[boxfix]

\I just went through this with my 2003.

There is a little piece of something that sort of looks like glass almost like a piece of pencil lead that is the immobilizer part. There is a coil built into the key surround gasket that reads this little thing. It is commonly called a "pill". With this in the key head and a properly cut key blade you can start the car.

The rest of the remote locking etc. is in the key head. The trick here is that you need the code and/or barcode for the key electronics to "marry" it to the car.

I bought a new head from our site sponsor, Pelican parts for $250 or so.....it was a Porsche OE part with the right codes.

Next you have to go to a dealer with the registration, ID and maybe title and have them print out a list of codes for your car. Or for $100 or so they can program it for you. I got the codes and went to my indy, TRE in Van Nuys. Jeremy tried, but he said Auto Gallery in Woodland Hills gave me the wrong list of codes. I went back to Auto Gallery and they said they would program the key for $105. They did it while I waited and it worked.

Particlewave had rebuilt my original key head by soldering in new switches, but it lost its programming. The dealer could not marry the key because they did not have those numbers.

Now you probably know more than you wanted to about the key.