Fob Gremlins and More
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 8,472
Likes: 38
From: Houston TX
St. Jude Donor '11
Fob Gremlins and More
Been a while since I've made it into the C5 forums. A buddy picked up an '00 A4 and I've been driving it around tuning it for him. One big problem it's got is that even though the fob is not set to passive it honks at various times when walking up to it, walking away from it, standing next to it or sitting in it. Basically if you're in or around it without the ignition on it will randomly honk. Even weirder is that even though it honks when you leave it does not lock...
I don't remember having any problems with my old '99 or seeing threads on it. Any thoughts? Mine is that maybe another fob is hidden somewhere in the car.
I don't remember having any problems with my old '99 or seeing threads on it. Any thoughts? Mine is that maybe another fob is hidden somewhere in the car.
Last edited by 5 Liter Eater; Apr 1, 2010 at 04:25 PM.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 8,472
Likes: 38
From: Houston TX
St. Jude Donor '11
Hmmm. Now that you mention it I do remember passive going away in the later C5 years. The fob has the passive switch, could it be a <'99 fob and using it on a 2000 is causing a problem?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 8
From: Indian Rocks Beach FL
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10
Also, if you've been having trouble tuning the car, this would explain a lot.
Last edited by Mark C5; Apr 1, 2010 at 04:07 PM.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 8,472
Likes: 38
From: Houston TX
St. Jude Donor '11
Actuall the car seems to react the same whether the fob is set to passive on or off. No problems tuning it. It reads and writes fine. HPT sees it at a 2000.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 8
From: Indian Rocks Beach FL
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10
You might want to contact Gene Culley at www.gmpartshouse.com and have him run the VIN. It sounds to me like the car is a '99.
Or you can do it yourself. Look at the 10th character in the VIN.
W= '98
X= '99
Y= '00
1= '01
Or you can do it yourself. Look at the 10th character in the VIN.
W= '98
X= '99
Y= '00
1= '01
Last edited by Mark C5; Apr 1, 2010 at 04:31 PM.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 8,472
Likes: 38
From: Houston TX
St. Jude Donor '11
I ran the VIN through http://www.decodethis.com/ and http://corvettelink.net/vindecoder.asp and both show it to be a 2000.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 8
From: Indian Rocks Beach FL
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10
Never heard of this before. I wonder why it has the '97-'99 FOB? If you switch to the 2000 FOB then the passive can't work no matter what year the car is.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 8
From: Indian Rocks Beach FL
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
Likes: 3,841
From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
its possible it could be a transitional car built in Nov , Dec 99 but still a 2000 on paper. If the car came with Passive fobs the receiver is a 99 also, look at the build date...on the driver door, it may be titled as an 00 but someone dropped the ball somewhere. The Vin could be wrong also, or could point to it being a 99, same as the door...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 8
From: Indian Rocks Beach FL
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10
There are three FOB's for a C5. '97-'99 has a passive on/off switch, '00 operates on the same frequency as the '97-99 but does not have the passive on/off switch and the '01-04 which do not have the switch and operate on a different frequency than the '97-'00.
As Evil- Twin said it is possible to have a 2000 that is a transitional model built in Nov-Dec '99 which would still have the passive feature and the early FOB.
If you have a '97-'99 with a FOB that does not have the switch, someone has replaced the original FOB with a 2000. This is very common because they cost considerably less and most people do not use the passive entry system due to the problems mentioned in the OP's first post.
As Evil- Twin said it is possible to have a 2000 that is a transitional model built in Nov-Dec '99 which would still have the passive feature and the early FOB.
If you have a '97-'99 with a FOB that does not have the switch, someone has replaced the original FOB with a 2000. This is very common because they cost considerably less and most people do not use the passive entry system due to the problems mentioned in the OP's first post.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 8,472
Likes: 38
From: Houston TX
St. Jude Donor '11
OK, so I cracked it open and cleaned off the contacts which necessitated me re-pairing the FOB and now it is much better. So now if the FOB has passive disabled there is no honking at all. If it's enabled it only honks once when it gets out of range and does not honk when I come back into range as I would expect. However; It still does not lock when it honks in passive mode. You can open the door and the alarm goes off.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 8,472
Likes: 38
From: Houston TX
St. Jude Donor '11
I guess so. I just wonder why it's not locking when it arms/honks when set to passive. My buddy would actually like to leave passive disabled so he'll be happy with it not randomly honking regardless of the FOB mode but it bugs me.
Thanks for everyone's input.
Thanks for everyone's input.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
Likes: 3,841
From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
you should be able to turn off the horn in the last group of options found in the set up on your DIC.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 8,472
Likes: 38
From: Houston TX
St. Jude Donor '11
Yea I know but then it's still not locked. Turning the FOB to non-passive and manually locking and unlocking is what he wants so it's all good. Before it would honk randomly whether the FOB was on active or passive.
