Key Fob Question - 100 Series

[AlpineAccess]

Hello All! Confusing key issue here. I've confirmed I have two master fobs, and one valet key. The unlock buttons on both work flawlessly, no issues at all. The little red transmit light blinks when I push the button and the doors unlock driver first and all other doors on the second push - just like they should. The "LOCK" button is what is confusing. Both key fobs require pushing the lock button several times - the red light doesn't always blink. It might be two or three pushes and then the light blinks (transmit) and it locks the doors.

I've searched all over the place to try to figure this out - it seems to me its just warn out buttons on 22 year old key FOBS, but its odd because the unlock button works perfectly. It's been this way since I bought the vehicle, and just now have had some time to mess around with them.

Both have new batteries and I can unlock/lock the vehicle from plenty far away. The LED on the keys are really consistent in letting me know if the FOB is transmitting - if it blinks the car locks. If I push the button and no blink, no lock.

Definitely not a problem, but sort of an irritation that it is so intermittent. Have had the keys apart but haven't figured out how to get the board open - guessing its not permitting of soldering a new switch in.

Do I buy new transmitter modules and reprogram it and all of these at the same time? I'm a little concerned with that because the programming feature requires using the keys to lock and unlock in a specific order and with a certain number of pushes. My lock button not being so responsive every time could make a mess out of that.

 

[60wag]

Sounds like a dirty switch. Are the switch contacts exposed when you open it to change the battery? Might try a shot of contact cleaner on one of the fobs.

 

[AlpineAccess]

Figured it out. The design for the fused in piece of plastic on the underside of the rubberized cover for the "lock" is different than the one for "unlock" and the detent portion of the rubberized undercoating had some wear. The underside of the rubber coating has an "X" attached to it, which looks like after twenty years and likely thousands upon thousands of pushes had worn down in the middle, but not the outside edges.

That meant that the switch was just barely making contact when pushed because the detent "X" was hitting the top of the switch but not depressing the button all the way every time. If you pushed it enough times, eventually the lip that was left on it would hit the button enough to depress it and lock the doors.

I fixed it with the little scissors on my Leatherman - clipped off the outer edge of the X. Works every time now. Resealed the plastic with some fly fishing epoxy which should be good enough to keep it sealed.

The good news is that the fix is free, and took under five minutes to figure out. It was the exact same issue happening on both of my key fobs which are the originals.

My illustration of what is up:

Put sharp edge screwdriver under the rubber and slide it to break the seal loose without tearing it. Worked ok and no damage to seal this way.

Button, with the "x" plastic thing above it. VERY hard to see the bump out on the edge of the X, but with a magnifying glass I could see it. Maybe my eyes are getting old. The picture below shows the edges of it trimmed off. You could probably trim off less and have the same effect. I didn't take a before picture.

This is where I trimmed:

And right or wrong, this is what I used (very sparingly) to glue back down the rubberized cover. It's nice because the cover has a clear edging under the rubberized coating, so I could shine the UV light in there that I use for fly tying and the glue set up in seconds so I could confirm that it was sealed up.

Maybe this helps you from having to go through the PITA of buying new key fobs. I kept reading the ones off Amazon were failing on people and that OEM was expensive. This is free and got rid of the intermittent "Lock" button issue on my key fobs. Now it not only unlocks every time, but it locks every time.

 

[AimCOTaco]

Nice work! I'm surprised mine still works so I'll probably need this soon

 

[Shuksan]

This is some awesome key FOB surgery! I wonder if is what went wrong on my original key fob? I bought an amazon one and put it in a yotomd shell. Working so far. I had been using a key for the first few years of ownership.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Nice work! Thanks for taking the time to post a write-up!

 

[Stuckinthe80s]

Man, I should have gone this route when it started happening on mine. I just coughed up the $175 or whatever it was and was pissed in doing so. But because it is the DD for the wifey, she kept “encouraging” me to do it. I can’t remember if I kept the old fob but I’m going to look for it and see if I can salvage it with this thread. Thanks man!