98 740iL - All power lost to trunk

Recently I had my car boosted because of dead battery. Last thing I did before I realized battery was dead, was unlocked the trunk. Now the inside button, key button, and power assist on trunk are not working. Message on console says "Trunklid Open". What should I be checking?

Scott

Have you checked the fuses and the battery? A weak battery can cause strange things to happen in these cars.

Get battery checked and probably replace. Lots of people have had lots of different weird issues when the battery is on the way out.

I have that exact same problem.. everytime i turn on my car it beeps and says trunklid open.. I haveto manually open it and its horrible.. I got mine checked and they sed I need a whole new pice that makes the trunk click closed..

Make sure that the lock is not turned to the valet position. If you take your key and manually unlock your car like you had to when your battery was dead, you probably have it in valet parking mode and therefore the only way you can open it is with the key and not by any other means (buttons, keys, etc). Check your owners manual for more details about this as I had the same problem and took mine into the dealership and showed me how to do it in a second.


ctweber98

So was there ever an official solution for this? Of all my searches on Google and all the messagesboards, this is the closest I have come to similar symptoms.

I had similar problem wires were broken in harness between body and trunk lid bad design.

I've had mine stop working for like a day once, it was embarrasing having to try and reach up inside the car every morning when going to work to get what I needed and have to rebungee it down. After a few good slams and some yanking up and down, suddenly it came back to life.

try opening the trunk. disconnect battery. take screwdriver and close trunk latch. reconnect battery. use mechanical key in lock to open latch. my 740 had the same problem when I bought it. took a while to figure out, it was just confused. I have to do this every time the battery goes dead. (it sits alot) good luck, Tim

I found the steps after searching around some more using Google....basically did what you just suggested. Thanks.

Originally Posted by m5james

I found the steps after searching around some more using Google....basically did what you just suggested. Thanks.

My trunk motor stopped working so I can't close/lock the truck as of yesterday. I'm thinking I have the same problem as you. What were the exact steps that you did to "reboot" it?

To be honest, I don't remember exactly where I found it, and I'm replying via my phone. I'd start by looking on e38.org, then if no luck there, then try using Google.

When I did it I remember a few sites I found. One had me disassemble the lock and check to make sure the spring mechanism was intact, the other had me doing something like turning the trunk key while connecting the battery or something. Sorry I can't give you more at the moment.

Did the spring thing and it worked! Now I'm moving onto overhauling the breaks. Wish me luck.

Cool. Brakes are pretty easy, just depends on what you're doing sometimes though. If you don't have a buddy to help you bleed, you can build your own pressure bleeded for like $10.

Thanks. I'm going to change pads and rotors so i'll need to bleed. Tell me more about the build your own pressure bleed? I'm also shopping for the parts. I was dust free pads I know for sure.

E38.org has a few write-ups. I went around to a few local stores (Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware, etc) to find a bleeder that could hold around a quart or so. Take your old brake master cylinder cover w/ you, then goto Wal-Mart or an automotive specific store and get a cap of the same size to drill and install a nipple to connect the bleeder to the cap. I might be getting confusing now, but these are pretty easy things to make. Either read up on E38.org or maybe even try using Google on how to make your own bleeder.

Thanks M5james!!
Disconnecting the battery and closing the lock with the screwdriver worked! appreciate the time you have taken to answer these posts. I was lost and ready to take it into the shop.
Thanks again!!

Glad I was able to help. Thank you for searching around for the answer and finding this thread instead of posting a new thread I'm all for thread revivals and keeping the information to fewer posts instead of spread all over the place.

I'm born and raised in Edmonds, so I've been able to go on a lot of Seattle5's and 7's drives. Marysville isn't too far, so you should get in touch w/ the www.seattle7s.com guys and go on the drives...good bunch of people and fun meets, usually starting in Issaquah. Anyways, have a good weekend.