Remote key fob quit working

[wrs986]

Just purchased a 1999 boxster and one of the two keys supplied with the car had a weak battery. The light on the fob worked but didn’t unlock/ lock the car remotely. The other key worked fine. I changed the battery and now no red light comes on the fob when pressed. Key still starts the car and works in the door locks. I put the old battery in to see if I could get the light to light up on the fob and it didn’t work either. The owners manual doesn’t say much other than how to replace the battery

[Lacostas]

Hello and welcome.

There is a possibility that the key is broken. Supposedly, when the red right is flashing, it should lock-unlock. If it doesn’t, few things may be happening:

1) the car hasn’t been started for few days so the receiver (on the car) is in deactivated state. Seems not your case

2) The key fob has been pressed a big number of times, out of the reach of the Receiver(car). I’m that case, if a specific threshold has been exceeded, the key fob transmitter is deleting the memory internally. Only solution after this- to reprogram the key fob. To do that you must have the codes that should have came with the key when the previous owner bought it.

3) Battery is low. This should be easy to fix, by just putting a new battery. Are you sure you are putting the correct battery & in the correct side ? Try reverting the battery to see if it’s ok.

4) The key fob transmitter, for some reason, has lost the memory internally (it’s a 19 year old technology any way) and it just doesn’t transmit anything. When the old battery was in, did you manage to unlock/lock it? When you were pressing it, did the Light on the center dash of the car flash ?

In my case, the light was flashing but nothing was happening. Ended up ordering new transmitter -> about 300$ on Dealer in total.


As a first step, just check the battery is in the correct side. Also any chance you broke something (a pin maybe?) when you removed the old battery? I remember this circuit is very fragile...

[HappyBoxster]

Hi,

I recently had a similar problem with the fob of my 986. I was going to Toronto to fix it but fortunately someone outside of Toronto could do it. It was done under 15 minutes.

The shop asked me to share about their service on the forum.

https://www.autokeypro.ca/hamilton/

HB

Disclosure: they gave me a discount to encourage this post.

[Rickvd]

I had the same issue when I purchased mine. One key worked one didn’t. Changed the battery no change. Ended up having the dealer check it out. Ended up replacing the key. -Rick