Mincey

I'd like to think it was brute force and expertise :-) The main thing is it's all working now and will actually get some use instead of sitting on the driveway gathering moss.

This did the trick, only done by someone with more experience (and balls!) than me. The iQ lives! I've put a new battery in and it's working like a charm now. Thanks everyone for your input.

Thanks everyone - I've left it for a day with a generous amount of WD40 sprayed into the lock. I'll give the key another go when it has warmed up a bit in case the overnight frost doesn't help. I don't know if it was deadlocked when it was left, chances are it was, but before any glass gets broken I will get a professional out.

Hello my fellow iQ owners! Well, I'm not actually an iQ owner, I've just inherited a problem with someone else's. The 60 plate iQ in question belonged to my parents. They did about 15 miles each year, so the battery was always going flat. Green Flag set up an office next door because they were called out so often to jump start it. The car wasn't to blame, it was just lack of use. Fast forward several years and I bought it off them for my step son. It was as dead as a dodo at the time, so using the key blade from the fob, I opened the door, popped the hood and replaced the battery. My step son drove it happily with no issues for several months then moved to London. The car was returned to my parents driveway where it has sat for at least 18 months doing diddly squat. My other step son now wants it, so yesterday I went out to check on the battery. Knowing it would be flat, I went to open the car with the key blade, and there was nothing. No resistance, no mechanical clunking movement as before. The car refuses to let me in. I sought advice on another car forum and the suggestion to connect a battery charger to the starter solenoid was given. I can't get to this or the alternator from underneath or through the wheelarch. I've tried spraying some silicone spray into the lock, and leaving it for half an hour to see if that freed anything up, but to no avail. I can't see how to break into the bonnet, the boot or the passenger door (cheers Toyota for providing only one lock on the car!) so I'm now stuck for ideas, short of calling someone out. I'm a cheapskate and would much rather do it myself though. I've seen an airbag and wedge kit on Amazon which videos on YouTube have shown me used to break into a car. Before I go down this route, I wondered if any of you kind souls had any suggestions please?