Dead battery. Locked out. Help!

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

M

mental69

10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Threads
20
Messages
56
Location
Denver, CO
I must have had something draining the battery, but when I went to drive the cruiser this morning, the thing wouldn't unlock. As most of you know, there isn't a mechanical mechanism to the door locks or back hatch, so when the battery is dead, you're dead in the water. (or at least that's my understanding.)

Any thoughts on how I can get power to the thing so I can release the locks, get in the cabin, and release the hood to give it a jump?

Or is there a way to release the hood from under the car? Hate to call pop-a-lock on this.

Mental
Denver
99 100 series
 
I've had into many cars but never a 100. I like to usually pry back the door just far enough to get my wallet in then you have working room for whatever you use to hook a lock. Maybe in this cas the hood release might be a possibility with the right tool of some sort... Not going to be easy. Doubt you can get to the hood latch at the hood area from under.... Good luck
 
mental69 said:
As most of you know, there isn't a mechanical mechanism to the door locks or back hatch, so when the battery is dead, you're dead in the water. (or at least that's my understanding.)
Click to expand...


REALLY?? oh wow. i didn't know this.
 
mental69 said:
As most of you know, there isn't a mechanical mechanism to the door locks or back hatch, so when the battery is dead, you're dead in the water. (or at least that's my understanding.
Click to expand...
On my LX, this is only the case with the rear hatch. The front doors are directly connected and will lock and unlock with even no battery connected. If the DS doesn't work, I recommend that you try the passenger side.
 
mental69 said:
I do have the 7 pin connector. Any idea which one I would need to connect to? I assume I would ground on the frame. but not sure which wire I would connect the positive lead to.
Click to expand...

There's a wiring diagram for them on the interwebs, however not every installer actually follows them. So be careful. If I see firetrucks driving by in a couple minutes, IT WASNT MY FAULT. :flipoff2:
 
http://amazon.curtmfg.com/sitepro12...ry/01resources/diagrams/WiringPlugDiagram.jpg

if you have the 7-blade style, it will be the one at the 10-o-clock position, according to the diagram in the above link.

if you have the 7-pin style, it will be the on at the 6-o clock position, according to the diagram.

hope this helps.

Edit: you could also ground to the ground pin (white on the diagram) instead of the frame. This is usually wired straight to the battery negative terminal, and would provide a better electrical pathway than the frame.
 
I could have sworn that when I had my battery out I was able to lock/unlock the DS and PS doors with the key...
 
If you go this route, you may want to check the voltage across those pins first, just to make sure you have the right points of connection.

Also, if you are reading 12+ volts, then it may be a malfunction in something else, such as the lock mechanism, and not the battery... just thinking out loud...
 
1loudLX said:
Do you have a 7 pin trailer plug?(that's wired with the 12v hot lead off the battery)
Click to expand...

Dude that's smart, is that your idea or something you've come across elsewhere?


Good chance the hot is a larger wire on the back of the 7pin, or just check from a chassis ground to each pin until you find a voltage (though yours is probably under 10V).

I assume you tried the key in all 3 exterior key holes to eliminate a bad drivers side switch?

Most vehicles have a way to override the hood latch for when the hood latch cable breaks. Maybe the 100 has such a feature?
 
Did you try putting the key in the lock? I swear mine worked when this happened to me.
 
[STRIKE]Mine is all electric.[/STRIKE] OK, I'm a fool, I guess I was using the button not the key, glad to be corrected: [STRIKE]Currently I don't use a fob, just a key and when locking from the drivers door key hole all the locks will lock or unlock EXCEPT the drivers side (sometimes)[/STRIKE] I need a new drivers side actuator as mine is definitly [STRIKE]lock by wire technology and[/STRIKE] on it's way out.

I did some further searching and can't find jack in the FSM or intertubes, seems grill removal is the slow and painful method available. Hope your tools are outside of the truck!
 
Last edited:
Is that really true?? That the key will not unlock any lock, DS, PS or rear on a LC without some juice in the battery?? I find that hard to believe!

I'm not sure, but using the trailer light plug to get a little charge, I think one way you can tell if you have it right is that the alarm should start going off. Thinking about it, maybe not, since when you remove a battery, and put a new one in, that doesn't happen.

Anyways, wishing you a quick recovery... Getting into your rig
 
Last edited:
I have a hard time believing that not being able to open the doors with a dead battery would be an OEM design. Think how many people would be in trouble out there...



Plus I'm 95% sure that I was able to open our 03 with the key recently when the battery was dead...
 
e9999 said:
I have a hard time believing that not being able to open the doors with a dead battery would be an OEM design. Think how many people would be in trouble out there...



Plus I'm 95% sure that I was able to open our 03 with the key recently when the battery was dead...
Click to expand...

yep. i have left my truck with no battery in it and locked the doors when running out to get more supplies to work with. It only locks unlocks the door you put the key in. the rest are manual by hand
 
aggiepaintrain said:
That is the most annoying avatar I have ever seen.
Click to expand...

So I'm not the only one who scolls right past his posts to get away from damn wavy finger woman! Drives me nuts too, not sure why..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom