I knew it would happen one day, and thought I was all prepared. Opened the garage, and no response to any buttons on the fob. Tried the other fob; no different. As planned, went to open the boot/trunk with the emergency key under the number plate, but the key just went round and round with almost no resistance, and didn't open anything except my panic module. What the **** do I do now?

Couldn't think of an answer, so called out the RAC. He arrived within the hour and was superb; easy to talk to, very knowledgeable, quick and above all, SLIM! I have osteo-arrrrr. and so have to get as much space on the drivers side (UK) so I can crawl in and out of the car. This means the other side is as tight up against the wall as I can safely get it. And which side has the emergency door key? He managed to get down that side far enough to open the door about 6 inches, and use a stiff wire hook to open the bonnet. Then he found the engine cooling fan fuse and pulled it. He applied a low wattage12 volt supply to the live side of the fuse holder, which powered up the central locking system enough to open the driver's door and the boot with the fob. From then it was easy-peasy. Jumper leads and away she goes. Neat, eh?. I'd not come across that trick before! Of course it needed to be a fuse that was always live regardless of the ignition being off, when the battery wasn't flat!

Now I must sort my emergency key. I assume it should tug on a Bowden cable and mechanically release the boot latch? Can anyone confirm that please? It takes me a lot of planning and struggle to get myself into a position where I can fix things, and I nearly always find I have brought the wrong tools, so I like to know what I expect to find before I start the marathon with deck chairs and cushions etc.

Another bit of good news was that he had a very sophisticated battery tester, and after running the engine for 5 mins with a 50 amp charge from the alternator, declared the battery fit to fight another day!

So why had the battery gone flat in the first place, I hear you ask. Well, when I put the car away 5 days previously, I had left my phone in it. And I think that when I went out later that night to get it, I must have forgotten to relock the car, and I assume 5 or 6 days of the security modules running must have flattened the battery.

 

What killed battery

 

You do know that there is a positive battery post behind the left rear wheel, don’t you?
That would have been an easier way to apply power to the system, than the contortions your guy went through.

 

I assume you mean the one in the boot/trunk? How could we get to it without being able to open the boot?

 

My best guess is in the last paragraph.

 

Why not use the key to get in the trunk, thats what I did when mine went flat.

 

Dude already stated in the original post... "As planned, went to open the boot/trunk with the emergency key under the number plate, but the key just went round and round with almost no resistance, and didn't open anything except my panic module. What the **** do I do now?"

Yes, you can reach a positive battery terminal from UNDER the car, behind the left-rear wheel. There is a stud with a rubber cap that goes directly to the Positive Battery Cable. Any other ground source can be used for the Negative side.

 

Is that right? Presumably it's the bottom end of the one that is inside the boot and just behind the rear left hand wheel? Why is there nothing about this in the manual? It would have been so useful to know!

 

Think it’s in the manual, and if you look at the post under the car, some folks have found that there is even a label on it (emergency jump start, or something like that).