greatwhitekc

When I bought my 928 5 years ago it only came with 1 master key/fob. Since then I’ve had non-master key made but I’d like to get another master key/fob made, but haven’t seen much this situation on here. On EBay I see Porsche master key/fob with an uncut key blank being sold for about $75 or so. It has a 944 parts number however. Anyone have any experience with this situation? Taking the blank to a local locksmith with the master to get another master made? Anything else I should be concerned about? Thank you in advance for your help!

chart928s4

Lots of key threads on here - search is your friend. Short version is call one of the big 3 928 parts people for the lighted heads (and blanks if you need them) and there's a guy in Oz who dupes the keys from a photo. Some local guys say they can do the key also but I haven't tried them.

Hilton

I've done this a few times over a few 928's.

Take a good quality picture of the key - send it to keys4classics (used by many many people on this forum), and have them cut a Huf steel blank for you. They'll work out the correct key code from the photo, and then cut using that code, so you effectively get a new, unworn key.

Then just order the 944 key head part from any of our local porsche parts suppliers.

UKenGB

Whilst keys4classics were very helpful, in the end I just ordered a new key blade from my local Porsche dealer, already cut to the number for my car as that was significantly cheaper and also I could collect it rather than having to have it shipped half way around the planet. Just make sure they order the correct length of blade, i.e. long for alarmed cars or short otherwise.

I also had to be sure though that the locks had not all been changed which would invalidate Porsche's records for the key number for my car. However, I was sure and that proved correct as the new key blade was supplied and fitted all locks perfectly. I just bought a new (genuine) key head with LED light from eBay so I now have a completely new key.

Wisconsin Joe

#1 - It's not really a 'fob'. It's just a lighted key head. While the light is really small, it does a nice job of showing where the keyhole is in total darkness and will help prevent you keying your own car.

#2 - The key blade is rather unusual. Very few places can cut it. If you plan on having it cut, take the current key to the locksmith of your choice and see if they have the proper equipment to cut it. The only place I'm certain of is some fella near 928 International. Mark knows him and can get keys actually cut.

#3 - The two main avenues are factory/dealer (Roger can get them that way, too) or Keys For Classics. As noted above, factory is dependent on the locks being original and factory records being correct. I was under the impression that even including shipping 'halfway around the world', K4C is cheaper than factory. I paid the dealer over $90 US a few years back for one. Just the blade, no head.

oldfrat

My local Porsche dealer blew it twice based on my VIN number and refused to give me a refund. Keys4Classics has done 3 keys for me perfectly with just a cell phone photo and are surprisingly inexpensive and quick. I highly recommend them!

Brad

kuriisenbo

I think it's best to go to a locksmith. They know their business, they will immediately help you solve the problem. I once had a task to make a key ring and had the material. The task was very simple but I was surprised that the locksmith knows many ways and specialists I realized this from a simple conversation with him. After I found out that locksmith near me . The most interesting thing is that he knew all the experts and was aware of how to build a house from nothing and such a task as your keychain or my ring was elementary

UKenGB

No point doing that here in the UK as none can supply the blank. The original manufacturers, with one exception, only supply Porsche themselves which rather restricts our options.

The exception seems to be Keys4Classics as they are able to source the blanks. I don't know how they do this and neither do the otherwise knowledgeable and excellent locksmiths over here who obviously would also like to be able to get hold of them. it has to be pointed out though that many locksmiths would in any case be unable to cut this key as it requires a special cutter to mill the 4 edges, rather than the more usual copy cutter.

As I already mentioned, getting it cut and supplied from my Porsche dealer was significantly cheaper than Keys4Classics who were however incredibly helpful. The advantage they have when making one from a photo is that they can be sure the result is correct. From a Porsche dealer it's a one-shot process. You order and pay for it and only later can discover if it is correct. There is no way to check this beforehand as Porsche will not tell you the code they have for your car in order to verify it beforehand. Although…

It is worth noting that the actual cutting codes of the key can be fairly easily determined by eye. There are a known number of cuts along the key (11 for the alarm type key, but not all are important) and only 5 different depths and since 1 and 5 are obvious, it's easy to determine the rest for each side of the key, so there's 2 actual cutting codes for each key. Those cutting codes are then registered by Porsche in their database, associated to your VIN and assigned a 5 digit code that is unique and numerically completely unrelated to the actual cutting codes, but is what Porsche refer to as your 'key number'.

Locksmiths like Keys4Classics and KeysinthePost here in the UK do not have access to Porsche's own database but they can usually obtain the cutting codes (that they need to cut a key, unless worked out visually) from the key number, or vice versa. Since I did not know the key number for my car (previously been lost), I inspected my key to determine the cutting codes and having already purchased another key from KeysinthePost, they very kindly performed this reverse lookup and were able to tell me the Porsche key number that corresponded to the cutting codes for my key. With me so far?

The Porsche dealer informed me they were not allowed to provide the key number to a customer, even though they had it as they obtain that from Porsche's database using the car's VIN and then order the key cut to that number. However, I was clearly not trying to conduct any nefarious business with the key I wanted and they had already inspected my car so I was allowed to sneakily take note of this key number. This matched the key number KeysinthePost had obtained for me from the cutting codes for my key (definitely correct as we had worked that out from the key itself) and so I could be sure that my car still had the original locks, so Porsche had the correct key number for my car and that the key as cut and supplied by them would be correct. It was.

There were 2 wrinkles in all this:-

• 1 - It is important the correct length of key is ordered. By mistake, my dealer ordered a short key so even though the key number was correct, the key was cut completely incorrectly. They apologised and ordered the correct long key which was then supplied completely correct. It baffles me however that Porsche (or whoever they actually use the cut the keys) happily cut a short key to a key number and hence the cutting codes clearly only suitable for a long key. Seems to me that ordering the key purely by key number is entirely sufficient as that completely determines the cutting codes AND the type of blank (i.e. long or short). However, the dealer has to order the specific part number as appropriate for the long or the short key and also supply the key number which allows for the aforementioned mistake. The ordering process should require ONLY the key number and then Porsche's ordering process can supply and cut the correct blank according to that number. As it is, the dealer can order the wrong part, the key cutter doesn't check and simply cuts the wrong key blank which is then useless. After more then 40 years I would have thought Porsche could have got this right.

• 2 - Less serious, but in the course of the above process, it became apparent that Porsche had registered 2 entirely different key numbers to the same actual cutting codes. Or more accurately there were 2 key numbers that had the same cutting codes. This should not be the case as both should be unique in the database. So when KeysinthePost originally performed the lookup, the key number they found for my cutting codes was not the same as Porsche had for my car (and that the dealer had kindly allowed me to see). When looking up this key number, KeysinthePost saw that it had the same cutting codes. Not just close, the cutting codes registered for these 2 different key numbers were EXACTLY the same. So another grave error by Porsche and easily prevented if they had designed their database correctly (I've been a database developer). Not serious though and it just means the cutting codes for keys to my car can be referenced from either of 2 key numbers. Both of which I have securely stored with my car's records of course.

Anyway, hope that helps others to understand the ins and outs of Porsche's keys (at least for the 928).

edlocke

+1 for keys4classics.

Fast service, right price, keys worked perfectly. I got an aftermarket blank cut by them as a backup as well as a Porsche OEM with the lighted head from them.