Dead battery

[lonware]

I have a 2000 c 230 sport with a dead battery. Once the battery went dead, all of the doors unlocked. The trunk did not unlock. the key to this vehicle is an infared key which has a spare metal key inside it. The key will not open the trunk so that I can charge the battery which is in the trunk. Does anybody have any ideas of how to get inside the trunk?

 

[mister_cee333]

I'm not sure what 'down sides' there are to this suggestion and your particular model of car but...
Can you access the engine compartment and attach negative of your charger to a solid earth, and positive to a heavy positive terminal like the starter motor? This should give you enough of a charge to enable the electrics and therefore unlock the boot in the usual way. Strong enough connection points might even be enough to fully charge the battery and/or start the car.
Normally the starter motor is fed by a heavy positive cable direct from the battery, and obviously the earth side is pretty much the complete metal vehicle. Therefore it's a bit like using longer leads on your charger but still connecting to heavy enough points to access the battery the long way round.

 

[type49]

Are you sure the boot lock is'nt just stiff? Remove the blade from the key, spray a bit of WD40 on the blade & insert into boot lock. The lock should turn 45 degrees anticlockwise against a spring. Keeping it turned, press in boot button. If it does'nt turn at all though, don't force it.

 

[psmart]

I'm not sure what 'down sides' there are to this suggestion and your particular model of car but...
Can you access the engine compartment and attach negative of your charger to a solid earth, and positive to a heavy positive terminal like the starter motor? This should give you enough of a charge to enable the electrics and therefore unlock the boot in the usual way. Strong enough connection points might even be enough to fully charge the battery and/or start the car.
Normally the starter motor is fed by a heavy positive cable direct from the battery, and obviously the earth side is pretty much the complete metal vehicle. Therefore it's a bit like using longer leads on your charger but still connecting to heavy enough points to access the battery the long way round.

If you manage to get into the boot, as per type49, and also to the method above, you need to be careful on what charger you use!

Electronics in cars are very susceptible to over voltage, and some of the cheaper chargers just use a transformer and diode bridge, so instantaneous voltage applied to your system could be over 20volts, enough to criple some of the microelectronic circuits.

If you have an electronic battery charger which self limits to 14.4v (sometimes a little more, ie. 15v) then ensure the charger is off, you connect positive first then negative, then switch on charger. Theoretically, your supposed to disconnect the battery before charging (which prevents any damage from using a faulty or wrong type charger), but this can be quite difficult.

 

[mattkh]

Does anybody have any ideas of how to get inside the trunk?

Hi
Use jump leads and a donor battery to connect to the poaitive terminal provided in the bonnet.