[Serf27]

Originally Posted by cronus

Early LCIs have the trunk key lock. My 10/08 build has it along with nets on the back of the front seats and all 4 tie-down hooks in the trunk.

I wasn’t aware of this, I thought on the LCI style it was completely removed.
I also wasn’t aware the LCI didn’t come with the nets or tie downs!
Interesting.

[ctuna]

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...t=disappointed

Which is why 09 probably was the best year

[cronus]

Originally Posted by ctuna

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...t=disappointed

Which is why 09 probably was the best year

Wow. Didn't realize they removed that much stuff. Mine also has the ashtray with power outlet, seatbelt height adjusters, and decent wiper arms. Didn't come with the glovebox flashlight, hood pad insulation, or under armrest cooler. Headrests only go up and down, not forward and backward.

My E36 had all of that minus the armrest cooler plus a full toolkit and a full size spare with a matching DS2 wheel.

[Serf27]

Originally Posted by ctuna

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...t=disappointed

Which is why 09 probably was the best year

That first post sounds rough.

Only feature I wish I had from the LCI models is the “ALL” climate control button.
I prefer the pre lci front end and my lci rear end.
I’ve used the under armrest cooler ONCE, and that one time made me really appreciate it.
Never used trunk cargo hooks, rarely use nets behind the seats.
The center console cubby instead of the ashtray always seemed cool to me, more space for little stuff, but I am now realizing from the posts that it doesn’t have the power outlet there.

This thread sure got derailed.

[Sremenap]

Originally Posted by JYohay

they stopped having those after 2009
someone said there is a sketchy way of jumping the car from the glove box fuse box

got this from this thread
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690147

1) 2008 models and before actually have key lock on the trunk - it's hidden above the license frame. This would have been great, but I have a 2009, so I don't have one.

2) Some models have a trunk pass through which would allow access through which you could pull the manual release within the trunk using a coat hangar or something. My doesn't. (I also spent some time trying to remove the seat backs, but I don't think I could have gotten them out without breaking something because the latches held them in place so securely.)

3) You can apply power to the car from the engine area -there's a big red + and a ground point nearby. Once power is on the car just push the trunk release in the driver's footwell. This is almost certain to work for most everyone. I'm not sure why it didn't work for me, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that the battery was completely removed and the cable were lying loose. That was strike three - I felt like I was out.

4) The only solution that worked for me was to run down the wiring diagrams and locate the "central locking drive, trunk lid" that's the solonoid that actually releases the trunk. Most of the effort was getting the information - the job itself was actually pretty easy. Here it is:

a) Take out the two torx screws just below the glovebox on the left and right to remove the panel below the glovebox. Disconnect the power socket and the light which are attached to the panel.

b) Below the fusebox there is a big flat horizontal junction box (Junction Box A4010). You can spot it easily because there are two big connectors going into it facing you. There is a flat wide connector plugging into the BACKSIDE of this same junction box. There are about a dozen small wires going into it and one big brown ground. This is the one you need to get to. (Connector X14270) Ideally, you'd want to disconnect this, but I could not manage to get it out from that position.

c) Identify the small wire which is gray with a stripe of green (it looks mostly gray). If you get the connector out, this is pin 12. It's the only grey/green wire in the bunch though.

d) You need to very briefly apply 12 volts to this lead to pop the trunk. I did it the ugly way - I very carefully razored off some of the insulation to expose it. Then I just attached some leads to my new battery. I stuck the ground lead into brown wire connector for the power socket I had disconnected when I removed the glove box panel. Then I just brushed the positive lead against the exposed pin 12 wire. The trunk popped instantly.


Now that I know what to do, I'll bet I could do this in 10 minutes. It's really just two screws to remove the pane and knowing which wire to power. I hope no one ends up in such a stupid situation, but if they do I hope this helps.

Used this wire hack guide and had it open in 10 mins - thanks a ton!

[sammyf84]

I know this is old but I'm putting another option out there. You can go through all that in the footwell of the passenger side or just remove your trunk release button from the trunk and jump the trunk release from there. It's a small plug with 2 wires. I used another car battery to jump it and the trunk opened.
Did this yesterday.

