How do you enter locked 97 5281 that has a dead battery?

[prmoorman1]

I have a 97 528i, my son has a 89 325i, my question is, how does one enter
their locked car that has a dead battery? My son's 89 battery went dead,
the driver's side cannot be opened with a key, even prior to the dead battery,
it had to be opened from the trunk. I thought, what am I to do now?
I had one other option, I tried the passenger side, and it unlocked. Question,
is one side manual, and the other side electric, and is the same true on my
97 528i? Another question, if replacing a dead battery on this 528i, is there
a certain precaution in changing out the battery? I thought I read somewhere
that there were some dos and don'ts in replacing a battery. Thanx

[Torque]

Both sides are electric; just that the passenger side has a extra, mechanical mechanism for when the battery goes dead: you pull up the door handle and turn the key to open.

I really don't know about the e39, but I think they should have the same thing; either way, if they don't and you can't unlock due to a drained battery, get a jumper, get underneath the car, hook it up to the alternator (make sure you get the positive wires right), then unlock as you normally would.

As far as changing the battery. Unhook the negative then positive and take it out, put the new one in, connect positive then negative wires. Other than that, the only thing to worry about is that you'll need to punch in the code in your radio and your OBC will lose all it's info; that said, BavAuto.com has a little tool powered by a 9V battery, that you can plug into the cigarette lighter while you replace the battery so that nothing gets lost.

Hope that helps.

edit: Just realized you're from KY too; glad to have another KY member ... I think there is now a total of 4 of us on here.

[prmoorman1]

Thanx Torque for the info., I appreciate it very much, and sorry for not getting
back sooner, but my son has some plumbing issues. Yes I live in good old Owensboro,
Kentucky.