Replacement keyless Remotes

So I bought a 99C4, The keyless remote on the key I have today needs to be replaced. Does anybody know what remotes I can replace this one with? It only has a single button, Some sites say you can replace it with a GT3 remote which has more buttons. Can a Cayenne remote be used? Boxter remotes with more than one button?

You can use a 2 button remote with a 1 button key but the 2nd button obviously wont work...And its gonna cost you too...

I went through the same ordeal. You can pick up the key 'body' (i.e. only the top plastic part) on eBay. Should cost you about 80$. Be carefull : needs to include the white tag with the code numbers on it. You bring that to the Porsche dealership who will charge you 60$ to program the key. That's your cheapest route.

My key

On a side note....What is the cheapest way to go if my remote has stopped responding to my car?

This crap just kills me! I need a three button key for my Targa and can't find one on eBay. So I call my local dealer, Rusnak Porsche in Pasadena, and they quoted me $175 for the key head and $120 to program it... no kiss and no KY. I asked them if it really takes and hour to program the key and the guy tells me no but that is simply their programing fee. It is not like the $300 is going to kill me but I just can't stand being ripped off. Does anyone have a suggestion as to a better Los Angeles area dealer?

See my reply above.

$265 at the dealer, for the remote and programming. It's the going rate. Except for all the guys who are going to reply in the following posts, that their dealer will program it for $20.

Ripped off? You are kidding right? How about the dealer paying over $15k per year for the subscription necessary to own/use the PIWIS? Oh and that's per unit!! It costs what it costs. Find another dealer or aftermarket shop with a PST 2 that will do it for you. You could always use the key to unlock the door, it's free or sell the car and buy a Carrera. I cannot stand it to hear people claim "ripped off". Noone is forcing you to do anything. You choose to own the car, you choose to want the remote to work and then you choose to fix it or not. Fixing it costs money.

Do you feel better now? I am perfectly happy and capible of mantaining my cars both financialy and mechanicaly. My understanding is that it is a 5 minute job to program a key with the PIWIS. at $120 per key fee they are generating $1,440 per hour of revenue... so the PIWIS subscription is paid for after the first day of use. Yes a dealership is a business and they need to be profitable but that kind of fee is insulting. It is a poor business practice that drives customers away from their dealership.

Have you ever programmed a key remote before? I have and it rarely takes "5 minutes" to do. And no the subscription is hardly paid for after one day. Not even close.

Well its what they always say, if you own a Porsche, you can afford to pay the high prices for maintenance ie oil changes etc. I do agree pricing for stuff like that is high. I had to do my wife's TL and it was half the cost to get a 2nd key and remote fob. This included the programming as well.

It's expensive, plain and simple. $900 to replace a hydraulic line. $600 for a 45K maintenance schedule. It's not a civic, doesn't look like one, drive like one, or sound like one. The Ferrari guys are posting the same posts on a Ferrari chat about how cheap it is to fix a Porsche, and why Ferraris are so expensive.

Yes I have. I just replaced the remote on my Land Crusier and it took 3 minutes to program. I am happy to pay the hourly labor rate but don't lie to me about the time it takes.

Who is lying to you? Didn't you say that they told you it didn't take an hour? Come on dude, make up your mind.

If it only took a PST2 to code the key, Im sure it would cost less...However, no indie can program the key and thus it is a monopoly... It is for the safety of our cars but you would think on something so limited you wouldn't get such a gouge

Well, I have a PST2 and code key remotes all the time. What makes you think independents cannot do it? What else do you need besides the PST2/3? Do you even know? It's a shame that people look at this a a gouge. You pay an hours time to code remotes. The tech is probably getting 20-35 dollars per hour. They should not get paid? How much time do think it takes for him to go get the car, bring it in, power up the PST, get the remote from parts, obtain IPAS codes from PCNA, code the remote/remotes (sometimes it takes two or three attempts to make it stick), rescan the control units and clear the faults that are stored while doing the proceedure, function test the system and park the car and write the story for booking? Trust me, it is not worth it to the tech for just an hour. All the while better paying jobs are sitting around while they go through the routine. I worked at a Porsche dealer as a tech so I know the drill. You have to pay an hour and the tech has to go through the drawn out procedure. Neither like the situation but you know what? That's just how it is. So stop comparing it to Rovers or M/B or Chevy, they are all different. If other places get less then buy all of your cars from them or just don't use the remote when it fails. That's why they code the ignition key the same as the door.

