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You will need a good soldering iron with a fine tip also.
Please PM me, Abran. I'd the battery something special-order? Also, is opening the existing case likely gonna destroy it and hence the need for a new case?
I am pleased to report that, as a result of a granted request to go to my kid's friend's house and conduct a search myself, I found the key in short order, deep inside a couch.
Whew! Having to have the truck transported is now out of the picture. However, I am now highly motivated to acquire a backup key. I am suspecting, based upon MSRPs I have seen, that the dealer may have, given the situation, reasonably assumed I wanted two keys, and quoted me for that. If so, $350 or so for one key is a lot easier to stomach.
It is still tempting to order a cut shank through the dealer, get a fob online for $130-$180 if and only if I can be assured it is truly a new OEM fob, and take it to the dealer for programming.
RJB: Since you found the original key, you can get a blank shank cut at Buffalo Key & Lock in Boulder. They've cut two for me on two separate occasions and worked fine first time. I think it was $20ish each to cut. As far as a replacement fob and shank, I've had mixed luck with eBay units. First one wouldn't program with my IID tool. I was refunded and tried one from another seller and it programmed on the first try. I use this one every day and the original stays at home. I could dig up the eBay seller if your interested...
Hiya Guys,
Having the Dealers SDD equipment and in developing the software for the Faultmate, I can hopefully help clarify the situation here.
A new / Virgin Key fob, and by Virgin, i mean one that has never been learned to any vehicle can actually be learned to any vehicle regardless of if it was purchased from a dealer under the vehicles VIN number or otherwise. The only reason the dealer require a VIN is for the Physical key cut.
On Ebay, many sell keys declaring them NEW, but only in respect of their having not actually having been used on the vehicle they were learned to.
Ie the unused spare found in a drawer after sale of the vehicle scenario.
They believe this NEW key they are selling can be learned to another vehicle and so sell it as such, but this is definately not the case.
Of course if they have a key purchased for a vehicle by VIN or otherwise that was never learned to a vehicle, then this is fine and i have purchased several like this for testing our software developments.
Of course another interesting aspect is the rechargable Battery in the Keys. The Battery in an unused spare key will go flat and when you come to need it, will not be of much use, and of course used or left flat such batteries do fail. For those who have a spare that has not been used for some time i understand that taping it to the one you use all the time for a few days will allow both to get charged.
However, if you have a key that won't take a charge, the cases can be opened, although a bit tricky to do without making too much of a mess, and the battery replaced as it is a standard panasonic cell. The case can then either be glued back together or replaced with one of the many replacement cases now on offer.
Once upon a time, if you lost all keys you could not learn a new one and so were pretty stuffed. Obviously this was a riduclous situation and although not easily found and promoted, it is now possible with later versions of the SDD software to learn a new key without an existing learned key being present.
This obviously has security implications, but at least on a D3 you still have have the physical key cut aspect that has been sufficient enough security for vehicles for a very long time.
Of course on a D4 with its keyless start, this physical aspect has been removed and since you can get new fobs for these and also learn them to a Vehicle without an existing Key being present this leaves them vunerable to easy theft just as much was the recent case with BMW's.
Hello there,
I noticed that you mentioned being a developer for one of the software programs used to program new keys. And that you mentioned something about how nowadays it’s not necessary to have an existing key etc.
My issue is that I’ve lost the only key fob I had, to my 2005 LR3.
And the dealership wants about $500 +/- but the real kicker is that apparently, I have to tow it there. Problem being, it’s about a 2 hour drive, and I’m having a real problem with coughing up whatever that bill would come to, to some shi**y tow truck company. (Sorry, but I loathe them)
So, I guess my question is what would be my best route? And can they cut me a key without having to have the vehicle on-site? And if so, would that newly cut key work to turn my ignition on, so that I could put it in neutral & unlock the steering column & tow it there myself?
Thank you all very much, and in advance, for any helpful responses!
I remember reading someone on this, or another forum, actually had a mobile locksmith successfully code a "no existing key" situation with a new one
~$300 all in for him
I don't remember any specifics, but you can search and maybe find more info - or get lucky with a good vehicle locksmith?
@ Seth Brown
You have copy pasted in the contents of my last post on this thread, that has had much added, but like Many other readers, I suspect you also may not have fully appreciated what i was attempting to Convey in this post that covers everything you ask including "Physical Key" aspects as well as the latter paragraphs regarding "Security Implications" and "Easy Theft"
Please therefore allow me to elaborate and clarify further
As stated in my post, my profession means that I fully understand how to write the software and so we could easily produce SW / equipment that can program in a New Key without an existing key being Present and we can indeed do this in house and in some cases ever Re Virgin used Keys. However releasing such capability as allowing New Key Fobs to be programmed without an Existing one being present carries huge Responsibility and Liability, as the equipment will not know if it is being used by a Locksmith or legitimate vehicle owner who lost his last and only Key and is working on a vehicle on his Driveway at mid day Versus some low Life using the equipment on his driveway at Mid Night to pay for his Next Fix. I again Re iterate that I also pointed out in my fully informative post if fully read, that even via Dealers this is "not easily found and promoted"
We want no part in that responsibility / Liability, but as others have stated it seems there may be other equipment suppliers that have no such thoughts and concerns for your or any LR owners Vehicles security.
I know this is an old thread that seems to have been brought back to life, so I'll throw in my experience with this issue. When I bought my dead LR3 the owner could only find one key, so I purchased two 315 MHz ones from Keyecu at Amazon.com, it was listed as "Keyecu Replacement Flip Remote Car Key Fob 315MHz PCF7941 for LR3 Range Rover Sport 2005-2011 FCC ID:NT8-15K6014CFFTXA". I then used my IIDTool to program all three to my LR3, but a few months later when I showed up at the original owner's to show off the replacement engine, he had found the missing key. I then replaced the batteries and FOBs on the original keys and reprogrammed all four to my LR3. You apparently have to have all keys you want to use available for programming, the hardest part of my experience was getting the new keys cut, scroll cutting is not very common here in Red Deer, although a Ford dealer should have been able to do it. That's my own experience with LR3 keys, the batteries were a bit of a pain to solder in but were available at my local electronic parts store...
Last edited by enb54; 10-12-2021 at 05:50 PM.
Reason: Photo
04-03-2018, 02:06 AM
