Locked out
Dear All,
So i had a call from my wife to say that the remote control would not open my 1999 G 500, i told her to use the key in the drivers door
but again no luck, turning the key did nothing, any idea how to gain entry and what the problem may be? not sure if this is related but out of the blue the radio would not turn on the other day.
KInd regards
Freddie
Does sound like a completely flat car battery?
But I would have thought the physical lock would still work to get you access and then if no lights on the ignition, its the battery (although there may be enough battery to light up the dash only).
Try key access via the rear door also. You'll need access to do anything.
Yes Stop/Start batteries seem to be backed by 'gizmology'. It won't be on the OPs G500 from 1999 though :)
But since you mention it _ we had it on my wife's Fiat500 and it failed just as you said, one day. The AA jump started the car to get it going and then the Fiat Garage were given the job of replacing the battery. The result - Stop/Start and half the BlueMe system no longer worked and Fiat blamed it on a fried component (expensive) which could have been caused by the jump start. Result: 4 years later the car still doesn't have those gizmos. But hey, the battery hasn't failed since either and we don't miss it.
Now, I don't see what can be special about a stop/start battery, other than it needs to be heavier duty to take the more frequent use. So issues are more likely with the gizmology, not the battery.
Back to this post - why didn't the physical key unlock the car? My guess is it probably did.
Well if its a flat battery, none of that will work. So it will be a test. Worst case, take a spanner to disconnect the earth terminal on the battery.
Unfortunately alarm will still work or should do as they have rechargeable batteries , to prevent such a situation, key in lock will be very stiff, use care not to break key!
I am not sure why you can open the rear door but not the drivers door using the manual key. Could the front locks have been changed at some point but the ignition and rear door were not ?
I think you have three possibilities as to why the remote fob is not activating the cental locking.
1) As has been suggested the car battery is flat.
2) The battery in the key fob is flat, does the red light blink when you press it ?
3) The fuse has blown for the central door locking actuators. This might share the same fuse as the radio which is why it stopped working. Check which fuse is for the central locking in the handbook and then check the fuse panel to see if it has blown.
Obviously none of this helps you to get into the car ! If the key fob is still live then when you press open it should deactivate the alarm and you can open the rear door manualy with the key to gain access. If the alarm does go off then you should still be able to start the vehicle as normal with the key and the alarm will shut down, assuming its not an aftermarket alarm.
OK, next is to figure out why? Completely flat means something drained it. Even a failing battery doesn't go completely dead.
If you left the lights on, easy. Or something else that bypasses the ignition. Just replace the battery and try not to repeat :)
The door buzzer on my 460 that is supposed to remind me of my side/head lights no longer works, so it can be an easy mistake to make. In the 463, the lights are on Auto and never let me down so far.
Thanks for the advice,
The rear door locked work but my wife was worried how much time she has to climb over the seats and unset the alarm/immolbilizer and if there will be an issue with the immobilzer if she takes to long?
Regards
Freddie