Key not working

When pushing the button on the key - nothing. The light on the key lights up brightly and even changed the battery, but still nothing. Anybody else had this experience. Thanks.

Unlock the car with your key, and then press the button on the key.

Same thing happened to me a few days ago. Unlock the door with the key manually, and that should re-sync the key (or whatever it does) and it should work again.

If you haven't unlocked the car for a week or so, the keyfob remote gets locked out. I'm sure someone like Loren can describe the whys/whatfors of the process in more detail. Just follow the instructions already mentioned and all will be well. Oh yeah..... DRIVE MORE, so this never happens to you again! Jeff

The car shuts down the remote door lock system after several days to conserve battery power. Unlocking the car the old fashioned way reactivates everything. I think, or maybe it's starting the car that does it...?

Thanks guys, I tried the unlocking and starting techniques but it is still not working. Any other ideas??

The key heads are VERY susceptible to water. A sprinkley day cost me a trip to the dealer and a $250 key head - on top of the leaky coolant tank I had to pay to have replaced.

Do you have a second key that works? If so, then the key head must be bad. If you are still under warranty, it should be covered (I had one replaced under warranty once).

The keys wear after a lot of use so that it becomes more difficult to hit the 'sweet spot' on the depression 'pimple' , the plastic looks a bit smoothed out too. I swapped over to the hardly used spare key when this first happened to me about 2 years ago..now that key is playing up ! Unlocking manually then turning on quickly gets it going, if you are slow it starts to beep at you like its being stolen. For comparison my car is a daily driver 65k miles on clock first registered Nov 97.

I had a similar problem and found that cleaning out the inside of the key with alcohol seemed to help. Try another battery too. I once replaced the battery with one I got at Radio Shack and it lasted about a week. Then I got another battery from a web site and it worked great.

The battery is fresh and the red light in the key is glowing brightly. Any other ideas?

Do you only have one key? If not does the other key do the same thing?

it may be the place you are trying to unlock the car from... i find that in my garage, i can be as much as 30 feet away and it still works, however, in public parking lots, especially in New york city, i have to put the key up near the window to get it to work, if at all. other times i am forced to use the key hole and unlock, and then get the key into the ignition ASAP so as to not activate the car alarm... pretty weak on porsche's part if you ask me.

Only one key. I have held the key to the window and still not working. Is there a sensor on the car that goes bad?

do you have memory seats? if so, try cleaning out the memory buttons on the security module by the driver's door with a vacuum cleaner. or, just try blowing on them really hard to get any junk out if you can't get a vacuum out to your car. if there's junk in these (even a tiny little bit) it can get in the wrong place and cause the remote not to work. it can also cause some other interesting behaviors!

are you trying to lock, unlock, or both? maybe something is open, and it wont lock until you make sure everything is closed (im probably totally off)

It sounds like you need to visit the dealer and have them re-program the key to the car (hoping that it's not a fault in the car itself). And get another key w/remote if you've only got one as the car should have come with two remote keys and a "spare" key Porsche seems to think will fit in a wallet.

Jeremy, I picked up a 99 996 Aero today and the key will not do anything. I tried a fresh battery and all suggestions here. Did you ever get yours figured out?

TSB 20/03 9662 Replacing The Key Remote Control Battery (dated 06-25-04) describes how changing the battery "incorrectly" can cause the processor to lock up and stop functioning. If this happens it instructs you to:

Nope still not fixed!

OK, before we go any further tell me the answer to the following: Can you open the door with the key using the door handle key lock? Can you start the car with the key? Does it drive OK otherwise? Is the problem just that you can't unlock/lock the doors with the key fob? What about other electrics. Everything else seem to function ok?

Everything works fine. The key operates in all the locks. The remote lock/unlock is the only thing that is not functioning.

I assume you checked the fuses. I mean metered them not just visually. It could also be a faulty relay. Try reseating the relays in the fuse bay area Just to be certain, ensure the rear console armrest is down and locked. Ensure any glove compartment is closed and locked. The hood is pushed firm. My car won't lock/imobilise unless all these are closed/locked properly although it will emit a beep to tell me this fact. It sounds like the problem could be the imobiliser/alarm circuitry. When you lock the car with the key in the door do you get the flashing dash LED? Does the car beep at all? What about the central locking button in the dash. Does this work? Failing this, it looks like a trip to the shop to fix it.

Thanks for the follow up. I have tested all the fuses and they are good (Buss prong tester). The central locking button on the dash works. When I lock the car with the key, it locks all doors and the light on top of the dash blinks. Fast at first, then slower (if that means something). I could try the relay, if I knew which one it was. The console armrest is closed and the micro switch in it clicks. Hood's closed, but I have not verified the sensor there. Is it a micro switch? I have no glove box. Are there other sensors? The beep you're referring to is the horn, right? My horn works about 3% of the time. So I'm not sure if it is trying to beep. Thanks, Darren

Darren, I had same problem last month. everything work but keyless entry. end up cost me $347 to get a new key. here is my suggestion: call the dealer order new head remote, fax them your insurance (they need this in order to get you new remote). call them back couple days later make sure the remote is in, schedule with service advisor to get the learning code for remote head. bring you car in have them re-program new head remote. the remote it self cost around $170 and plus programming time, usually half hour. I end up go down to dealer 3 trip... at least you can save 2 if you call first. =) The new remote have 2 years warranty according to the service advisor. Good luck! Eddiemou ------------------------------ 99 C2 SY, 18" Turbo Twist

IMHO I don't think replacing the key remotes is the answer. He already has two keys. Each with a remote head that "did" work. He's tried them but they don't work. I can't believe both key remotes could have gone faulty at the same time. At best the dealer may need to reprogram the computer using the remote key heads he already has. I think that's the next move. The dash lock switch works and the dash imobiliser LED flashes. You can lock the car with the key and all the doors lock. Possible suspect horn. This tells me the lockung circuit works and the imobiliser works too. The only thing is that your OBC is not recognising the key head. So the next thing is to get the dealer to reprogram the computer with your keys. Best of luck with it. Cheers,

Hi from Oz. First post. Just got my car back today after putting up with this problem for several weeks. Under warranty, dealer installed new aerial, new receiver and supplied new keys, all working at higher frequency (433 MHz). Original components worked at 320 or 350 Mhz (not sure which). Symptoms were intermittent failure of remote to lock or unlock doors unless holding key directly adjacent to the left door pillar, where the aerial is located. Typically occurred in areas of possible radio or magnetic interference, such as phone towers. I was told I am not the only local customer with this problem. BTW, RMS replaced at 16000Km for minor leak and 2nd RMS about to be replaced at 20,000 Km.

I wonder if my extended warranty will cover this? I'll check and report back.

I had my keys 'repaired' today. They put in new electronics and reprogrammed them. My extended warranty covered it, so I only paid the deductible ($100). Otherwise it would have been almost $500.

Thanks Loren!! Your reverse battery trick saved me a trip to the dealer