[John 070]

Originally Posted by ctuna

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.

Good tip for when one day I do the 335i. The weakest link in such a job can simply be something slipping, then there's an electrical problem.

With my wife's GM SUV the battery is under the rear right passenger's feet--I've been tempted to do work without disconnecting it, but told myself, do it right (her car takes 800+ miles before the emissions go into a ready state). There's a job where the top strut engine mount has to have the main electrical box pulled aside--it did cross my mind to leave the battery connected to save time, but I didn't....

[EssexAl]

Just done the same silly today with my '13 E93. No keyhole, disconnected the battery, shut the boot. Queue the pain. Some pics of the bypass

View post on imgur.com

[Archaeologistt]

Great post, hope I never need it...

[berdavid88]

Originally Posted by eMarcus

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.

Ok. So I got registered here just to say thank you. Thanks for Ctuna for the original post and also big thanks to eMarcus for giving an even more detailed description. With that method taking off the globe box, it was a piece of cake. Actually I can’t believe I pulled this out. At first I thought it would be much more difficult. I was stuck like many here. Took out the battery and couldn’t open the trunk. I have an e92. To fold the rear seats you have the buttons in the trunk. Jump start also didn’t work with the battery disconnected. Had no idea what to do. I found a cheap rear shelf on ebay. Thought I will cut a hole in my rear shelf so I get access to the buttons to fold down the rear seats and put back the battery that way. But this method man. Can’t tell how happy I was when I connected the cable to the small battery and I heard the noise of opening the trunk. What a f***ing annoying thing that you can’t open the trunk other way but lesson learned, will be careful next time and even if not, with this method it’s not that bad. I feel like James Bond or something for pulling this off. Thanks again.

[Miner38]

Originally Posted by eMarcus

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.

Thank you thank you thank you. tried everything but this was the one that got my boot open. i was getting close to crowbar option but this saved the day. thank you

[LCI-E92-N55]

Just wanted to report in and say I tried eMarcus' instructions and they worked.

I'm in Australia and the parts used were from Bunnings:
4008496639540 BATTERIES 9V VARTA
9311644113423 TAPE INSULATION PVC DETA
2443004000009 CABLE ELECT BELL WIRE P/M

I bought alligator clips but didn't end up using them.

We had to thin the gauge of the wire a bit as initially we didn't get anything. We also had to attach the neutral to a raw metal piece on the seat rail as attaching to the rail itself didn't seem to work. In the end it's not a super tricky fix but of course the best way is to prevent the boot from closing by flicking the latch shut and/or putting a towel down so it can't latch close.

Jump starting or direct connecting to battery did not work as we disconnected the battery completely when the boot had closed.

Initially I was very hesitant to try but this was the last option before having to get the car towed. eMarcus' post saying not to be intimated was comforting - I was concerned I could have fried something and make things go from bad to worse but thankfully everything eventually came good

[sonnydelight]

Just wanted to check in and say that eMarcus’ instructions worked perfectly for my 2009 e90 M3! Thank you!!

[bmwforumuser]

Originally Posted by eMarcus

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.

Keep in mind that at least on the E92 2012 335i coupe, you don't need to remove the glove box and trim. You can simply remove the plastic footwell "roof" panel (with the 2 Torx screws), shimmy into the footwell on your back, and disconnect the large connector that contains the gray wire with the green stripe from the back of the junction box. Find pin 12, stick a paper clip in there, and touch the paper clip with the +9V lead from your little 9V battery.

[Komolm3]

Hello I got 335 2011 e93 N55 RWD
i just made same mistake today, how I can open trunk now? Please help

Note: Bettry has been removed, all bettery cables and wiring are open all over and mix probably in tunk, I scare to jump cable under hood because I did some researched and it says .. if postive terminal cable somehow touch with any car metal then it will misfire or can make major problems in electric modules etc..

So what is the Safest easy way I can open trunk now please help.

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by Komolm3

Hello I got 335 2011 e93 N55 RWD
i just made same mistake today, how I can open trunk now? Please help

Note: Bettry has been removed, all bettery cables and wiring are open all over and mix probably in tunk, I scare to jump cable under hood because I did some researched and it says .. if postive terminal cable somehow touch with any car metal then it will misfire or can make major problems in electric modules etc..

So what is the Safest easy way I can open trunk now please help.

Follow directions posted above: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...4#post23191244

[Komolm3]

Thank you But as I mentioned bettery all cables and wires are open in trunk and they are probably in touch each other so to following your method will be any fire ? Or danger ?

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by Komolm3

Thank you But as I mentioned bettery all cables and wires are open in trunk and they are probably in touch each other so to following your method will be any fire ? Or danger ?

Re-read the post... you're not jumping the whole car, just the wire in the glove box:

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...4&postcount=26

[Komolm3]

StradaRedlands thank you so much but as a beginner it’s really challenging for me. Do you think you can make a short video step by step or is there anyway contact with you ? Thanks for support

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by Komolm3

StradaRedlands thank you so much but as a beginner it’s really challenging for me. Do you think you can make a short video step by step or is there anyway contact with you ? Thanks for support

Best I can do is point you to the instructions posted above.

[Komolm3]

StradaRedlands sure please

[e91Owner]

Originally Posted by Komolm3

StradaRedlands sure please

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

Re-read the post... you're not jumping the whole car, just the wire in the glove box:

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=23191244&postcount=26

He posted the instructions for you here ⬆️

[Komolm3]

I have successfully open trunk and put bettery back with full charge but car completely dead, ignition not even trunning on before it was… I tried to jump start to by other car but car ignition not even turning on …
Can anyone please help

[e91Owner]

Originally Posted by Komolm3

I have successfully open trunk and put bettery back with full charge but car completely dead, ignition not even trunning on before it was… I tried to jump start to by other car but car ignition not even turning on …
Can anyone please help

Doesn’t sound like you connected the battery properly or perhaps you blew the BST. A photo of the battery after you’ve connected it would be helpful.

[Komolm3]

Sorry to got back late, yes you were right Bettery connection wasn’t right ..
After fixed bettery connection, car turned ok, thank you for all support

[Mido1311]

Originally Posted by ctuna

Deja Vu this thread just ran on bimmerfest.
The way to do it without taking out the seat is to juice the
latch circuit.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...ighlight=trunk

Hey the ultimate driving machine doesn't have a way to get the trunk
open without the battery working. So dumb.
Sadly Porsche suffers from this to now.
And if you want to check how much oil is really in the car
you have to dump it out and measure it.
Seems like the Germans are doing what the Italians
used to do.

When you take the battery distribution block off the battery its the
equivalent of pulling all the wire connections out of the circuit breaker box on your house.

If you're reading this, you are probably stuck like I was stuck - hopefully not as bad. If you're lucky, you didn't completely remove your battery and close the trunk. If you're lucky, you have one of the features which will allow you to get access to your trunk. If you're not lucky - I feel your pain.

"Here are the solutions that I found from searching.

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.
Last edited by Blorax; 05-11-2012 at 05:02 PM.
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Thanks very much , it really helped and worked