[Spun Crankhub]

So first of all BMW are a bunch of stupid german aholes for getting rid of the trunk keyhole. Now, am I screwed??? already tried removing the upper portion of the backseats, but that will not happen because I did not unlatch the tops from inside the trunk. There is no more ski pass throughs on this car. I cant think of anything else except for getting a hole saw and drilling a hole behind the rear fold down console, then reaching a hook in and grabbing the emergency release handle on the decklid. Any other, more logical ideas???
Maybe if I get jumper cables and hook my other car to this car via the underhood cable connections, does that draw enough power from the donor car?

[e90328i]

need to jump it

[Spun Crankhub]

Can the car be jumped with the negative battery cable disconnected? That would mean power would be coming from the donor car, and none from the car being jumped.

[username604]

I'm no electrician, but I believe the car acts as the ground, not the battery, and so you would be perfectly fine jumping the car without any battery hooked up.
Connect the positive to the positive lead under the hood and attach the ground to bare metal under the hood.
You don't need to jump start the car, just hook the car up to 12 volts so that you can unlatch the trunk!

[3er BMW]

Originally Posted by MontegoChris

Can the car be jumped with the negative battery cable disconnected? That would mean power would be coming from the donor car, and none from the car being jumped.

There should be a trunk keyhole near the license plate lights - looking up -
right side.

[Gossypiboma]

Originally Posted by 3er BMW

There should be a trunk keyhole near the license plate lights - looking up -
right side.

YUP

[Kolyan2k]

terminals are under the hood

[JYohay]

Originally Posted by BigBoosting

YUP

they stopped having those after 2009
someone said there is a sketchy way of jumping the car from the glove box fuse box

got this from this thread
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690147

1) 2008 models and before actually have key lock on the trunk - it's hidden above the license frame. This would have been great, but I have a 2009, so I don't have one.

2) Some models have a trunk pass through which would allow access through which you could pull the manual release within the trunk using a coat hangar or something. My doesn't. (I also spent some time trying to remove the seat backs, but I don't think I could have gotten them out without breaking something because the latches held them in place so securely.)

3) You can apply power to the car from the engine area -there's a big red + and a ground point nearby. Once power is on the car just push the trunk release in the driver's footwell. This is almost certain to work for most everyone. I'm not sure why it didn't work for me, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that the battery was completely removed and the cable were lying loose. That was strike three - I felt like I was out.

4) The only solution that worked for me was to run down the wiring diagrams and locate the "central locking drive, trunk lid" that's the solonoid that actually releases the trunk. Most of the effort was getting the information - the job itself was actually pretty easy. Here it is:

a) Take out the two torx screws just below the glovebox on the left and right to remove the panel below the glovebox. Disconnect the power socket and the light which are attached to the panel.

b) Below the fusebox there is a big flat horizontal junction box (Junction Box A4010). You can spot it easily because there are two big connectors going into it facing you. There is a flat wide connector plugging into the BACKSIDE of this same junction box. There are about a dozen small wires going into it and one big brown ground. This is the one you need to get to. (Connector X14270) Ideally, you'd want to disconnect this, but I could not manage to get it out from that position.

c) Identify the small wire which is gray with a stripe of green (it looks mostly gray). If you get the connector out, this is pin 12. It's the only grey/green wire in the bunch though.

d) You need to very briefly apply 12 volts to this lead to pop the trunk. I did it the ugly way - I very carefully razored off some of the insulation to expose it. Then I just attached some leads to my new battery. I stuck the ground lead into brown wire connector for the power socket I had disconnected when I removed the glove box panel. Then I just brushed the positive lead against the exposed pin 12 wire. The trunk popped instantly.


Now that I know what to do, I'll bet I could do this in 10 minutes. It's really just two screws to remove the pane and knowing which wire to power. I hope no one ends up in such a stupid situation, but if they do I hope this helps.

[jlcolon2001]

Originally Posted by 3er BMW

There should be a trunk keyhole near the license plate lights - looking up -
right side.

+1

[N8N]

Originally Posted by JYohay

they stopped having those after 2009
someone said there is a sketchy way of jumping the car from the glove box fuse box

got this from this thread
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690147

1) 2008 models and before actually have key lock on the trunk - it's hidden above the license frame. This would have been great, but I have a 2009, so I don't have one.

really? My '09 has the keyhole. Or is that different E92/3 vs E90? (LCI vs. non-LCI maybe?)

[Envuks]

Holy crap that sounds like a nightmare. Glad I have an '08.... Good luck!

[Otruba_843]

My 09 E90 LCI has a keyhole under the trunk...strange

[Bavarian Tech]

Hooking up power to the Jumper start under the hood wont do shit, since the battery is connected...need a complete circuit for any electronic to work..

Remove the glove box, and disconnect the junction box from the car without disconnecting wire harness it can be done its just tricky

Find a 9v battery with harness similar to an alarm clock/ smoke detector to supply the Junction box aka (fuse box) with power coming from the 9v battery and ground the 9v battery to the frame of the car

Theirs a big B+ cable on the back of the junction box...should provided enough juice to pop the trunk (obviously don't have the fob in the dash)

[Spun Crankhub]

I love how there are lots of BMW drivers who really know their stuff.
So my 09 has the trunk keyhole located by the license plate lights, but get this...the key does not pop the trunk. I can turn it both ways, but no combination of turning, pushing, pulling, jiggling, etc make the trunk budge.
So apparently my jumper cables are locked in the trunk, hahahahaha, gonna buy a set tomorrow then try hooking up to the under hood leads.
Thanks guys, great responses!

[caliguy562]

Turn key counter clockwise. You may have to use a bit a pressure if it is your first time using the lock. The key will not break on you.

[VTECaddict]

Originally Posted by MontegoChris

I love how there are lots of BMW drivers who really know their stuff.
So my 09 has the trunk keyhole located by the license plate lights, but get this...the key does not pop the trunk. I can turn it both ways, but no combination of turning, pushing, pulling, jiggling, etc make the trunk budge.
So apparently my jumper cables are locked in the trunk, hahahahaha, gonna buy a set tomorrow then try hooking up to the under hood leads.
Thanks guys, great responses!

Turn harder. Never tried, but I've read that you have to turn it so hard that you feel like the key is going to break.

[AcExSpades]

Turn the key harder. This actually happened to me some time ago.

I thought that the key didn't work, but I wasn't turning it harder.

[monkey_wrench]

Originally Posted by Marashco

.

[Spun Crankhub]

Talk about vice grips tight, got it. ::thumbs up::

[smallseafishie]

It's not that hard guys...

Pop the hood. There is a +12V post with a red cap on it. Hook the ground to the chassis of the car. Once the terminals to the car are powered, you can unlock the trunk.

Done

[The X Men]

Or just get one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/CTA-Computer-M.../dp/B000GKD5Q0

[JimVR4]

Originally Posted by smallseafishie

It's not that hard guys...

Pop the hood. There is a +12V post with a red cap on it. Hook the ground to the chassis of the car. Once the terminals to the car are powered, you can unlock the trunk.

Done

Agree!

One more thing to add. Make sure the switch inside the glove box is set to allow the trunk to be unlocked.