I know this has been posted several years ago, but I am wondering if anyone came up with a solution. My car has been in storage since November and now the battery is dead and the key turns but does not pop the lock aor allow me cabin access to open the hood to charge the battery. Any halfway easy way to get the hood open to gain access to the battery?

Thanks!

 

Stick the key in the door and turn the key... The old fashion way.

 

I'm pretty sure he just said that's what he did and it doesn't unlock...

 

I just turned the key in the door lock for the first time & it doesn't feel like a mechanical lock turning when you do that.....it feels like an electrical switch is being actuated....the hatch actuates at the same time. If it's not a mechanical lock & there's no juice.....?????

 

I know the central locking system is pneumatic, so if there's no power, that definitely won't work. I don't know how exactly it's connected to the driver's door locking system. I didn't really look at it the last time I had my door apart. I would expect that the lock would still actuate even if there's no power, otherwise there's little point to having the lock cylinder even there.

I've used the lock on the door before, but I always had power. Ron, did you try turning it the other way? Maybe with a little more force? It just seems pointless to have one lock cylinder on the outside and not have it do anything without power.

 

Don't try a slim Jim. You have side air bags in there. Is this a roadster or coupe.

 

It is an SRT-6 coupe! The key turn in the door both ways but it still does not open the door! I haven't tried turning it harder than when it stops because it doesn't feel like it would go any farther. If I could figure out how to get the hood unlatched from the front or underneath the car, that might solve my problem!

 

Found this on an old thread:

iJust to follow up on my stiuation: dead battery, key doesn't open a door and...

So I called for a locksmith who opened my car in 5 sec (scary), but as we say in Poland "bad luck walks in pairs" when I tried to pop the hood, a line broke (that's what I thought at first). So now, I have a car with a dead battery and can't get to the battery to jump start it. I have called my Chrysler dealer, but suprise, suprise didn't have idea how to help me. Thank God, locksmith noticed two screws that were holding a hood lock to a car, and suggested to unscrew those two and see what happens. I have unscrewed those two screws and opened a hood with an entire lock. Ends up that a link that opens a hood slipped from the hood opening mechanism and didn't break, as I though at a first place. I have jumped started my x-fire and took him for a long drive, plus changed all regular maintenace parts at the dealership. Which gave me an opportunity (with pleasure) to tell those guys that they have no idea about cars they service (and told what I did to get and start my car).

I think this is a good solution to worst case scenario, where you can't get to the car with a dead battery plus you can't open a hood.
s on an old thread;

 

I have opened the hoods on cars in the same situation with my "monster" rod...same rod I use to push the unlocks buttons on cars with good batteries...just fish it down to the latch, and voila, you are in...

but, in your case, we would have been looking to do what you did...glad it worked out...

 

This thread gave me an idea to go take a look at. On older model cars like British Leyland cars especially ones that the hood opens fron the back I have run another hood latch cable and had it come in the glove box and when needed you could get to the engine from a broken cable. Also maybe there is something to NOT locking your car when in winter storage or putting a battery tender on it. May also want to keep the hood poped and left open during storage. Glad all is well. Next Fall perhaps when someone asks about storage we will remember some of these tips.

 

As always, Murphy's Law seems to prevail no matter how well we prepare for any circumstance.

Call me paranoid, but when I put my car in the garage for short or extended naps I usually follow this process:

~ I rarely activate the Alarm, and never lock the doors, as it's a locked garage.
~ I always crack both windows and leave them down about 2 inches.
~ I always hook up the Battery Tender.

I know that this is not the safest, or possibly the best was to close things up, but in my situation, the garage is attached to my house, and not remote storage. So even in the dead of Winter, it rarely goes more than 3 or 4 weeks where I don't touch the car (or at least turn it over and move it to reduce flat spots on tires)...

 

I have been told this works and I have been told it doesn't I would assume it wouldn't work on most cars but since our car's door locks work on air pressure it might be worth a try. You take a tennis ball and drill a small hole in it and push it against where the key goes and push it to force air in.

 

Interesting post if in fact this works.

I would think if you used an air compressor, that would be better than a tennis ball.

Too bad I don't have a compressor handy, or I would give it a try...

 

It looks like you can unbolt the latch that holds the hood down. In this picture I was able to put a 10mm ratcheting wrench on one of the bolts. The travel was very lmited. If you pry off the small plastic shield in front of the latch you should have the room you need. It looks like the shield could be pryed up with a long screw driver through the grill.

I keep a battery maintainer on mine, but the quick connect is located under the hood near the battery. I'm thinking about extending the quick connect to the grill area, so it could be used to supply power in a situation like this.

 

I haven't tried the repost Chris sent as I have to get back over to the car tomorrow. Fishing a wire down to the hood release also may prove promising! I'll have to look at work tomorrow for a thin but sturdy wire that might be able to do the job. When I finally get this thing open I'm going to sit down and try and come up with an easy, safe and permanent solution!

 

Toolman, nice photo - I'll take my 10mm ratchet wrench with me tomorrow. Also, adding an accessory "jump" plug just inside the grille is an excellent idea and could be usefull in several different situations one might encounter down the road. Thanks!

 

Looks like we've learned a couple things based upon this situation: . 1) the key actuates the pneumatic system, which activates the door latch, and . 2) Chrysler is remiss in engineering such a glaring (stupid) design defect.

A dead battery whilst the doors are locked is not that uncommon a condition and we would think that Chrysler would allow for a way to open the doors without tearing the darn car apart. Shame!

 

You can access the back of the alternator from under the car once you take the pan off.... it has a direct connect that goes to the positive side of the battery and the starter..... the engine is ground...

 

So it sounds to me the best advise would be to extend the wire from the battery tender plug in to an area close to the grill !!! This would solve a lot of problems !!! Thanks for the idea !!! Im working on it this week end !!!

 

Obviously the members responding to this thread do not have a past record of breaking into cars. My bet is that if you went to a street corner in that part of town and offered to give a kid $50 to get into this car without breaking glass it will be done.
Just do not flash a wad of cash when paying the kid.