Need to Boost Battery from Trunk..is it Safe?? - BMW Forum

singring · 12-13-2009, 10:03 AM

It is bloody cold here now and my 1995 318i would not start up last night when I tried to leave from work. I had the engine block heater plugged it, but I think the electrical outlet was faulty, so engine was dead cold in -35 C temps. I was able to stretch my extension cord to reach a functioning plug in the meantime, hopefully the engine will be warmed up today. I was going to get a battery boost from another co-worker, but I broke the hood latch handle, so now I can't get under the hood.
Can I safely try to get my car started by directly boosting the battery in the trunk, and what should I avoid doing that could damage some of the car's electronics?
Thanks

witeshark · 12-13-2009, 10:40 AM

AFAIK, that should be fine with the usual careful procedure.

drz · 12-13-2009, 11:41 AM

There shall be no problem.

By the way, you may want to resolve the hood latch issue, as it is kind of important to get in there occasionally.

BrianXE36 · 12-13-2009, 07:03 PM

That procedure should be ok. As for that hood latch, check the position of the latch attached to the hood. I found mine was very hard to open and needed to adjust the position of the latch.

BimmerE39 · 12-14-2009, 02:59 PM

Yeah, you can definitely do it from the batter in the trunk directly. I've done it before when I couldn't get a set of jumper cables to reach the jump start terminal under the hood.