Key fob acting CRAZY

Closed Thread Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Jun 22, 2002 | 07:15 PM

Mike99C5HT

Thread Starter

Melting Slicks

Joined: May 2000

Posts: 2,209

Likes: 0

From: Pittsburgh PA

Key fob acting CRAZY

My key fob is acting crazy! First, two days ago it stopped working. I went through the reset instructions...simply hold down LOCK & UNLOCK for seven seconds...the horn sounds...and viola...it works again. Come back to the car 15 mintues later and it's dead. Reset again...passive is turned OFF on the fob but the doors lock and unlock at will when standing within 15 feet of it. Weird. My backup fob is dead too and it won't even relearn itself. The batteries are the originals...3 years old so I'm guess that's all it is.

BTW: DIC codes show that signal was lost to the fob...can't remember the code number exactly.

Jun 22, 2002 | 10:34 PM

chocoholic

Burning Brakes

Joined: Oct 2001

Posts: 1,146

Likes: 0

From: The Internet

Re: Key fob acting CRAZY (Mike99C5HT)

From the owner's manual....

Quote:

Under normal use, the battery in your remote keyless entry transmitter should last about three years.

You mention that your batteries are about three years old, maybe it's as simple as that?

Jun 22, 2002 | 11:19 PM

IrishMac

Moderator Emeritus

Joined: Apr 2002

Posts: 54,756

Likes: 0

From: Always living in a state of Confusion.

Gone, but not Forgotten

Cruise-In 5, 6, 8 & 10 Veteran

St. Jude '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09

Re: Key fob acting CRAZY (Mike99C5HT)

Gotta be the batteries. :yesnod:

Jun 25, 2002 | 04:17 AM

dbrogan

Advanced

Joined: Sep 1999

Posts: 52

Likes: 0

From: Charlottesville VA

Re: Key fob acting CRAZY (Mike99C5HT)

I've had this exact problem with my '99 a few times. What's particularly strange about the problem is that the fob will randomly lock/unlock the doors even when the passive switch is set to 'off.' The first time it happened to me, a forum member suggested the following: after resetting (pressing LOCK and UNLOCK for seven seconds) switch the passive switch from 'off' to 'on' and back to 'off.' It has worked every time - no more random fob behavior. I've thought maybe I had a dirty switch or a short, but the problem and its fix has always been too cut and dry. I think it's a logic problem rather than a hardware failure.

-Dave

Jun 25, 2002 | 07:41 AM

Smoke-N-Shot

Race Director

Joined: Jan 2000

Posts: 15,707

Likes: 1

From: Lynnfield MA

Cruise-In II Veteran

Cruise-In III Veteran

Cruise-In VI Veteran

Re: Key fob acting CRAZY (Mike99C5HT)

I experienced the same conditions and just replaced the batteries in both remotes... :yesnod:

Jun 25, 2002 | 12:48 PM

Radar1

Burning Brakes

Joined: Aug 2001

Posts: 823

Likes: 0

From: Ottumwa IA

Re: Key fob acting CRAZY (Mike99C5HT)

Quote:

I recently had mine exhibit some of the same symptoms: FOB failed to lock/unlock while standing next to the car, I replaced the FOB battery, relearned and re-synched the fobs, and everything worked for several hours. Then, you guessed it, the FOB wouldn't work again until I re-synched again. I did a search on the forum and while it is comforting to know several people have had the same problem, there wasn't a consensus on the remedy. Since you don't indicate that the tire pressure monitor is acting up, its my guess that your FOB is intermittantly losing its contact, either because the battery is about gone or because a contact in the FOB is not making a good enough connection. In my case, I knew the battery was good, so I opened up the remote and gently pried the battery contacts so that they would make better contact with the circuit board contacts. I then made sure to really squeeze the two halves of the remote tightly together, and re-synched the FOB while standing next to the rear of the car. So far it seems to be working, but the day is young. Hope this helps, and I'll re-post if this solution eventually fails. Good luck.

Tim

Jun 27, 2002 | 11:41 AM

Radar1

Burning Brakes

Joined: Aug 2001

Posts: 823

Likes: 0

From: Ottumwa IA

Re: Key fob acting CRAZY (Mike99C5HT)

As promised, I would re-post if my fix didn't work. Went to the garage this AM, pushed unlock and NOTHING. Had to re-sync. I guess I am officially out of ideas. :sad:

Tim