Lubricate And Check The Emergency Door And Boot Locks!!

[Chrishazle]

Many including me overlook this normally unused feature, but ATM, when many cars are seeing far less use than normal, it's important to check that the emergency key will open the drivers door and, if applicable, the boot.

I got caught out myself about 3 weeks ago when the battery was so flat none of the key buttons did anything, and it took a little lubrication and persuasion for the emergency key to open the drivers door so I could open the bonnet and access the emergency +ve with my battery charger. My battery is in the boot (S204) and the emergency tailgate release is on the inside of the tailgate so awkward to get to, luckily once the charger was on we were able to electrically release the tailgate to get at the battery.

We have a current poster on t'other side with the problem of a very flat battery and the emergency key not wanting to unlock the door, he's not the first as I've seen this type of post quite a few times on both forums over the years, and I remember a tip posted by Television many years ago about using a cordless toothbrush as a vibrator on the emergency key to get WD40 or similar into the mechanism!

 

[Blobcat]

Silicone lubricant is much better than WD40 for the keyholes.

 

[Chrishazle]

Only those in the know will have that Russell, I know you're correct and have a can of dry silicone lubricant I use on a number of items - but I still have a few cans of WD40 from earlier days!!

 

[Blobcat]

Only those in the know will have that Russell, I know you're correct and have a can of dry silicone lubricant I use on a number of items - but I still have a few cans of WD40 from earlier days!!

I think I’m down to about 8 cans of WD40... I use it for cleaning
Lidl have silicone lubricant in quite often. Alternatively find (when life returns) a Wurth shop, they have both Silicone Lubricant and Gummi Pflege along with some other great stuff (tools and fixings)...

 

[LostKiwi]

WD40 is excellent for rodent repelling...

 

[Bogus]

Last week , feeling bored, decided to have a poke around the car, and try out those gadgets and gizmos that you rarely or never use, things like indicators ( its a BMW ) and the proper key, the one hidden in the remote, just to ensure it works so Im not locked out if the remote battery goes flat. Well, pulled the key from the remote, put it in the lock, turned it, it works, car is unlocked. Locked it again , did it once or twice more ( just to be sure ) then something happened, the remote no longer works. Will not unlock the doors, only way in is the key in the drivers door, and all other doors remain firmly locked, cant even be opened from inside , even with the car running.
OK , lets start checking the fuses, a bit of research reveals 4 separate fuses associated with central locking all buried deep behind the glove compartment and inaccessible without removal of a chunk of the lower dash, then the glovebox and even then ****** hard to reach, and even harder when you are doing all this from the drivers side because the passenger door wont open. Feet on the driver side, head on the passenger side, body draped over the transmission tunnel,and pretty much upside down to locate these fuses, torch in one hand, long nose pliers in the other. Checked all 4 fuses, and yes it was the last one that was the blown one, replaced it and all working, woo hoo. Putting it all back together was easier as I could now get in the passenger side, but the whole exercise took me the best part of a day, just for a simple fuse. I got no sympathy from the wife, who said it was my own fault for randomly interfering with something that wasnt broken in the first place. what happened to the good old days when you could access every fuse just by lifting the bonnet and opening the easily accessed fuse box to get at the clearly marked fuse ? Why do car manufacturers now think its OK to stick a fuse box in such a stupid place. ‍ and why in gods name could these doors not even be opened from inside just because a poxy fuse had blown. Is this progress, is it progress in a good way. And although that box is handy for putting stuff in I dont even have gloves.

 

[EmilysDad]

The fuse box on EmilysMum's Citroen is also a sod to get at .... behind the glove box.

 

[Chrishazle]

Not just MB's and Citroens, my 968 had a very easy main fuse box with labels under the bonnet, but the auxilliary fuse box was in the passenger footwell, up at the NS of the glove box, was a typical upside down head first into the footwell job to get at the fuse for the electric wing mirrors and the annoying Bong relay for when you left the lights on or opened the door with the ignition on (that relay ended up elsewhere!!). Guess how I know!!

 

[Wighty]

Twice a year is my lock lube schedule buddy