Dropped my FOB in water. Can start the car but the 4 buttons don't work!
01-20-2023, 12:12 PM
#16
Good to know Thacker thanks for the recommendation on the cleaning procedure and testing the range of your FOB.
Debugging this problem some more, it's quite possible that I'm running into the same issue as 01010011 given that both him and I have horrible range and we both routed power cables to power our radar detectors / dash cams through the passenger-side A pillar.
It's pretty easy for me to remove the fuses for both of these at the passenger fuse box foot well... maybe if no power flows through them I'll see if my FOB range increases and I'll have another data point. (Mind you even before putting wires in there my range was between 1-5 feet from the car and about 75% of the 3D space around the car the FOB would not work... so at this time I don't really know yet if I have a weak FOB or there is something wrong with the car's RF reception.
Thanks again! (Am making progress and now at least I have a somewhat reliable way to lock / unlock my Porsche!)
Jean-Pierre
Debugging this problem some more, it's quite possible that I'm running into the same issue as 01010011 given that both him and I have horrible range and we both routed power cables to power our radar detectors / dash cams through the passenger-side A pillar.
It's pretty easy for me to remove the fuses for both of these at the passenger fuse box foot well... maybe if no power flows through them I'll see if my FOB range increases and I'll have another data point. (Mind you even before putting wires in there my range was between 1-5 feet from the car and about 75% of the 3D space around the car the FOB would not work... so at this time I don't really know yet if I have a weak FOB or there is something wrong with the car's RF reception.
Thanks again! (Am making progress and now at least I have a somewhat reliable way to lock / unlock my Porsche!)
Jean-Pierre
01-20-2023, 04:11 PM
#17
Wow! Super interesting and pertinent 01010011 aka 'S' :-)
It looks like we are facing the exact same issue!
I have also run power cables in the passenger-side A-pillar for my radar detector and front/rear cameras! Come to think of it it's possible that range started to get poor around the same time and might not be related to me dropping that FOB in the water!
Q1: How do you know that the FOB antenna is located in the passenger-side A-pillar? (And there is only one of them?)
Q2: Did your FOB range issues appear when you ran power cables in the A-pillar?
I will try tomorrow to see if I can replicate the problem you have with the subsequent button presses having poorer range... it's possible I have that too. (And if so possibly the first pulse has more power because the unit's capacitors have stored more energy?)
It looks like we are facing the exact same issue!
I have also run power cables in the passenger-side A-pillar for my radar detector and front/rear cameras! Come to think of it it's possible that range started to get poor around the same time and might not be related to me dropping that FOB in the water!
Q1: How do you know that the FOB antenna is located in the passenger-side A-pillar? (And there is only one of them?)
Q2: Did your FOB range issues appear when you ran power cables in the A-pillar?
I will try tomorrow to see if I can replicate the problem you have with the subsequent button presses having poorer range... it's possible I have that too. (And if so possibly the first pulse has more power because the unit's capacitors have stored more energy?)
Q1: I think I read about the location of the antenna somewhere on this forum when I was searching to figure out if I was experiencing a known problem a while back. Plus there's a box in there that has what looks awfully like an antenna connector going into it and the system definitely works 100% of the time when I hold the fob right up to that location.
Q2: Not 100% sure. One of the first things I did when I bought the car was to install a dash cam, but the conclusion is muddied by the the car coming with a key with a nearly dead battery. I replaced the battery and did the dash cam install right around the same time (which was I think literally the day after I brought the car home). So it's quite possible things weren't working properly because of the dead key battery, and then I created another problem at the exact same time I fixed the previous one.
Oh, and I did open up my key yesterday and check the pins. Everything was perfect, they were all making contact with the battery (and the LED always lights up when I press a button, so it seems likely it's not a battery issue).
01-20-2023, 10:17 PM
#18
Thanks for the precision 'S' :-)
It's not too much trouble for me to remove power to my radar detector and dash cam by removing the fuse from the passenger-side footwell... so hopefully the absence of probably-noisy power wires right next to the RF antenna would reduce the effect of those two wires probably right next to the FOB antenna and increase the range. (Removing the cables would probably be even better but that's not an option for me)
I'll try that and report back if I get better range
It's not too much trouble for me to remove power to my radar detector and dash cam by removing the fuse from the passenger-side footwell... so hopefully the absence of probably-noisy power wires right next to the RF antenna would reduce the effect of those two wires probably right next to the FOB antenna and increase the range. (Removing the cables would probably be even better but that's not an option for me)
I'll try that and report back if I get better range
I don't really have definite answers to the questions...but I'll try:
Q1: I think I read about the location of the antenna somewhere on this forum when I was searching to figure out if I was experiencing a known problem a while back. Plus there's a box in there that has what looks awfully like an antenna connector going into it and the system definitely works 100% of the time when I hold the fob right up to that location.
Q2: Not 100% sure. One of the first things I did when I bought the car was to install a dash cam, but the conclusion is muddied by the the car coming with a key with a nearly dead battery. I replaced the battery and did the dash cam install right around the same time (which was I think literally the day after I brought the car home). So it's quite possible things weren't working properly because of the dead key battery, and then I created another problem at the exact same time I fixed the previous one.
Oh, and I did open up my key yesterday and check the pins. Everything was perfect, they were all making contact with the battery (and the LED always lights up when I press a button, so it seems likely it's not a battery issue).
Q1: I think I read about the location of the antenna somewhere on this forum when I was searching to figure out if I was experiencing a known problem a while back. Plus there's a box in there that has what looks awfully like an antenna connector going into it and the system definitely works 100% of the time when I hold the fob right up to that location.
Q2: Not 100% sure. One of the first things I did when I bought the car was to install a dash cam, but the conclusion is muddied by the the car coming with a key with a nearly dead battery. I replaced the battery and did the dash cam install right around the same time (which was I think literally the day after I brought the car home). So it's quite possible things weren't working properly because of the dead key battery, and then I created another problem at the exact same time I fixed the previous one.
Oh, and I did open up my key yesterday and check the pins. Everything was perfect, they were all making contact with the battery (and the LED always lights up when I press a button, so it seems likely it's not a battery issue).
01-21-2023, 03:13 PM
#19
Update: I ran an experiment where I unplugged the power taps on both the driver-side and passenger-side fuse boxes for my radar detector, dash cam and cell phone charger and no dice... The same range issue persists.
I have also tried to isolate where the antenna is and I think it's a very thin wire about 15 centimeters from the right edge of the windshield (very close to the passenger-side A beam). My FOB works 100% of the time if I press buttons about 30 cm / one foot away from this in-glass wire. I still don't know if the problem is on the FOB side or the car side but at least I have a reliable way for the FOB to work now.
I have also tried to isolate where the antenna is and I think it's a very thin wire about 15 centimeters from the right edge of the windshield (very close to the passenger-side A beam). My FOB works 100% of the time if I press buttons about 30 cm / one foot away from this in-glass wire. I still don't know if the problem is on the FOB side or the car side but at least I have a reliable way for the FOB to work now.
