Help Needed: 07 Zetec With Flat Battery And Bonnet Stuck Closed

[db9753118]

Hi everyone,

Today I have returned to my car to find I have left lights on for a few days resulting in a flat battery. I have spent all day trying to open the bonnet to no avail. I believe I am a victim to the common bonnet catch fault in which work-arounds seem well documented, but I just cant seem to get in.

Does anybody have any ideas on how to start the car without access to the bonnet? I have tried bump starting the car several times, both in 2nd and reverse (1.8 TDCi engine). I've also tried ringing a few autolocksmiths who also seem unable to help me, as I have the key. AA want over £100 to add home start to my cover, but I'm not 100% sure whether or not they will be able to fix it, and if they cant, that could be a huge waste of time and money.

Anyone have any ideas what to try next? Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

[STEADS]

Can you not get someone to tow start you and run the battery up by running it then concentrate on the bonnet catch later you will get it there a bit of a knack and does take a bit of a thump you will need to get the car up to about 25/30 mph to get it to fire .

[JW1982]

Another option is to connect a battery charger with low power output to the 12 Volt socket/cigarette lighter inside the car and charge the battery for a while. The 12 volt socket/cigarette lighter is connected direcly to the battery with only a fuse between them.

In the past I used this method a few times without any problems. I used a small battery charger with an output of approximately 10Ah. Using a low output battery charger will charge the battery without the risk of overloading the wiring of the 12 Volt socket/cigarette lighter. The battery charger I use came with an accessoire cable to connect directly to the 12 Volt socket/cigarette lighter but you can also make such a cable yourself.

[STEADS]

I didn't think about that jw good spot and just percivior with the bonnet Matt you will get it

[db9753118]

Thanks for the replies. I've managed to get a friend to come give me a tow. Where is best to tie to rope to the front of my car?

Thanks again,

Matt

[Preee]

Towing hitch at the front

[Stoney871]

Above the drivers side fog light is a bumper trim, if you pull that off you'll see a hole to screw the tow eye into.

The eye should be in with the spare wheel and screws in counter clockwise.

Diesels are swines to bump start due to high engine compression and a cold cylinder (due to no glow plug pre-warming)

I also recommend as above, a jump start cable that plugs into the lighter socket will be best.

This sort of thing-

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=271206939187&alt=web

[mjt]

I think the quoted 5 to 15 minutes is rather optimistic. Let's assume the battery is deeply discharged. The battery for a 1.8TDCi is specced as 60A-h. The lighter socket is rated at 10Amps, so to get the battery up to half charge would take at least 3 hours.

It's also worth bearing in mind that if the battery is deeply discharged you'll probably find that it has lost a lot of capacity and may not hold charge. Lead-acid batteries do not tolerate deep-discharging very well.

[jeebowhite]

As mentioned the 12v socket battery charger is a good way, you can also get a 12v battery booster, which might help to get the car ticking over a little quicker. I would say though that its worth investing in a silver calcium battery (Bosch S4 or S5) as they are very good and relatively well placed in the price brackets. Its also worth once you have the car running to then focus a bit more time and patience on the barrell. Its one of those issues that because you want the car to work, your more frustrated and not thinking clearly when trying to pop the bonnet.

[db9753118]

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Sorry for the late reply, but thought I would come and update you on the situation...

In the end I called the AA, as tow starting didn't work, and the bonnet continued to refuse to play ball. They managed to start the car by jacking up one side, connecting the positive lead to the starter motor, and grounded the negative elsewhere on the car the car. He also pointed out that tow/bump starting them is notoriously difficult due to the immobiliser. He said you have to turn the key just at the right time, from the second position, forward to the 3rd position (how you would normally start the car). Previously I have only ever started a car using the 2nd key position, although they were older cars. Not sure how true this is, but might help someone reading this.

Thanks again, this seems like a great community and hopefully soon I'll be able to start contributing back.

Matt

[STEADS]

Did you manage to get the bonnet open?

[db9753118]

Nope, after even more attempts, I gave up. It was 2am by the time I got finished with the AA and had a drive round to charge the battery. If anyone in the Leeds area has the know-how, I will be very happy to exchange beer tokens to help open it :)