An independent shop can get IPAS codes from PCNA?

Why not? It's needed to program the car. When you buy remotes from the dealer give them the vin and ask for the code.

Now i could be totally wrong on this but I was told that Porsche will NOT give out the codes, and this is why it HAS to be done at the dealer... I havent seen anyone on this board have their key programmed by an indy either... Prove me wrong please...

Because it's in their business interest to only have their dealerships do it, and it's a security hazard to let the codes out into the wild.

Suncoast has these on sale at cost. I am not affiliated with them... http://www.sunsetimports.com/porscheatcost.php

Thank you that is exactly what I was looking for. It is great to help instead of just attacked!

That makes no sense. They (PCNA) is in business to sell. Cars and parts. Parts not just to dealers but to the aftermarket. They are pushing VERY hard in the aftermarket to sell parts due to companies like World Pac and SSF taking their sales by selling the exact same parts at a better discount to wholesale users like me. The codes are not "out in the wild" as you stated, only given to dealerships that then can pass the necessary info onto shops that require the info with a specific VIN. FYI, the radio code necessary to unlock a car can be programmed to ANY 986/996 remote with ANY IPAS code. The code on the white tag is only necessary to start the car. I am providing info here that could be used to help some people understand how the remote process works. If you simply want to hold the Porsche dealerships in this country as evil empires then why did you buy a new Porsche? The same dealer that is "ripping you off" is the dealer that you want help from when a problem comes up. Some of the same dealers that sponser this site for you to complain about them. I am sure the charge to code remotes is not vastly different coast to coast in any large market. If you feel you have been attacked maybe you should be.

Well, it makes total sense to me. You say they give them to dealerships who then pass them along to independents... Probably you have an "in" with a particular dealer. I'm not feeling attacked, nor do I feel Porsche or their dealerships are evil. But, IMHO, they keep these codes close to the vest to protect their dealers and keep the codes out of the hands of miscreants as I stated previously. Bill

Why dont you tell us what you do and who you are Chris? You make it seem like you are programming keys all of the time. How do you get the codes and how do you "mate" them to the car?

Chris, I don't know you and you sure don't know me. It appears that you are/were a Porsche tech. Therefore you would know more about the exact time required to recode a remote on this car. I only know what I am told and how long it takes on other cars that I have done myself. What I am qualified to say (business owner, consultant, MBA) is that one of the largest expenses for most consumer based businesses is marketing and the goal of most marketing is customer acquisition. When you post an hourly mechanics rate and then bill simple tasks by the job at a rate above the hourly rate posted then you are going to **** people off. Guess what, pissed off customers will find another service provider and your business will spend heaps of money trying to acquire replacement customers. In my case that means they will make their profit on the recoding but loose my business when the car goes out of warranty. You can sheer a sheep every year but you can only skin it once.

Curious, does that mean you'll find a new dealership, or switch to an different marque?

New mechanic. This is my second P-car I know what it costs to maintain them. I fact, in the past this dealer would have done things like this for me for free. The staff has changed since my last P-car.

Well, like you said before, some businesses know how to keep customers and some (most?) don't and are just out to gouge you. Bill

