Alarm (immobilizer) Unit - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

clb0099 · 01-28-2011, 06:36 PM

Ok, so here is my question. I was in contact with a guy who works on Porsches and I told him that my immobilizer might have gotten wet and might be causing me some issues. So I asked him if I could buy a used one on ebay or at a junk yard.He stated if I did buy one somewhere that I need to have the vin # from the car it came from. Now my question is this one is this true? Also if I did find the Alarm and got the vin # with it to from a legit place could my keys be programmed to work with it. Also would I ever have a problem ordering more keys now that my immobilizer had another vin # associated with it. Or is the vin# needed only to access the immobilizer to re-program and load my correct vin #. Please let me know what you think.

pk2 · 01-29-2011, 08:08 AM

I think you can. The immobilizer has 4 "slots for different keys. As long as theyre not used up, key +vin should work.

Regards PK

Paul · 01-29-2011, 06:24 PM

The VIN is needed so that the dealer can look up the learning code for the immobilizer.

With a PST-2 or 3 up to 4 keys can be added at will as long as you have the original bar code tags that came with the keys.

The old key codes can be deleted to free up space.

Worse case you will have to buy new remotes for your keys since I assume you do not have the bar code tags.

JFP in PA · 01-30-2011, 06:45 AM

Before scrapping your original immobilizer, pull the seat and take it out of the car, open it up, clean it with alcohol and let it dry out. Check its internal fuse to make sure it is OK. Once dry, reinstall it inside a good quality zip lock plastic bag to protect it from water in the future. Quite often, the unit will work fine once dried out, and it is on Hell of lot cheaper than replacing it……………..