In hindsight, I think a 9v battery would work just as well. It doesn't take much to release the trunk latch.

[MarkTNe93]

Originally Posted by sammyf84

I know this is old but I'm putting another option out there. You can go through all that in the footwell of the passenger side or just remove your trunk release button from the trunk and jump the trunk release from there. It's a small plug with 2 wires. I used another car battery to jump it and the trunk opened.
Did this yesterday.

In hindsight, I think a 9v battery would work just as well. It doesn't take much to release the trunk latch.

I really wish I followed this thread to the end and saw your comment earlier!! I spent hours trying every other method until finally doing the shave the grey/green wire deal. Ultimately that worked, but what you describe would have been so much easier. I had already removed and exposed the connector you referenced trying to locate the emergency trunk release cable! I will save registering the new battery for tomorrow.

This whole thread is a life saver. Thank you to everyone.

[Smokey33]

Originally Posted by sammyf84

I know this is old but I'm putting another option out there. You can go through all that in the footwell of the passenger side or just remove your trunk release button from the trunk and jump the trunk release from there. It's a small plug with 2 wires. I used another car battery to jump it and the trunk opened.
Did this yesterday.

In hindsight, I think a 9v battery would work just as well. It doesn't take much to release the trunk latch.

how do you jump it? just a bit of wire? which 1 is which?

Iam in exactly the same situation. Disconnected positive and negative and shut the boot. Nothing works now. I tried jumping it from engine bay, nothing. Ive got no boot key and no access to boot.

[wrongmark]

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but this is something I've been worried about for some time due to mixed responses on this and similar threads.

I wanted to charge the battery off the car during lockdown. I can confirm that on my E90 LCI, with the battery entirely removed from the car (both terminals disconnected - ensuring the positive is NOT shorted to the car body), power can be provided to the car using jump leads/jumper cables from a good battery using the connections under the bonnet/hood. The doors and boot will unlock as normal.

Just don't lock the car with the remote prior to taking all power away as the alarm will go off - must have a backup battery somewhere. I locked my passenger doors from the inside an then used the key on the drivers door.

[Serf27]

Originally Posted by wrongmark

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but this is something I've been worried about for some time due to mixed responses on this and similar threads.

I wanted to charge the battery off the car during lockdown. I can confirm that on my E90 LCI, with the battery entirely removed from the car (both terminals disconnected - ensuring the positive is NOT shorted to the car body), power can be provided to the car using jump leads/jumper cables from a good battery using the connections under the bonnet/hood. The doors and boot will unlock as normal.

Just don't lock the car with the remote prior to taking all power away as the alarm will go off - must have a backup battery somewhere. I locked my passenger doors from the inside an then used the key on the drivers door.

I think this only works if the the battery wires in the back are still
Hooked up the the power distribution block.

[sovole]

Just recovered from this myself. I disconnected the negative to the battery and closed the boot in a rush to get to the airport (light switch broke with running lights on).

I'd read that jumping from the engine compartment would not work because of the open circuit. Turns out that was not correct in my situation, as the jump gave me enough power to open the boot. Power was connected just long enough to open.

So far, no electrical issues except having to reset the window limits (with key in position one, roll window all the way down, keep button pressed for 5 additional seconds, and it's done).

Good luck-

[tjolie]

I remove the negative from the battery aaaaaand closed the bagaget…. No keyhole… 2010 year… i open that hand holder in the middle of the backseats and gently i reach to open the seats. I was thinking with a stick to try to move the negative wire to touch the battery, but anyway, i reach it with hand

[gbalthrop]

Originally Posted by tjolie

I remove the negative from the battery aaaaaand closed the bagaget…. No keyhole… 2010 year… i open that hand holder in the middle of the backseats and gently i reach to open the seats. I was thinking with a stick to try to move the negative wire to touch the battery, but anyway, i reach it with hand

NOT sure if you have a question, or just bragging about LOOOONG Arms.
If ALL that was disconnected from the Battery was the (-) Terminal and the (+) Terminal is still installed, you can apply Jumper Cables/Booster at the Jumpstart Terminals, and open the Boot using the Trunk Release Button by Driver Door.

