Both FOBs Remote Lock Stopped working

17158 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by greenman, Oct 10, 2011

bbauman

Discussion Starter · Apr 8, 2010

Both FOBs will not lock the car yet will unlock, pop the trunk, etc. Isn't a fob battery issue.

Car does not do anything when you are hitting the lock button.

Thoughts?

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1 - 11 of 11 Posts

The welds in the keyfob probably broke. If you hug your car(literally) and press the buttons does it work? or if you are in the car?

Mine did this after 2 weeks since getting the car(3 weeks ago). I bought a soddering iron and electronic weld from Home Depot($20) and was my first time doing it. I fixed it, when you open the fob(if not under warranty) you will probably see the battery clip broken on one side(so one side is up in the air more so than the other). You want to anchor that down and sodder it

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bbauman

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 8, 2010

It will unlock and pop the trunk from a distance.

It will not unlock no matter how close you are.

Looking through a magnifying glass the welds appear good. The battery holder does not pull away from the board at all.

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Daniel

· #4 · Apr 9, 2010

Its the contact pads on the actual button.

If you take it apart again look at the button it will be worn out or missing form use.
I have an 05 so all my buttons eventually stopped working. i Frankensteined pieces of past remotes and fixed it. (im cheap)

Easiest fix is to buy a remote of ebay that is the exact same as your if there a little different you will need to modify it to fit. and just put the circuit board into the new housing.

And finally if you want to test this to see if im write while the remote is apart touch the trunk button onto the unlock and see what happens

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bbauman

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 9, 2010

You are absolutely right Daniel. Was just going to post the same thing.

Found out by accident last night. Had the remotes apart and had previously tried shorting the contacts with my pocket knife. This worked fine with all buttons except the lock button. Last night was holding the circuit board and a needle nose plier in the same hand and it locked. HEY!

Cleaned up the contacts with a pencil eraser, put a little square of aluminum foil in and she locks every time now.

We'll see how long the aluminum foil works. It is a cheap and easy fix.

The idea of using other FOB parts to make it work sounds good but I'm wondering if there would be a tape with metal conductivity that could be applied to the contact pad. Chances are originally it is just a metal coating on the contact pad. Maybe some sort of metal powder mixed with adhesive that has worn off and could be reapplied?

It was just dumb luck that both remotes stopped working at the same time. The tinfoil fix has them both working again.

Thanks all!

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Daniel

· #6 · Apr 9, 2010

Glad that worked i didnt think of the foil. I eventually found a fob that no longer worked around the house. OLd/Rental not sure but it was the same. But i spent awhile trying to figure out what to use i actually used a little thin wire but that didnt work.
Anways glad it works they can be expensive to replace.

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BuickMan38

· #7 · Apr 12, 2010

I had the same problem. I fixed the battery holder, and it still wouldn't work. I found out it was the inside of the rubber buttons that were worn. I found a button replacement pad online from keylessfix.com for like $10 and the remotes have worked great ever since.

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ebahen

· #8 · Jul 14, 2011

or if you have a candy bar wrapper (foil) and some crazy glue you can just glue a bit of it on there and away you go. Foil side up so it contacts the electrical board when pressing button of course. This really works.

It looks like the back side of the rubber button has some sort of coating on it that completes the connection that easily wears away.. almost like it was engineered to fail.

At any rate never pay 80 bucks for a new one... ever!

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g6driver

· #9 · Jul 16, 2011

bbauman said:
Cleaned up the contacts with a pencil eraser, put a little square of aluminum foil in and she locks every time now.

Get this guy a medal, this is the best fix ever idk how long it last. It beats the $130 dollars the dealer wants for a new one and $38 to program it! Thank you sir.

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TedKihm

· #10 · Oct 10, 2011

I agree with G6Driver! Both my FOB's had the same problem - everything worked except the unlock button. A scrap of Reynold's heavy duty foil and a wisp of superglue and both of them work perfectly now!! Thank you!!

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