat when you're done.
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Last edited by eMarcus; 05-14-2018 at 04:11 PM..
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      05-14-2018, 03:24 PM   #27
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i would not mess with the electronics to open, get an extra long jumper cable to boost the car at the front.. ur only safe option in my opinion
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      05-14-2018, 04:08 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pladi View Post
i would not mess with the electronics to open, get an extra long jumper cable to boost the car at the front.. ur only safe option in my opinion
Of course - but that only works if you still have a battery connected, completing a circuit. Even then, many people seem to find it doesn't work. I tried a tickle charger, a heavy charger, and then a jumper cable to the connector under the hood first. I also consulted 2 BMW service centers who confirmed that wouldn't work with a disconnected battery.

To be clear, this solution is if your battery is disconnected or other options aren't working. The assumption is anyone getting to this post have already tried the obvious options.
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      05-15-2018, 10:59 AM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eMarcus View Post
Of course - but that only works if you still have a battery connected, completing a circuit. Even then, many people seem to find it doesn't work. I tried a tickle charger, a heavy charger, and then a jumper cable to the connector under the hood first. I also consulted 2 BMW service centers who confirmed that wouldn't work with a disconnected battery.

To be clear, this solution is if your battery is disconnected or other options aren't working. The assumption is anyone getting to this post have already tried the obvious options.
IT WORKS 100 % even if the battery is not connected. I have done this mistake before.
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      07-10-2019, 08:40 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pladi View Post
IT WORKS 100 % even if the battery is not connected. I have done this mistake before.
fwiw it doesn't work on my car. Tried a jump kit, tried the new battery connected with jumper cables, neither worked. Will try the eMarcus solution.
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      09-22-2019, 06:16 PM   #31
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nadidlab, If the trunk release actuator wire in the harness that goes from the chassis to the trunk/boot lid is broken, neither of emarkus' solutions will work. Regrettably, you must open the trunk to access the wiring harness to effect this rather simple repair.
If (like me) you do not have a trunk key lock, or a ski pass through, or folding rear seats, you are probably (like me) looking for some other way to get into the trunk so you can repair the broken wire in the harness. Good luck.
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      03-29-2020, 12:27 PM   #32
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Can anyone help me I have a 2010 E93 convertible and I have done the same, and I am unable to get into the boot to replace the battery can anyone help me out, or dumb down the way to do this haha

Cheers
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      04-07-2020, 12:21 PM   #33
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Have you tried jump starting the car?
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      06-02-2020, 04:10 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamster93 View Post
Have you tried jump starting the car?
2011 335 x drive Sedan....lots of suggestions about how to fix this - I am admittedly shy about attempting even the most simple electrical tasks. I got VERY lucky with a simple approach that worked!!! -

1) Connect jumper cables as if jump starting the car - use the positive post under the hood of the BMW (and the ground post) and connect to another car.
2) Plug the key into the "ignition" in the dash.
3) Instantly, the small orange light on the transmission selector illuminated, so I knew there was power.
4) Push the trunk unlatch on the key fob and....trunk is unlocked!
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      06-02-2020, 07:45 PM   #35
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This happened to me a few weeks ago. I went through the trunk handle and used a coat hangar to pull the emergency latch wire to pop the trunk open.
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      06-02-2020, 11:30 PM   #36
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How to learn in this forum. Thank you all
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      06-03-2020, 11:03 PM   #37
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I'm glad my 6-year-old post still helps people, along with others' help.
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      03-04-2021, 05:25 PM   #38
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Thank you eMarcus so so much ! I spent around 45mins today and it works!!! Step 5 is indeed the most challenge one. I had to laid down face toward the back of the connector and be able to see the tab. I use a screwdriver to push it toward the "wall" and pull out the junction box. Now I have to do all steps reverse and install them back.
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      04-28-2021, 05:31 AM   #39
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Many thanks for all of the helpful posts here, especially Ctuna and Emarcus. I too had this problem. I was unable to open the boot of my 2010 320D E90. At the same time I got a fault warning that the boot was open.

There is no keyhole, no access through the back seat and no safety pull inside the boot.

I tried putting 9V between pin 12 and earth but no joy! I checked the continuity between pin 12 and earth and it was open circuit.

In desperation, I tried drilling a hole in the boot where I imagined the sliding arm on the lock might be. My hole was a bit out of position by about 5mm to the left and 12mm high. This made locating the hole in the sliding arm of the lock difficult.

After about 10 minutes probing with a thin metal rod, I managed to slide the arm and unlock the boot.

I checked the flexible duct containing the wiring loom going into the boot and found a broken brown wire. The plastic insulation on the wire had become brittle, possibly due to overheating, over a length of a few inches and had broken. The copper wire was then subjected to flexing at an acute angle without the moderating effect of the insulation and it broke.
I replaced the brown wire and the boot lock is working again and the boot open fault disappeared.

Its not nice to drill an exploratory hole in the boot lid but I was lucky that the hole was close enough to allow the lock to be opened. It would have been simple to operate the lock if the hole had been positioned over the sliding arm hole.
With the boot open, I checked to see if there is any other way to access the lock sliding arm. Breaking out the tail light would not give access as there are a number of metal stiffener panels in the way. Taking out the boot opening switch and number plate lights would not work easily as the lock itself blocks access to the sliding arm from that direction. It may be possible if you made up a special tool to get access to the side of the lock from above and you had a boroscope to guide you.

