leo1977

Greetings.

So my 1999 boxster came with one key with a fob not working remotely (car starts just no remote opening of stuff). I am fine with the situation just want a second key. Bought this fob: http://www.suncoastparts.com/product/986RECONTROL.html

and ordered a precut blade online from these guys: https://keysinthepost.com/

Got the fob in the mail yesterday. Call the dealer today to schedule an appointment for them to take the old blade put into new fob and program it (the plan being for me to use the newly cut blade (when it arrives) with the old fob as a backup).

Of course dealer tells me it takes an hour to do the procedure and they will charge me $165 plus tax. In addition, they tell me that my old key fob with the new blade will no longer be able to start the car since when they active the new key fob they will deactivate the old one. Then, to top it off, the service guy tells me that the fob i bought will probably not work since I didn't buy it from them and the car will be locked out until i get the key from them (they of course charge more than the suncoast place).

I need a sanity check here on a couple of things this service guy said. I expected to be raped price wise (an hour charge for a 5 min job). What i didn't expect to hear is that my old key wont work anymore and that most likely the fob that I got from suncoast will not work. Does that make sense?

Again sorry for my noobishness as these things may be obvious to you old hands but your help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Leo

Macster

Doesn't read like I understand the way this works.

The dealer will want all keys to identify those that have ID's that should be removed. This is because the non-volatile memory used to store key id's is very small -- there is room for 4 key ID's I think -- and dead key id's want to be removed.

But keys that worked before should work after. I have had keys replaced a couple of times once with my Boxster and once with my Turbo and in both cases not only did the previously working/good key continue to work after the process so too did the valet key. Oh, and of course the new key.

I had to hand over both the regular keys and the valet key.

Now maybe the new key may not work right as it is not "factory" and might not broadcast at the right radio frequency or have the right ID format or in some other way is incompatible with the system. That is a legitimate possibility. It could be the dealer is just getting this possibility out there before hand.

In my key services I just had the dealer parts department supply the key. I do not know if just the head was provided and the old blade was moved to the new key along with the old RFID pill or if the key head, blade and pill were all new.

Not ready to say what the dealer in total told you is BS. Perhaps there was just some miscommunication involved?

leo1977

Thanks. I bought the same fob that this dealer would sell me. Same part number. Just ordered from another dealer online for a better price. I understand the risk.

What I find is BS is somehow getting new key activated would disable the old key unless I can give them some code from the old key. After 17 years hard to find any codes. What do I know heh...

Macster

The times I've had new keys introduced to my cars I didn't have the code tags for the old keys. I just handed over all the keys and the tech figured out which key codes to leave and which one -- the one for the bad key which didn't even work -- to remove to make room for the new key.

leo1977

That's what worries me. Have to call a different dealer.

geetee

not sure where you're located but check with an indy. My local shop has PIWIS and he'll code for something like 60 bucks. I don't think you'll loose function on 1st key

leo1977

I would love to find an indy shop that can do this stuff. I am in the NY tristate area (NY, NJ, CT). Anyone know of a place other than a dealer that can do this?

Thanks

Disaster

Dealer should have no problem adding another FOB unless it has been done a couple times before and there are no spots left. Then he has to delete one to add one. Not sure how he identifies the one that is working. If he ends up deleting that one he can't add it back without the code.

mikefocke

Dealers don't like it when you bring your own parts. What if that part you supply is bad? They have tied up their machine and mechanic debugging it and don't have the quick and easy way to get a replacement part. Because of this risk, they aren't liable to be quoting you a low labor estimate.

Good luck.