Hi all,

Bit of advice needed.

Lost one of the key fobs for my Alfa 159 Saturday. I've got a spare so not so bad, but having lost one I could do with getting a replacement just in case.

New ones cost £250 ish so pretty painfull. Is it possible to 'reprogramme' a second hand one (from fleabay) or am I wasting my time on this??

Cheers

Steve

some locksmiths can clone your old key and put it on the new key works on more older cars alot of newer ones need main dealer softwear but its worth a try

[Edited on 18/12/11 by doddy]

I had a Citreon once that i had the same problem, all i had to do was open all the doors and boot then hold the lock button for 5 seconds!
the locks locked then opened!never had another problem with it...........

..........apart from a piston deciding it was scared of the dark and popping through the engine block!


Still locked when i had to walk 3 mile to the phone box mind!

I'm interested in this as I have (legitimatly) a number of keys for mondeo and golf and wondered if there was any value in them?

Don't know about reprogramming but the sister-in-law had a new skoda one made up in Timpsons in the local Asda.

When she enquired, the informed her it would be between 30 & 70 quid depending on make/model

Ended up being #35...

As I am sure you know, the key fob is made of two parts. The passive transponder that activates the engine immobiliser system and the active system that remotely unlocks the doors. both are usually separate.

Cheapest way to get a new transponder is to buy a blank (with unused transponder) and have your existing key cloned.

For VAG cars you used to be able to code in new transponder chips if you had the cars PIN number (which was available from main dealers), However they now don't give them out, the new chip is authenticated with VW via the internet to validate the process. Hence the price.... Cloning works perfectly anyway!


The remote locking part can usually be done at home. I know for most VAG cars you can turn the ignition on with the existing key, close the doors and lock the doors with the new key, then open remotely with new key (or something along those lines, not done it for a while!) Im sure there must be similar stuff for alfa.....

The following comments are in relation to fiat and alfa Romeo cars only.
You can not reprogramme a key which has been used before. You need a key which matches the lock and is blank. Thereafter you can only programme it using examiner (fiat,alfa diagnostic computer) and code which you also need to buy from alfa. With the code, car and examiner the key can be programmed to your car.
I am aware that certain key cutting companies can cut a blank key and clone the new key from an existing one. This will be a copy of the one you have. Doing it through alfa will give you a working key which is not the same as the one you already have but which is programmed to you car. I think there is a max of 6 which can be programmed to the car.

[Edited on 19/12/11 by ssc28]

quote:

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Originally posted by ReMan
I'm interested in this as I have (legitimatly) a number of keys for mondeo and golf and wondered if there was any value in them?

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Fiat group used to have red master key to allow you to introduce new blue keys, but they must have adopted a Valeo type chipped key a with a limited number of new keys that can be introduced. Most likely it will have been cracked but the best cheapest option is a cloned key, the problem with cloned keys can be the rolling codes can get too far out of synch to re-synch but normally this doesn't seem to be an issue.

as already the remote fob for the central locking is a separate part.

There is a way to ox the immobiliser so a plain jane mechanical copy of the key will do the job but you have no security.

[Edited on 19/12/11 by britishtrident]