I am posting some photographs which might help others.

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1. A photo of the boot lock after I opened the boot. You can see the sliding arm that opens the lock. You can see my first 5mm hole which went a bit too far. There are 2 metal skins in the boot lid that you have to drill through. The second skin is tight against the lock where I drilled so be careful not to go too far. If you drill in exactly the right place there is a gap between the inner skin and the sliding arm which you should feel as you drill through the second skin. Use a 5mm drill to start with. I widened my initial hole to 10mm and that allowed access to the sliding arm even though at an awkward angle. You can see many scratches caused by my probing with a sharp metal rod. I covered the hole with a rubber grommet that does not look too bad and allows easy access if needed in future.

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2. A photo of the boot lid with lines drawn and measurements for where the hole should be drilled (a bit displaced from mine). The vertical line is the boot centre line. I took measurements from the boot corners just underneath the tail light. The centre of the BMW logo and the centre of the boot opening catch appear to line up with the centre of the lid. The hole should be drilled 27mm to the right of the centre line and 73mm up from the bottom edge of the lid. Use a flexible measuring tape to follow the curve in the lid when you measure the 73mm.

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3. A photo of the rear of the car taken a bit further away for a better perspective.

Last edited by kenobee; 04-28-2021 at 11:48 AM.. Reason: Photos too big
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      04-28-2021, 06:18 AM   #40
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Is your car a manual?
What difference does it make?
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      04-28-2021, 01:01 PM   #41
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The trouble with jumping from the Engine Bay is if you have removed the
+ line that goes to all the Electronics in the Dashboard(at the battery distribution box)
to get the battery out and Left it disconnected there will be no power to that area even if you
jump from the engine bay. That is why the direct jump from the wiring in the
Fuse box area is necessary.
Also if you are jumping from the Engine Bay and any of the Hot Lines on the battery
distribution box are touching Ground you may Arc Weld at one of those Wires.
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      12-12-2021, 11:02 PM   #42
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Hello,
I got stuck with broken cable and closed trunk on my wife's E90 335D with no key hole, no folding seat or "ski sack" in the middle so I was evaluating the Kenobee option above (thanks!) and wanted to drill the hole. Did I say it is my wife's car? Ok, here is the ULTIMATE non destructive recovery if everything else in this thread fails:
- Remove the seat cushion (it's only on two clips)
- Vacuum the kids mess underneath the seat cushion (optional but satisfactory)
- Unhook the passenger lower corner of the rear seat, (you need to put your fingers between the door seal and behind the seat and lift the corner up) it's quite flexible corner so once unhooked you can pull it few inches from the body. I put a wooden block underneath to keep it opened. This will provide you a peephole to see the sexy manual latch. I also removed the two middle bottom torx M10? bolts but it did not show any positive impact on how far the seat can be opened.
- than you need literally fish the latch. After few trials I used my daughters fishing rod as it was flexible - you need to feed it between the front passenger seat and B pillar through the peephole and once clear of the B pillar you need to go up. Other option would be smaller sticks and keep adding and taping them as you push them inside since there is not enough room between the opened rear door and the peephole. You need about 6 feet long object to reach the latch. I'm explaining it too complicated, sorry, once you start you will see it.

- the hook shouldn't be a J shape but rather just an L shape because the latch is clipped to the wall and with the J shape you won't be able to engage the latch.

I hope it helps!
P.S.: I wanted to add few pictures but don't know how, I tried it via google drive links but it is not showing anything. If it will prove necessary I will do it with someone's help, thank you.

Last edited by lubulo; 12-13-2021 at 12:46 PM..
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      12-13-2021, 10:07 AM   #43
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Awesome outcome, I had heard 09+ no keyhole.

I guess the idea is if the battery were dead, it could be jumped from the terminals under the hood, and BMW must have felt undoing battery and shutting trunk is unlikely?

I have a somewhat parallel story without being locked out. On my Lexus I wanted to keep the car alive while I changed the battery. I am not sure what is lost when battery disconnected, and the 9V cigarette lighter trick doesn't work.

My main thing would be seat presets as the Toyota power mirror switch goes bad over time, hard to adjust the side mirrors. Also seem to have XM Radio free for years, didn't want it to disappear somehow lol

Anyway I connected my power supply to the car's battery cables. It was tricky to get the battery out with my connections, and the negative slipped off (the idea is to work the battery out, with the power supply [jumper cables] still connected, then work the new battery in, with car still being powered by the supply. Hard to explain I could have had the negative clamped to ground, not the actual cable which was in the way. So I went to all that effort only to have the same outcome, computer lost power, etc. And this battery is under hood. So imagine what else could happen in the trunk. It's all good...didn't lose the radio nor seat presets, but everything else reset...

Last edited by John 070; 12-13-2021 at 10:15 AM..
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      12-13-2021, 11:34 AM   #44
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Not a good idea to use battery back up in these .
It blows fuses and doesn't save anything worth saving.
Also it a mess to do because of the 5 hot +12 wires you
are dealing with on the stupid battery distribution block.
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