Finally got my son's car back on the road and I get a call, "dad, I forgot to tell you (UT oh what now...), the battery in my key died I can't lock and unlock my doors". Great, the car only came with one key and if he loses it or something happens to it we're up the proverbial creek...
The key has a "non servicable" battery, which really means the case has to be cut opened and a new battery has to be soldered onto the circuit board. Then the case has to be glued back together. No biggie (I hope) ordered a couple batteries and will try to fix it this weekend.
But the fact he only has one key has been bothering me since he bought the car. I've actually looked into a key programmer a bunch of times the cheapest solution has been in the $600-$700 range and it's always hasn't been that much of a priority (of course we could have one cut at the dealer for $200-$400 but that just rubs me the wrong way lol.) So looked again and there's a newish Autel KM100 universal key programmer that looks like it just might work! I had one in my Amazon cart for over $500 (including 10% "discount") but decided to try another site. Wound up getting it for $414 shipped and have already received an email from UPS saying it will be delivered tomorrow!
The kit includes two universal "smart" keys but unfortunately I don't think will work on my son's car. I ordered two aftermarket keys. I may need to "unlock" the aftermarket keys after they are programmed. I think the KM100 includes a mini USB cable that can be soldered onto circuit board to unlock the key. The KM100 apparently displays instructions how to do this if needed but it's pretty much vehicle dependent so won't know until I try.
I'll post an update if I get this to work this weekend. Here's what it looks like.
Note this doesn't do everything the more expensive programmers can do. For example it works through the OBD port which may be problematic in some vehicles (BMW included) and I don't believe it can do an "All Keys Lost" scenario, at least not easily. Also can't program a new immobilizer module to vehicle if that's what's needed. But supposedly copies and adds an existing key for many (hundreds) of vehicles and was fairly inexpensive relative to other key programmers. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works.
The key has a "non servicable" battery, which really means the case has to be cut opened and a new battery has to be soldered onto the circuit board. Then the case has to be glued back together. No biggie (I hope) ordered a couple batteries and will try to fix it this weekend.
But the fact he only has one key has been bothering me since he bought the car. I've actually looked into a key programmer a bunch of times the cheapest solution has been in the $600-$700 range and it's always hasn't been that much of a priority (of course we could have one cut at the dealer for $200-$400 but that just rubs me the wrong way lol.) So looked again and there's a newish Autel KM100 universal key programmer that looks like it just might work! I had one in my Amazon cart for over $500 (including 10% "discount") but decided to try another site. Wound up getting it for $414 shipped and have already received an email from UPS saying it will be delivered tomorrow!
The kit includes two universal "smart" keys but unfortunately I don't think will work on my son's car. I ordered two aftermarket keys. I may need to "unlock" the aftermarket keys after they are programmed. I think the KM100 includes a mini USB cable that can be soldered onto circuit board to unlock the key. The KM100 apparently displays instructions how to do this if needed but it's pretty much vehicle dependent so won't know until I try.
I'll post an update if I get this to work this weekend. Here's what it looks like.
Note this doesn't do everything the more expensive programmers can do. For example it works through the OBD port which may be problematic in some vehicles (BMW included) and I don't believe it can do an "All Keys Lost" scenario, at least not easily. Also can't program a new immobilizer module to vehicle if that's what's needed. But supposedly copies and adds an existing key for many (hundreds) of vehicles and was fairly inexpensive relative to other key programmers. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works.
