New to the 986, and I've got a couple Q's!

[thstone]

I would suggest not to replace the little "pill" looking thing inside the key. That is the transponder and that is what needs to be reprogrammed by the dealer.

Instead, I would buy a new key fob with all of the electronics (no key shank). Then swap over your key shank and the transponder pill from the old key into the new key fob and it should work without dealer reprogramming.

I have two sets of ECU/Immobilizer/transponder for my race car and I swap them around this way all of the time without dealer re-programming. I hope that this will work for you.

The remaining question is whether the reason that the remote locking doesn't work is due to the key fob buttons/electronics or some other problem that has nothing to do with the key...