I don't understand what you are trying to say here. The service writer tells you it's an hours labor and then they bill you more? It this correct? You should try to straigten this out before you pay the bill and if you can't then you should find another source to do the job as I stated in a prior post. That's is a poor business practice which does lead to your next quote. I know this all too well. I suggested finding a local shop that has a PST2 and have them do the coding. Their hourly rate may be less and thus the job cheaper for the same result. This happens all the time as I am sure you know. If you have a local shop that can service your car, most often the parts are cheaper (for the same parts) and so is the labor. I am not touching the sheep thing.... Gator, I am a Porsche tech. I work for an independant Porsche shop. I worked for a dealer long enough to go through all of the training with PCNA and stayed until I didn't have to pay back any of the costs of the schools. I have programmed well over 100 remotes easily. I buy remotes when necessary from the dealer and of course need the IPAS code to program them to the car. Understand that I am not a guy just calling asking for info. I work for a well established shop that buys 10's of thousands of dollars of parts from my dealer. I bought my PST2 from them as well. I need the code to do my job. It is also necessary when replacing alarm control units. Boxsters flood all the time and the control unit is under the drivers seat in the lowest part of the car. It gets wet and smokes. To replace it, it needs to be programmed. You should have no problem getting IPAS or DME programming codes from the dealer for your car. You may need to provide proof of ownership but it is your car and therefore your codes. I am not a lawyer but I believe if PCNA refuses to give out the codes then they would have to provide the service free of charge. Since they don't do that then shops like me need the info to install and code parts I buy from them. It cannot be done without the car and I am not going to send my customers to the dealer since many of them do not like the dealer for one reason or another.

Chris - What I am saying is that the service writer states it is only a 10 minute job but that they charge $120 for it. That goes against the posted hourly rate. I googled you and it looks like you run a nice shop. I wish you were on this coast. I'm going to look for an indy with the correct tool. Already mail ordered the key head.

this key thing is a rip.......... i say someone out there learn how to hack this and charge us half the price....

Someone should tell the SW to either shut his mouth or pay the difference. Thank you, very kind! Check around I bet you will find a shop. Give your VIN to Suncoast; if that's where you bought the remote; and have them give you the IPAS code. That way your new shop can get it done more quickly for you.

with the recent crack down on ipas codes (the techs dont even have access to them only service manager and dealer princapal) your not going to get many dealers handing them out. If a car goes out stolen and a dealer just pulled those ipas codes that wouldnt be very good or the dealer

I think what people are looking over is that the reason you get charged an hour is because it is USUALLY a 1hour MINIMUM for any service that a dealer does...

That was not true at the dealer I worked at as recent as two weeks ago. Since my ex-SM is still there I should continue to have no problem either way. Having the IPAS code doesn't get you a car. You still need a key. Breaking the lock cylinder won't get it started.

with an ipas code you can steal a car with or without a key, i wont go into how as theres to many want to be theives on here but it could be done very easily

I have my doubts about the accuracy of this statement. Though I have never tried to start a car without a key, everything the I learned at Porsche tells me it's not possible. Firehawk, what is your backround? Just curious. PM me if you don't wish to post it in public.

I have only one key for my car.....what is my cheapest way to get a spare? TIA, - Cam

Take your key to your Porsche dealer and have them cut a spare for you. Due to the design of the key you need a specialized machine to cut Porsche blanks. I have not tried this any other places and it's possible someone else could do it. I know that the dealer can as they were sent a machine by Porsche as a required tool IIRC. The other option is to order a stipulated key from Porsche by VIN.

With an ipas code and a tester its possible my background is very simialr to yours

So, nobody really answered my question about the Cayenne remote..... They're the same frequency can they be programmed for a 996?

no they uses 2 diffrent progaming operations

Hennessy Porsche in north Atlanta mated 2 key heads for me .... so quickly that the service writer had not gotten back with my cup of Starbucks, yet. As soon as he returned, he billed me just under $50 total for mating the 2 new key heads to my car .... and thanked me for making my first ever visit to his shop.

"What else" you need is the vehicle code from PCNA. I am not aware of any indy with access to that data. My very good indy, long time Porsche trained and employed was in the same boat. The "drawn out procedure" takes a very short while, as I found out at Hennessy.

I shopped all around, and found that by far the cheapest source was to fax my title to Sunset (to prove ownership) and get the new key shaft for approx $80. I then bought the key head on ebay for about $75 (be sure it has the bar code tag) and received the aforementioned sub- $50 mating of 2 key heads at my dealer.

OK, so how about 997 keyless remotes? Are they compatible with 996's?

no 996 remotes work on 996s 986 remotes work on 986s cayenne remotes work on cayenens 9x7 remotes work on 9x7s if you want a diffrent key porsceh offers a carerra gt key head for 9x6 cars

thanks, Brad!