It's ONLY if you also remove the (+) Terminal that you have issues requiring application of 12V+ to proper wire at JBE to activate Latch.
George

[drdro007]

Originally Posted by JYohay

they stopped having those after 2009
someone said there is a sketchy way of jumping the car from the glove box fuse box

got this from this thread
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=690147

1) 2008 models and before actually have key lock on the trunk - it's hidden above the license frame. This would have been great, but I have a 2009, so I don't have one.

2) Some models have a trunk pass through which would allow access through which you could pull the manual release within the trunk using a coat hangar or something. My doesn't. (I also spent some time trying to remove the seat backs, but I don't think I could have gotten them out without breaking something because the latches held them in place so securely.)

3) You can apply power to the car from the engine area -there's a big red + and a ground point nearby. Once power is on the car just push the trunk release in the driver's footwell. This is almost certain to work for most everyone. I'm not sure why it didn't work for me, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that the battery was completely removed and the cable were lying loose. That was strike three - I felt like I was out.

4) The only solution that worked for me was to run down the wiring diagrams and locate the "central locking drive, trunk lid" that's the solonoid that actually releases the trunk. Most of the effort was getting the information - the job itself was actually pretty easy. Here it is:

a) Take out the two torx screws just below the glovebox on the left and right to remove the panel below the glovebox. Disconnect the power socket and the light which are attached to the panel.

b) Below the fusebox there is a big flat horizontal junction box (Junction Box A4010). You can spot it easily because there are two big connectors going into it facing you. There is a flat wide connector plugging into the BACKSIDE of this same junction box. There are about a dozen small wires going into it and one big brown ground. This is the one you need to get to. (Connector X14270) Ideally, you'd want to disconnect this, but I could not manage to get it out from that position.

c) Identify the small wire which is gray with a stripe of green (it looks mostly gray). If you get the connector out, this is pin 12. It's the only grey/green wire in the bunch though.

d) You need to very briefly apply 12 volts to this lead to pop the trunk. I did it the ugly way - I very carefully razored off some of the insulation to expose it. Then I just attached some leads to my new battery. I stuck the ground lead into brown wire connector for the power socket I had disconnected when I removed the glove box panel. Then I just brushed the positive lead against the exposed pin 12 wire. The trunk popped instantly.


Now that I know what to do, I'll bet I could do this in 10 minutes. It's really just two screws to remove the pane and knowing which wire to power. I hope no one ends up in such a stupid situation, but if they do I hope this helps.

Perfect concept except other models have different colored wires and the DD is too exhaustive... here is what worked for me based on your concept...

Some people report that jumping from another vehicle or battery via jumper cables worked for them and others report that it didn't. It may depend on whether the person disconnected only the negative cable or both cables from battery. I disconnected both and no method mentioned by anyone worked.
What worked for me was removing the panel on driver side footwell that has the push button for the trunk release. 1 screw on hood release latch and one hidden by trunk release latch. I disconnected the wiring harness to the trunk latch and saw 3 wire inputs. I theorized that the middle one is negative, 1 is power when button is pressed and the other is power from remote unlock. I attempted to "hotwire" not through opening in front of harness but it has access through the side. I couldn't quite get good contact points using a 12v battery from my jetta tdi, jumper cables and a thin wire i had at my disposal.
I looked around my garage and found some old darts from my dart board, unscrewed the plastic end pieces, wrapped the body with electrical tape, connected my jumper cables to the ends and put the sharp ends into the terminals. negative in the middle and positive on the right side...trunk popped open

[lug]

Can confirm that jumping it with the jump connectors under the hood works on a 2011 LCI E90 with the negative terminal disconnected. No keyhole on mine.

[lordnikon]

Originally Posted by ctuna

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...t=disappointed

Which is why 09 probably was the best year

Quite disappointing indeed but only two things that I wish they didn't remove.

1. Pre-wiring for the alarm system
2. Keyhole for the trunk

The rest are minor things imo.

LCI trade offs:

1. Better headlights
2. Better taillights
3. Updated FRM module
4. Updated i-drive, higher resolution screen
5. Option for heated steering wheel

and some other things I can't remember...