[Chris@codemybimmer]

lets say you parked your car in a storage unit (the ones with a rack for tires that sit above the hood) for the winter and when you go get it in the spring time your battery is totally dead. you also fronted in.
and then lets say you didnt get the option of folding rear seats.
how would you get things rolling?
the battery is in the trunk
theres no key hole in the trunk to manually open it
you cant go through the back seats
you cant put the car in neutral because the alien controls are digital
you're pretty much screwed arent you?

[claykin]

Get a cigarette lighter battery charger, plug it in and be patient.

[jwilly]

Starting aid terminals are under the hood. And there are no alien controls for my transmission.

No issues.

Joel

[SamS]

You can shift into Neutral, even if you can't start the car. The battery could never drain down enough to prevent you from doing the following steps:

FOOT ON BRAKE
With ignition on:
Hold top (release) button on the gear stick while doing
- put gear stick one step forwards and hold 2 seconds,
- then one step back again
- then one step forwards again
Then the car is in neutral for 15 minutes

[BavarianFanatic]

That's not a design flaw. That's poor planning.

If you don't have a means to keep a trickle charger on it while in storage, your best bet would be to disconnect the battery for starters. Then go ahead and hook up jumper cables so they're ready to go in the spring...

[bimmermeupscoty]

You jump start the car from under the hood, not from the trunk. Am I misunderstanding something?

[OC40]

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

That's not a design flaw. That's poor planning.

If you don't have a means to keep a trickle charger on it while in storage, your best bet would be to disconnect the battery for starters. Then go ahead and hook up jumper cables so they're ready to go in the spring...

+ 10

[LI2002tii]

You jump-start the battery from the engine bay. The connection terminals are located under the hood, check the manual. And there's a big red cap on the positive terminal!...take a look! In the upper left!

[Chris@codemybimmer]

Originally Posted by SamS

You can shift into Neutral, even if you can't start the car. The battery could never drain down enough to prevent you from doing the following steps:

FOOT ON BRAKE
With ignition on:
Hold top (release) button on the gear stick while doing
- put gear stick one step forwards and hold 2 seconds,
- then one step back again
- then one step forwards again
Then the car is in neutral for 15 minutes

I never knew they had implemented something like this
But then again my uncles porsche carrera 4s died over storage last winter and the hood and trunk release was digitally operated and when I put the key in ignition mode nothing came on at all.
After doing some research I found that porsche had a positive terminal under the steering wheel so at least we cold neutral roll the car out of storage and jump it from there

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

That's not a design flaw. That's poor planning.

If you don't have a means to keep a trickle charger on it while in storage, your best bet would be to disconnect the battery for starters. Then go ahead and hook up jumper cables so they're ready to go in the spring...

Most storage places ive looked at doesnt have a plug for you to use

Originally Posted by bimmermeupscoty

You jump start the car from under the hood, not from the trunk. Am I misunderstanding something?

Originally Posted by LI2002tii

You jump-start the battery from the engine bay. The connection terminals are located under the hood, check the manual. And there's a big red cap on the positive terminal!...take a look! In the upper left!

The storage units in my area have a rack that sits ontop of your hood for you to store rims and tires
So when you pull in there's no room to open your hood to jump it. And the rack is too low for you to back into or else you will hit your trunk

[jsedlak]

Take off the handbrake and roll it out... 6spd ftw.

[BavarianFanatic]

Originally Posted by 1lyfe

The storage units in my area have a rack that sits ontop of your hood for you to store rims and tires
So when you pull in there's no room to open your hood to jump it. And the rack is too low for you to back into or else you will hit your trunk

This would be why you just go ahead and attach cables with the hood left ajar and the cables dangling (protected from shorting of course).

The better option would be disconnecting the battery and just leaving the trunk lid ajar. That way you have easy access to jump it and you won't shorten the life of you battery by taking it through too many discharge/recharge cycles.

[BMWrules7]

Originally Posted by 1lyfe

lets say you parked your car in a storage unit (the ones with a rack for tires that sit above the hood) for the winter and when you go get it in the spring time your battery is totally dead. you also fronted in.
and then lets say you didnt get the option of folding rear seats.
how would you get things rolling?
the battery is in the trunk
theres no key hole in the trunk to manually open it
you cant go through the back seats
you cant put the car in neutral because the alien controls are digital
you're pretty much screwed arent you?

Well, I see two (2) design flaws:

1. Who buys a BMW and stops driving it in the winter? BMW's are made for winter (so long as it has the right shoes on its paws).

2. Battery damage will occur if you do not maintain it properly and this includes properly trickle charging it.

[DrivenByE30]

Based on your logic, everything in life has a design flaw...

how can you compensate for every single situation ??!! you just cannot...

[ric124]

Originally Posted by jsedlak

Take off the handbrake and roll it out... 6spd ftw.

Exactly! Grab a friend have them push the car and when u get some speed pop the clutch! Vroooom

I wouldn't say design flaw but more poor planning and not enough research. Car can be jumped from under the hood. You could also put can in neutral and roll out. Call BMW roadside they will come give u a jump.

Please log into bmwusa.com and download the PDF manual.

[BavarianFanatic]

Originally Posted by ric124

Exactly! Grab a friend have them push the car and when u get some speed pop the clutch! Vroooom

I wouldn't say design flaw but more poor planning and not enough research. Car can be jumped from under the hood. You could also put can in neutral and roll out. Call BMW roadside they will come give u a jump.

Please log into bmwusa.com and download the PDF manual.

You can't pop start a car with a clutch safety switch... Those days are looooong gone (unless you jump the switch out first).

[raleedy]

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

You can't pop start a car with a clutch safety switch... Those days are looooong gone (unless you jump the switch out first).

This is false.

[chrisny]

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

That's not a design flaw. That's poor planning.

+1

[Elk]

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

You can't pop start a car with a clutch safety switch...

Fortunately, this is not the case. You can easily push start a modern MT.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

That's not a design flaw. That's poor planning.

If you don't have a means to keep a trickle charger on it while in storage, your best bet would be to disconnect the battery for starters. Then go ahead and hook up jumper cables so they're ready to go in the spring...

I love folks who don't blame others for all the wrong that befall them.

Good things happen when one is prepared to take advantage of opportunities.

Shit happens when one overlooks opportunities and/or doesn't prepare.

The terminal posts for jump starting the car are under the hood. Back the car in or buy very long jumper cables.

[tony20009]

Yes, I found a design flaw, but it has nothing to do with the batteries.