Key card battery dead on 2005 dci cabriolet

[simon woodgate]

Hi,
I have just bought a 2005 dci cabriolet and one of the keys doesn't work! I tried putting a new battery in but no joy. On my wife's focus I had the same problem, but I managed to track down some instructions online, something like put the key in, turn on, turn off, push the buttons etc. and it reset and is now fine.
Is there a proceedure for resetting the key in this model megane? I can't face the £150 nightmare I've read other people have gone through just because their key battery died! I have one that works fine - can you copy the code over or something?

cheers
Simon

[andywills]

good question, i know you can get the cards on ebay so somewhere it must be possible. only problem is though you wont have an emergency key for it

[pw981]

Read this link:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3044

Hi and welcome to the club simon!

Where did you buy your car from? If it was from a garage you should really be taking it back to get it repaired, well replaced for free unless they stated one card was faulty when you purchased it.

Phil

[andywills]

there is always a way around these things

[simon woodgate]

Hi all, and thanks for the replies!

I bought the car at auction, so unfortunately no comebacks - I did try! Oh well, I did save 3.5K over main dealer price!

It came with 2 keys, so I am OK for the moment. My Dad used to teach motor vehicle technology and knows a lot of the local mechanics. A call to the local main dealer got the response that the 2005 Megan keys do not lose their coding when their battery dies. The whole press the central locking for >5 secs / press one key then the other to copy the code won't work. You should be able to just put a new battery in, even if it's been dead for some time.

I tried this, but no joy.

Then I tried a 'bug detector' to see if the key was outputting RF. It was. So it seems to be working but not on the right frequency or...something!

The dealer also said hold the key to your ear and shake it. If there's a tiny rattle, something has come lose (this happens a lot he said) and the key is dead, will have be replaced, £150. eek. And you can't open them to fix as they are bonded.

I shook it. A tiny rattle. With this in mind I naturally opened it up to see what had come lose. Strange thing is, there's nothing lose in there at all! I've examined the board with an eyepiece and there don't seem to be any cracks or corrosion on it.

It's possible the main dealer was mistaken. It's also possible that the key is not even from my car - there were 5 or 6 meganes sold that day.

In an unrelated matter, I also found out that the previous 'owner', (car was ex lease from motability), stole the spare wheel replacement air pump / foam stuff. And one of the little pots by the cigarette lighter. And broke the clips off the gear stick gaiter surround. Git.

[cyclonebri1]

Hi and sorry, just posted a very similar query in another post before I saw this. The answer from Webcode was very definate and I think this is what I had read before, but that was from 2007 abd things move on. Is there any possibility of reprogramming a 2nd hand fob??

Cheers,
Bri,

[simon woodgate]

Hi Bri,

I understand you can't code a key from a different car, but mine is (apparently) original. It's outputting something, but I'm not sure what! It would be nice to get a definative answer as to what goes wrong when they 'break'. As a long time tinkerer with electronics I rarely accept that things can't be fixed somehow! The motor trade has sadly moved from repairing parts to replacing them (seen a master cylinder overhaul kit anywhere recently? When I asked at my local garage the 'mechanic' had no idea you could fix one!)

If you can hack an iphone to work on other networks, crack DVD Css codes, put custom firmware into almost everything, surely it's only a matter of time before someone gets around this? My view is the keys ought to be lifetime warranteed from Renault, as the car is useless without them! At the worst, £10 for a new one. From the look of the circuit board there are about £2 of components on there. As for charging an hour's labour to code them, that's just insane. It's a 5 minute job and we are crazy to put up with it.

Simon

[cyclonebri1]

Too dam true matey, what I fail to see the problem with is if you already have one good spare key but have damaged the other, whats the problem with cloning a used spare. Having the other original should be proof enough.

Oh and a tip for one and all, don't keep your house key on the car fob ring, daughter did and trapped the thing when the house door slammed shut £170

[simon woodgate]

Nice tip Bri - I was about to add some other keys to the fob. At the moment it lays flat, goes in a pocket etc. easily so was on the fence. Your door crush story has made my mind up! Not worth the danger!

In other news, anyone know if the roof of a CC needs lubrication anywhere? When it's up I can't see the mechanism and when it's down it's all hidden in the boot!