Replacing my key

[hedges88]

I recently lost the key for my Mitsubishi. Sadly it was the only key, it was just a cheap and nasty plain key that was all I got with it on purchase. Main dealer is happy to replace for £60 odd quid, cut too. I think that's fairly decent but then they told me they need it to go into service for the key to be programmed. This would be an utter nightmare of having it put on a truck (Auto) and taken to London, very expensive too.

The car has a dealer fit premium security system made by cobra but I've never had the metal fob touch pen or the remote lock/unlock fob. If I just purchase these replacement fob such as this one, https://cobracartech.co.uk/home/23-cobra-touch-key... then can I skip all of that stuff with the dealership and just program the new key in myself? I've never used the Cobra system but if it saves me doing all that faf then I'll happily buy it.

Anyone with knowledge of alarms and security know if I can do this myself and save the hassle?

[Richard-D]

If you've never had the Cobra fob then that must have been disabled. I can't see how you would have been able to start it otherwise. You would need a working fob to be able to program the new one anyway (from your link).

You don't say what model of car yours is but if it has a transponder key you are going to need to either go to a main dealer or buy a 2nd hand lockset and ECU (unless someone else knows better?).

[Rough101]

Get them to cut and send the key, then find a mobile auto locksmith who can programme the key on your drive.

[hedges88]

Richard-D said:

If you've never had the Cobra fob then that must have been disabled. I can't see how you would have been able to start it otherwise. You would need a working fob to be able to program the new one anyway (from your link).

You don't say what model of car yours is but if it has a transponder key you are going to need to either go to a main dealer or buy a 2nd hand lockset and ECU (unless someone else knows better?).

It's a 2003 registered 02 Mitsubishi Galant Estate, basically a Legnum with a more elegant roofline. A lot of Mitsubishi Models have these systems and you see the metal touch thing on the dash. This system was part of what they coined the "diamond collection". The main dealers have no parts on file, and as someone with access to their parts system myself I can confirm it's not. Dealer says this rules it out of being a main dealer option as it would be on the system. Though maybe like scotch guard or something it's possible they had a deal with Cobra to provide a service. To look at my car you would think it a VR-4 rather than a humble 2.4 GDI so I guess they all needed a bit of protecting even more than most motors, you could probably open it with a penknife too. I thought the Immo had been disabled too when I purchased the car, how else would she run? I just got it into my head the fob was just for programming new keys. Thankfully she is laid up so it's not an insurance worry because they probably wouldn't approve of that being disabled

I didn't even know lay up insurance existed and my home insurance doesn't cover it . Iv'e got a £900 bill to make her perfectly roadworthy and ready for the summer and I really could do without this on top. If that metal fob is part of the immo then I guess a mobile locksmith is my only choice realistically. I don't understand why the car would allow it though. It's old protocol stuff but I would of thought the ECU/Instrument Cluster/Convenience module/Injector driver or something would not allow that to happen. No errors or anything ever to do with immobilizer. The cobra unit has a connection its end for sure and I cant trace under the dash but no wires seem loose, cut or disconnected.