E36 key fob issue

E36 key fob issue

Author
Discussion

jimwilli

Original Poster:

254 posts

109 months

Wednesday 10th January
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I have an E36 with 2 original key fobs. Both used to work as of the beginning of the week however one is used as a spare and one is used all the time.

I unlocked the car with the spare fob this week, then locked it again. Ever since then the main fob hasn't worked with the car. I have tried the battery but it makes no difference. The red led at the top of the fob comes on. Is it possible for the car to lose sync with the original fob? Any tips to fix?

Cheers

guards red

674 posts

207 months

Thursday 11th January
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Hi, you need to know what alarm system you have as it's important to the solution needed.

It should be fixable so don't despair!

This should help:

https://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/threads/e36-alarm-i...

jimwilli

Original Poster:

254 posts

109 months

Thursday 11th January
quotequote all
Cheers

I came across this from that forum which seems to be a solution - https://zroadster.org/articles/3g-ews-remote-fob-p...

It's a bit perplexing as to why using the spare made the car forget the 'main' fob. It's also disappointing that the fix looks so fiddly. I think it will be a job for the garage when it goes in, I could end up breaking something following those instructions.

guards red

674 posts

207 months

Thursday 11th January
quotequote all
jimwilli said:
Cheers

I came across this from that forum which seems to be a solution - https://zroadster.org/articles/3g-ews-remote-fob-p...

It's a bit perplexing as to why using the spare made the car forget the 'main' fob. It's also disappointing that the fix looks so fiddly. I think it will be a job for the garage when it goes in, I could end up breaking something following those instructions.
I think it might cause a mismatch in the rolling code system. The fob talks to the alarm and the code changes each time. Maybe this kind of use confuses the system.

jimwilli

Original Poster:

254 posts

109 months

Saturday 13th January
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Update. The passenger door lock has occasionally been sticking. Today when we got somewhere the other half pushed it down which locked all the doors then we shut them. Coming back to the car the fob didnt open it straight away i presume to do with manually locking. I thought i might have to use the key but after a few pushes the fob (spare one which we are using since main failed) Unlocked it. When we got home i thought ill try the other fob now that the system seemed to have a hiccup. Hey presto both now work. Unsure if the other fob would have now worked anyway after a few days or if the wobbly did indeed reset something but thought id post the result. Never know could be an easy fix for someone. Thanks for all help and links