My S broke down!

[cleverzippy]

Arrgghh,

My S broke down last night leaving me stranded. All the electrics failed. No lights, starter, central locking, nothing. The daft thing is, I can't get into the boot to check the battery connections, and where is the emergency boot release handle that the manual points out. It's not under the back seat that's for sure.
A week before while parking at work, the power steering pump failed, the radio crackled and the speedo needle went bonkers. I didn't bother looking into it just to see if it happened again, well it did and now it's dead, sob! Anyone else have any of these symptoms? BTW, got a MINI one courtesy car, it's OK but not like the S.

[daro911]

Quote:

Originally posted by cleverzippy
Arrgghh,

My S broke down last night leaving me stranded. All the electrics failed. No lights, starter, central locking, nothing. The daft thing is, I can't get into the boot to check the battery connections, and where is the emergency boot release handle that the manual points out. It's not under the back seat that's for sure.
A week before while parking at work, the power steering pump failed, the radio crackled and the speedo needle went bonkers. I didn't bother looking into it just to see if it happened again, well it did and now it's dead, sob! Anyone else have any of these symptoms? BTW, got a MINI one courtesy car, it's OK but not like the S.

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What a bummer in your beemer! can you post how the dealer says you can access the battery as the emergency ring pull doesn't exist other than in the manual and also update us on what the feck went wrong! As and when they find out

Hope your loaner behaves in the meantime

[AidenL]

Yeah, sorry to hear about your breakdown.......

It appears that that emergency release has disappeared off a lot of cars....its a bit of a mystery, I think.....

[cleverzippy]

My dealer actually suggested removing the parcel shelf grill and unhooking the rear seats. I also forgot that the towing eye is also in the boot, so the recovery guy had to wrap the winch cable round the chassis. Keep you posted.

[MiNiGuY]

The S carries a charge seperate from the battery. If the battery had become disconnected, the cars central locking should still operate. It sounds like the problem, what ever it may be, has affected this also.

For S owners who find themselves locked out of the boot because of battery/electric failure, you may wish to note that the rear parcel shelf is fairly flexible and can be forced out. Pushing it hard against the rear screen causes it to bend which allows just enough room to release a hinge one side, allowing you to remove the shelf completely. The shelf restores it's shape once you've pulled it out.
You can then drop a rear seat and access the boot.
It's not the most dignified method, but it causes no damage and it works in times of emergency.

[cleverzippy]

It's fixed!

Apparently, the earthing strap was loose in the boot, So that's a relief. Pain in the a**e though not being able to open the boot except by yanking the parcel shelf out.

[cleverzippy]

Oh yeah, got a free valet as well which is good as the car was filthy. Bonus!