Flat battery; electric door lock will not open.

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peter-r
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Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2022 11:22 am
Drives: 1999
Location: London

Flat battery; electric door lock will not open.

Post by peter-r »

I have a T reg 1999 Polo.

The battery has run flat and the key won't open the door to enable me to get to the bonnet catch and then charge the battery.

I am told there is a way around this. Can anyone help?

Thanks.
RUM4MO
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Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:12 pm
Drives: B8 S4 & 6R/6C1 1.2TSI 110
Location: Mid Lothian

Re: Flat battery; electric door lock will not open.

Post by RUM4MO »

Did you sort this out?

I've never had one of these cars only a 2002 9N, and I thought that the boot could be opened using the key - though never having had to put that to the test, I can't confirm that.

So, after getting into your car, surely your next plan will be to fix the driver's side door locking mechanism.
johntheo2
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Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2022 9:27 pm
Drives: Polo AW1
Location: Cork

Re: Flat battery; electric door lock will not open.

Post by johntheo2 »

2005 Polo 9N. When the battery in this car was approaching >10 years and when leaving at the airport for longer than a week I used to unlatch and open the bonnet, lock the doors, disconnect the battery negative lead and shut the bonnet. On return, I opened the driver door with the key and reconnected battery etc.
I never tried it but would be surprised if the passenger door couldn't be also unlocked with battery disconnect.,
RUM4MO
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Posts: 5859
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:12 pm
Drives: B8 S4 & 6R/6C1 1.2TSI 110
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Re: Flat battery; electric door lock will not open.

Post by RUM4MO »

The deadlocking should stop any other door being unlocked unless the front passenger door also has a lock barrel at that age of Polo.

There are rubber cover plugs over each of the doors that do not have a key barrel, and so you can disconnect the battery, then open each still unlocked door in turn, remove the soft rubber plug on the rear facing of the doors and stick the key into a slot and flick it through maybe 45 or 90 degrees, refit the rubber plug and shut the door - it will now be locked, repeat that for all doors without key barrel then lock the doors that have a key barrel in the usual way. That advice is very useful if you need to remove a battery for charging away from the car. I only found that out when I needed to remove the battery from my daughter's late 2009 SEAT Ibiza SC,not much chance of anyone bothering to steal a car without a battery fitted that is parked close to a house down a long driveway - but I wasn't taking any chances!
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