Im in a real pickle! Need to get bonnet open. (05 A3 8P)

[Ulook]

Ok so this is probably the thing of nightmares.

A couple of months ago my wife went into hospital to give birth to our baby daughter. When she got out she could not drive, so her car was just sat there for a few weeks and we forgot ger dashcam was plugged in the whole time. So when i went to unlock the car, the battery was completely dead.

Now the car must have had a new door in the past as the keys dont fit into the door and there are no other keyholes except for the drivers door. So we had no way of getting inti the car and could not lift the bonnet up to jump start it.

Thia is where it gwts even more painful. I was told that you could reach through the grill and pull on the bonnet cable, it would unlock the latch. Now with 1 gentle pull, the cable snapped like a string of pasta. This bloody car! Nothing but problems!

I then was told if you jack it up and take the skid pan off, you can unlatch it from underneath. That does not work as you can see the latch at all.

So now we are completely stuck. Iv heard about jump starting the car from the starter motor, but i have no idea how that works and cant find anything about it.

Does have any ideas on what i can do?

Its worth noting that its an 2.0TDI sport 05 A3 8P, but has the s3 front end. Picture below.

http://grabilla.com/09c08-8b6ea219-da67-4c1f-9fc2-...

Any help would be great. Thanks.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Try some WD40 in the door lock first and wiggle the key in it. Most likely it's the right key but the lock will be seized because it's probably never been used or indeed lubricated during any 'modern day service'.

[Ulook]

I swear to god im gonna kick myself in the teeth if thats all thats wrong...

I will give it a go. Thanks.

[Ulook]

Well iv managed to work the key in. It now goes in and out as it should. But it will not turn.

Am i right in saying if it was the wrong lovk it would not have let the key all the way in? Meaning its the right key but probably the mechanism still seized?

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Even the wrong key should go in and out. But keep lubricating it and keep gently wiggling the key left and right and see if it'll free up.

[Crafty_]

Either you've got to get access to the hood latch or you work out a way to jump the car.

Did you see this: https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/a3-8p-bonnet...

The only other thing I can think of is you'd have to inspect circuit diagrams, but if there was a constant live you could get access to (I'm thinking starter motor, which should be accessible from underneath) you could jump it - ground on the gearbox or similar and then the live on the wire you find with some jumper cables with a battery/jump pack at the other end.

[InitialDave]

On a lot of cars, it's a bit fiddly to access, but with a long screwdriver, you can get between the grille and the bonnet and flick the mechanism directly to unlatch it, got to be careful not to damage the leading edge of the bonnet doing it though.

Yes, if you can see the starter motor terminals, connecting a jump lead to the terminal on the solenoid that connects to the car's battery, and another one to a suitable earthing point on the block, should let you jump it.

[mercedeslimos]

I had to do this with our 05 Passat recently, same car basically.

I did it to the starter motor main live with a crocodile clip left on a trickle charger for a day, and the negative connected to an earth point on the lower chassis leg.

[Edenamber]

Hello, I know this was really long ago but how did you manage to sort this in the end?

I’ve had the exact same problem and thinking My last resort would be to smash the window

[Ulook]

Hi.

Yeah i did. Do what Mercedeslimo said^^^

I rang my mechanic and he came and gave power to the starter motor. Within 10 seconds it had enough power unlock with the key.

Hope you get it sorted.