Opening FOB Key

[apom]

Ok... i lasted 6 month without putting a FOB key in the wash... better than usual!

I have managed to open it to the battery out level (http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3334037)

but cant seem to open it past the plastic white shield to get to the button side.... anyone now how to do this?

Would be nice to dry it properly!

[richdave]

I'd suggest you just take the battery out and dry it either in a 50C oven for a couple hours or in a sealed container with dessicant in it for a day or so.

If you manage to get the white bit out lets us konw how you did it

[gregozedobe]

You could give it a liberal spray with contact cleaner, as long as it is one that is "plastics & electronics friendly" it won't do any harm to anything.

If the plastic white shield is located with some plastic posts with the ends melted you could touch them with a soldering iron to melt them again, but you could have trouble getting it back on (and staying on) afterwards.

Even if your remote does play up, replacements are fairly cheap to source on ebay and other on-line sources (IIRC someone here at VWW had some for sale recently). Just make sure to get the correct part number and frequency (as printed on the bit that is covered up when the two halves are together).

The key blade half is usually fine, unless immersed in salt water long enough to corrode the pivot/blade. Just make sure to hang onto the immobilser chip (RFID - looks like a glass grain of rice), as they are very expensive and difficult to get replacements for.

[richdave]

Even if your remote does play up, replacements are fairly cheap to source on ebay and other on-line sources (IIRC someone here at VWW had some for sale recently). Just make sure to get the correct part number and frequency (as printed on the bit that is covered up when the two halves are together).

Not so sure it is that simple... I was unable to verify that getting a "spare" key off ebay or similar would work. I don't believe you will get a dealer to even attempt to "pair" it to your car either... Not yet found a "Proven" case where a late model Passat or similar has had a non VWA supplied FOB successfully programmed to open and START a car. All information I obtained suggests that the electronics are in fact VIN specific. I bought a new FOB

[gregozedobe]

Not so sure it is that simple... I was unable to verify that getting a "spare" key off ebay or similar would work. I don't believe you will get a dealer to even attempt to "pair" it to your car either... Not yet found a "Proven" case where a late model Passat or similar has had a non VWA supplied FOB successfully programmed to open and START a car. All information I obtained suggests that the electronics are in fact VIN specific. I bought a new FOB

If your FOB is actually 2 parts (key blade in one half, remote buttons in the other half) then what I stand by what I said 100% (read what I said about the immobiliser chip again - that is the bit that is difficult to buy non-OEM, but it is unaffected by washing).

My dealer was quite happy to charge me the usual fee for attempting to program non-oem immobiliser chips (RFID) to both my VW and my Skoda - and why not, it is my money and my vehicles ? They suceeded with my VW, but not with my Skoda. Interestingly enough, even a "dead" key (one without any immobiliser chip at all) will actually start the engine, but after about 2 seconds the immobiliser controller cuts the engine and displays an error message .

If your "key" is a one piece job where you don't need to put a key blade into an ignition switch and turn it to start the engine then that is a whole different ball game to my experiences.

The remote half of two-piece keys is easy to source non-oem and you can program it to your car yourself. They are usually available for less than half what a dealer charges for them, so the cheaper option to get a complete new FOB is to buy the key blade (and immobiliser chip) half from the dealer, and get the remote half (the bit with the buttons you press) from elsewhere. That's exactly what I did to get an extra spare (fully functional) for my Skoda

As long as you are happy with what you bought then it is all good. I'm happy (and if I ever need them I have several unused "spare remotes" ).


Back to the OP, is your remote working OK now Apom ?

[passatpout]

The (later) Passats have a one-piece electronic key, not a flick-knife style like the Golf.

[apom]

Back to the OP, is your remote working OK now Apom ?

I did the following so far....

1. did the hairdryer bit for about 20 minutes
2. then the dessicant idea from richdave... will give it another go tonight to see if it still works


Stay tuned!

[richdave]

The (later) Passats have a one-piece electronic key, not a flick-knife style like the Golf.

Thanks for posting this to clarify my post

[apom]

All still working at present. I suppose time will tell to see if any of the contacts corrode