I heard my cooling fan running in my new-to-me 2003 XC70 yesterday quite a while after I turned the car off,.....but got distracted, and never got back to it to check it out. Now, the battery appears to be dead, and the car will not open either with the remote, or the key.

Wondering if I might be able to remove a license plate light or tail light and connect a battery charger to the bulb terminals to get some power into the system so that I can unlock the door and open the hood to put a charger on it and begin determing what is going on.

Any other suggestions?

Not a good design that the car can not be unlocked with the key in the door.

Brian in Austin

 

That makes no since, are you sure you have the right key? I would call a dealer or two in the morning.

 

The lock cylinder in the door does not require any power. If the key doesn't turn, you have another issue.

 

The key turns fine; but, the lock does not unlock and the door lock button does not pop up.

Maybe in addition to a dead battery (disabling the remote lock/unlock capability), perhaps I have a disconnected/missing/broken door lock lingage rod from the actuator to the lock cylinder?

Brian in Austin

 

Yeah, the linkage is either popped off or the lock is faulty.

 

Go in through the back.

 

Another good reason to have door lock keying to both side front doors?

 

That is soooo 1995.

I really don't like not having a key lock on the passenger side of my car. I don't have a working remote so to put stuff on the passenger seat, I have to walk around the car, unlock the doors and then walk back to the passenger side. A major pain in the butt.

 

How? My tailgate doesn't have a key slot or at least one that I can see.

 

My 2002 V40 has a key slot at the rear hatch. But not passenger front door though and until today and this thread, I had never noticed that.


re: That is soooo 1995.

I really don't like not having a key lock on the passenger side of my car. I don't have a working remote so to put stuff on the passenger seat, I have to walk around the car, unlock the doors and then walk back to the passenger side. A major pain in the butt.

The lock in both sides means you can access from either side and dont have to walk around, remote or not.

For this poor chaps problems, it would have given him a quick simple means of access to his car.

 

No key slot in my trunk/hatch guys. Driver's door only. My door lock button DOES actually move a tiny bit when I rotate the key/lock cylinder. Tried pulling on the door handle before, during and after turning the key. Also tried QUICKLY rotating the key and slowly rotating the key.

I pulled a license plate bulb out and attempted putting some power in the car's wiring harness by putting 12 volts to the bulb socket,....fumbled with it for a few minutes and gave up. Even if I DID get the polarity right, I'm thinking the power would stay only in the lighting circuit since the headlight switch is off.

Brian

 

Might be easier to call a tow truck operator.
Those guys can break into a car in seconds and they make it look so easy.
Their charge will be much less than having to actually tow you as well, especially if you can then flick the hood release and jump start her.

 

I googled this and was surprised how many others have experienced this same thing.

I think the best path is either; wedge in the door jam to make room for long coat hanger or similar,...................Or,......maybe the best Idea on another forum,.....jack the car up and connect battery charger to the hot lead on the starter, then ground to chassis, and charge for 30 minutes. Should be enough juice to pop the locks with the remote.

Brian

 

Well, breaking into a car 101.

Get a screwdriver or something and pry the door open a little. Then get a piece of wood or anything that will reduce the chances of scratching the car. Walk it to where you can get a wire hanger in there to either pull the button up or pull the door handle latch. This is what the police do when getting into running cars for people.

 

Now for the $24 question. Does the door unlock when you pull the handle to open the door?

 

See my above comment

 

Didn't see that before I hit the post button. I was distracted watching TV and it took a while for me to finish my post. Lol

 

That works okay on my V40. (Pulling the door handle that is.)
The actual lock buttons are flat flush with the inside door trim when locked so one could not hook those up.

 

This thread got me to thinking and I realized that there is a serious design flaw in my car that could become a serious problem.

The car is a 2001 V70. No key slot in the tailgate means that I am dependent on the central locking system to unlock the tailgate. What if the central locking system isn't working? It could be because the because the system just craps out or because the battery goes dead for some idiotic reason.

If the battery dies, I keep my jumper cables with the spare tire so there would be no way to get to my cables or my tool kit or my spare tire. Climb in through the back doors? That's not happening at my age and in my condition.

Europeans usually do a great job of designing things. Who the heck thought of this system. Had I thought of this before I bought the car, it probably would have been a deal breaker.

 

The situation for bcolins is however unique in that for some strange reason his key will not operate his lock mechanism which it should.
I believe that fitting a key slot should be done both sides (front)and also the hatch/trunk to allow options for these unusual emergency situations.
I'm surprised a 2001 V70 has no keyslot on the rear hatch yet my 2002 V40 has got one.