ALARM NO WORKEE

Hi Folks Greetings from Australia I have a 98 996- the alarm of which has suddenly stopped working for no apparent reason. The Key -remote still has its little red light flashing when you press it, but the alarm will not arm. I've checked the fuse (Row C fuse 3) its still intact. The car is totally shut when I try. I've altered nothing on the car. The only thing I've touched is the brakes-changed pads and rotors-which I would've thought is completely unrelated. I can still lock the car, however the alarm is not activated. Any suggestion to a cause/solution would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jason

Hi Jason, Did you get this figured out? I found this thread via a search, my car has the same problem. The remote flashes, but I have to manually lock and unlock the car.

Did you try your other key?

I have two physical keys, but the remote on one is toast i.e. little pieces fell out when I went to check the battery. Only one key lights up when I push the button, but nothing happens on the car. I did a little more looking and I'm getting the feeling it may need to be reprogrammed at the dealer.

From a Porsche dealer: Here's the program on the remote key fob and getting it programmed: The remote portion of the key is sold separately from the metal cut key part. The metal cut key portion can be transferred to the new remote or a new blank metal key can be sold and cut by your dealer or a qualified locksmith and then snapped into place in the new remote. The bar code that is sold with the remote is necessary for the technicians to use in order to program the remote to the cars anti-theft and central locking control system. If that bar code with the programming codes is lost then the remote fob cannot be used as intended. This is why buying one off of ebay is a waste of money. When bringing your car in to have one key programmed you should bring all the keys that you have. The other keys might lose their programming codes and get overwritten by the new key code. This includes the non remote keys, as they also have a transponder that has to be programmed. The transponders only function is to start the car. On push button remotes they are programmed to lock and unlock the doors as well as programming the transponder inside the remote key fob. Non remote key heads are also sold but they don't include or need the bar code tag that new remote key heads come with. You need to take your car to your local dealer to get the programming done. This can't be done over the phone or by VIN#. The car, remote, technician and special tool must all be together in order to get this done. The car will not start unless the remote is programmed to the vehicle.

Hi Walter- Yes I did find out that the fault lies in the remote itself. As Paul explained, the only solution is ,unfortunately, a new remote. Believe me I tried everything to avoid this,locksmiths,independant Porshce specialists-they all say the same-"You can only get it fixed at Porsche". So I'm still locking it with the key-so really for the luxury of being able to lock it remotely, I'd rather spend the money on something else.