Ka Luxury 2002, Key Fob Remote Or Car Sensor Broken?

[Gin]

Increasingly my daughters Ka key fob will not lock/unlock the doors. The battery has been changed in the fob but that has made no difference so is there a way to establish if it is the fob or the car sensor which is faulty?

[Omendata]

I presume you dont have the duplicate keyfob?

Make sure you have the correct battery (not all 5p batteries are the same - mainly down to the thickness they all have codes like "2032" - not all are equal and I can tell you if its a poundland battery that will be your issue as they are sh**

Try giving the keyfob a good clean with denatured alcohol - my old rover keyfob fell into a puddle and stopped working but cleaning it in isopropyl alcohol fixed it.

You can buy a keyfob tester but they are pricey - cheapest I have seen is £59.95.

There are also guys on the net who can sell you a duplicate keyfob cheaper than Ford will rip you off for.

If its the in car sensor you could be in for an expensive replacement so better to check the keyfob as far as you can as 70% of the time its always down to the keyfob wearing out / dropping in puddles / moisture corroding the pin points for the buttons, bad / incorrect battery etc.

[Gin]

Thank you, we only have mechanical spare keys- not another remote fob, and the battery is a brand new Duracell. It hasn't been dropped in water but no doubt has suffered abuse after 13 years or so. I have cleaned with isopropyl but to no avail.

I reckon and hope you are right that it is most likely the fob, and I shall try to source one cheaply or at least cheaper than Ford. If it is the car unit then it that willbe a no-go costwise I reckon, so my daughter will have to live with manual locking/unlocking.

Thanks for your input

[Omendata]

Manual unlocking isnt a big issue - I mean who wants to steal a KA these days - It just means you have to disarm the alarm then use the key which will prevent the alarm system coming on again.

Same thing happened with my old rover 820si and at £180 for a new keyfob it wasnt worth the hassle so I just disabled the alarm - wasnt as if anyone was going to steal it anyway.

If you can get a full blank key you will need the master key (should be a red key) and current key to reprogram it (very easy otherwise very hard).

Looks like you can get one here (its just the blank with transponder so you will need another circuit board if your circuit board is the problem). You can hack the key using a laptop and the right software and do it yourself if you have the requisite computer knowledge and OBDII skills but that is a bit out of the reach of the ordinary mechanic and its not easy.

You can also desolder the encryption chip from the board and solder it onto a new board which is what i did with my rover to fix it but requires a decent soldering iron and again the skills not to burn out the chip.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/key-blank-with-Transponder-for-FORD-FOCUS-FIESTA-MONDEO-ESCORT-KA-TRANSIT-/111711962297?hash=item1a028d44b9

[Omendata]

http://workshop-manuals.com/ford/streetka_2003.5_01.2003-07.2005/mechanical_repairs/4_electrical/419_electronic_feature_group/419-01b_anti-theft_passive/description_and_operation/diagnosis_and_testing/general_procedures/key_programming_using_two_programmed_keys/

[Gin]

The Ka is a lovely little car with low mileage (about 55k) but it has done its duty and next year is due for retirement as daughter will graduate and wants something a little bigger for a lot more motoring, so whilst we have two spare original keys (not clones) one of which is the red master I am disinclined to spend any serious money on sorting out this problem; the ideal solution, and of course we are assuming it's the fob, would be to find someone as we did with mys son's Golf who has the programme/software to to recode keys etc. at a reasonable price

[Omendata]

Not sure what you mean - if you have a spare key then just follow the link i gave above to reprogram it with the red master key!

Does the red key not have the immobiliser button as well - why not use that and see if the system is ok?

If it works then you know the other fob is faulty?

Recoding keys is not cheap if its done properly.

You are talking about £60 minimum - you will have to pay for a spare key for a start then the work to recode it!

[Gin]

We have just the one remote fob key, plus a red tagged manual key from which I had another copied a while back (this copy I programmed into the car using the ignition key programming sequence.

Unless I have misunderstood, it seems if the fob is broken then a new unit or pcb is needed and the programming of that will require software, hardware and skills I do not have.

[Omendata]

Yes I see.

You could always take the key into a ford dealer and see if they will test it to see if it is working properly - the one near me has a keyfob testing machine like the one i posted above except a professional one that is designed to test ford keys - might be free!

[Gin]

That's a good idea, thanks. I'll give it a try