Replacement key

[Mr-Chips]

Hi,

just wondering, as my daughter is reaching that age now where my keys are very attractive to her and I only have one key for the car, how much wouyld I be looking at for a replacement key?

I see there are uncut and unprogrammed keys on ebay, but don't kow where I'd go after buying that?

I'm kinda guessing the main dealers and that thier prices will be uncompetative 

[The Wrinkly Ninja]

Auto locksmith - try Yellow Pages or similar.

[Mr-Chips]

Does anyone ohave any idea what I'm gonna be looking at spending?

[The Wrinkly Ninja]

Probably considerably less than the Dealer's 170-odd fee for the same thing.

[chelseaalan22]

Hi,

My local locksmith cut me a key and programmed it for £60 much better that the main stealers.

Alan

[SILVER]

Hi Alan,

Looking for a new key myself  - Been quoted much more than this (Essex area)  Does your man cover this area by any chance?

Thanx

[Testor VTS]

I'll need Wheeler's confirmation on this, but somewhere I wrote that secondhand keys can only be paired to the car to which they were paired to originally!

So, these fobs can be coded only once! (assuming it's a ph.2)

And even if you make a separate transponder for the car and put it into the key the remote will not work, as on the original fob the trasnponder is part is part of the PCB, not a separate item.

The only possibility to do this, is the way I do the old Renault IR keys - copy the MCU dump from the old key to the new one, making a duplicate of the original key fob.

[SILVER]

After much research and talking to the main stealers and fellow owners, as you say second hand keys are next to useless as the transponder is in the plastic part of the flip key and cannot be recoded .

A new blade which includes the transponder is therefore necessary and then the rf part needs programming which all say is hit and miss.

Helpful main stealer gave me a quote for £90 brand new ex Citroen , but this would still need programming on the car at further cost approx £60 - a lot of wonga for a key on a 10 year old car.

So..........I am going to stick with the one remote and one standard key I have got- the large egg is a bit large to stick in your pocket anyway so SWMBO has  got it in her handbag!

Surprisingly I have still seen used keys going on ebay for up tp £20  which are in fact useless apart from the case and battery.

Many thanx for all your kind assistance

[Testor VTS]

Yeah, so my theory confirmed! But, don't bin the idea of programming a used remote!

I'll try to do my best to clone a remote to my own HDI (in a way I described above regarding the Renault RF keys), and if I suceed, I'll make a how-to

[SILVER]

Results awaited with great  interest.

[Mr-Chips]

Glad we're getting some interest on this subject

Cheers guys... I'll keep my keys well out of reach of the kids!

[Testor VTS]

I've posted a few things here in hope I'll get my answer.

Please let me know in the subject of findig the IC's make so I would be able to read them out:

http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums/f177/programming-used-remote-xsara-ii-268171/

[Fatal Swan]

Dragging up an old thread I know, but might be useful to someone in future. I called a few local auto locksmiths as well as the local Citroen dealer this week about the cost of getting a brand new replacement remote key fob (three-button egg-shaped remote) The dealer quoted £90 for the part plus £45+VAT for the programming. Not as horrific as I was expecting, to be honest - still haven't decided whether the shell out that much for a spare key though. The locksmiths estimates ranged from £160-£220 (and none of them seemed especially keen on doing the job!)

[The Wrinkly Ninja]

That's the going rate for a Dealer job. I understood auto locksmiths to be quite a bit cheaper.

[rads]

A couple of months ago I put The Egg next to a strong workshop halogen lamp in a garage and when I smelled melted plastic it was already too late and I got a nice soft-boiled one, too hot to even touch it with bare hand 

After I managed to cool it down it turned out that the remote works just fine, while the key doesn't start the engine, with 'immobilizer failure' message on display. I called a local stealer (good one!) and after having been told the price for a new Egg, I burst into laughter and kept laughing until the guy hung up.

Apparently dealing with transponder problem (the remote works fine, remember) and having nothing to lose, I managed to open The Egg apart (man, I hope it was the last time in my life when I had to do that... and NO, it is not just about opening the lid as if you were about to change the battery, which comes off in 2 seconds, but disconecting the key from the remote). I then removed the transponder (a tiny black cube located it the key itself under a plastic cap). Virtually it looked intact, but must have been either frazzled or just deprogrammed under high temperature.

Next I took the spare key (the one without remote, but with working transponder) and removed the transponder from it (much easier this time, just had to lavarage and pull out a little 'drawer' in front of the key which holds the transponder in place). Not surprisingly, transponders in both keys turned out to be identical

When I have some spare time to go to a stealer I will ask them to try to reprogram the one that doesn't work (according to them, this option is 5 times cheaper than ordering a brand new key, but requires the transponder to be in working condition). Will let you know once I have it sorted out.