2006 LR3 HSE

Just bought my first Land Rover this past weekend but the previous owner had just one key fob. I'm paranoid about driving around with the sole means for entry and vehicle start jangling around loose in my pocket, especially when we take the beast to go hiking or skiing and am far from the home base. Called the local LR dealership and learned that an extra key fob would be $303 for the part and $215 for the programming. An extra key blade to stick up into the underside as an emergency means of getting home would be $97. If the dealer is my only option, I'll bite the bullet and eat Top Ramen for a few months as my sole means of sustenance to offset the expense of a fob and a blade, but I'm curious as to whether you folks have run across alternative (meaning less expensive) means of getting either the complete key fob with programming or just the backup key blade.

Note that while I am new to Land Rovers, I am not new to working on old vehicles with high mileage (about 45 years of experience in that regard) and using invaluable auto enthusiast forums such as this one for much needed advice. As such, I tried using the search feature for anything to do with fob to see if there were recent discussions about this topic so I'd avoid wasting your time telling a newby something he or she could have looked up in a minute or two, but it seems "fob" is too short a term to return hits.

Cheers!

Nick in Palm Springs

 

Agree you need to polish up on your search skills! This is perhaps one of the most asked Qs. If you're happy to work on the vehicle, then buy an IID tool. Not cheap, but will pay for itself in little time. You can use it to program new keys in 3 mins (provided you have one working key). You can buy cheaper OBD tools (I think Autel - don't quote me) that do the same thing but have nothing like the functionality of the IID Tool. You can pick up new new key fobs you need from Ebay for about $20, and either need to swap over the key blade (if you have a spare) or get a new one cut anywhere that cuts car keys. (They can cut from a picture of the key, also, so you can get the new blades off the internet).

 

Very interesting! I have a BlueDriver OBDII code reader and resetter that has been quite useful for my other vehicles built since the turn of the century, though I thought it was a little odd that no codes came up when I ran it on the LR3 this week, despite this being a 15 year old vehicle with 97k miles and previous owners who did only very basic maintenance. On the other hand, there were no emission-related warnings on the dash or the start-up system check, and it passed a California smog test a couple days ago without a problem, so maybe there really aren't any codes. In any event, triggered by your suggestion, I found this little deal: https://lucky8llc.com/products/gap-i...cement-key-kit For $538 they provide what appears to be a Bluetooth enabled IID Tool plus a replacement key fob, which takes a lot of sting out of the price. The tool does look pretty handy and as you suggest, I'm not adverse to doing as much work as I can on the vehicle before giving up and seeking professional help. Even if my BlueDriver was correct that there were no issues that would require immediate attention or emissions work, it wouldn't pick up the LR3-specific codes for transmissions and the like. I'll still need to have a locksmith deal with cutting the emergency door lock blade, and God only knows what that'll be, but I'd rather have something ready to go in my garage I want to make a back-up for the back-up key fob. Thanks!

As for my search skills, you are absolutely right that they can always be improved. But in this instance, the forum's search tool didn't seem to work as intended:

My search results...


Cheers,

Nick in Palm Springs

 

When buying of eBay make sure you get the correct frequency for where you live.

 

Top tip! I think you'll need 315hz for the US but check your existing key. I think the freq is written inside the blade housing. You won't regret spending the money on the IID tool if you're prepared to do some work yourself. If you do buy, come back and post what faults you did find. I'm prepared to bet there's a list as long as your arm if they haven't been read and cleared for a while. Don't freak out if that is the case; many can be ignored. Email them to yourself (you can do that in the tool using your phone) so you have a record, clear, and drive the vehicle then check again a couple of weeks later. Good luck.

 

Thanks!

 

I search via google (for any specific website/forum when I want info) with this method:
In the search bar type your search words followed by "site:www._______.com" whatever site you want. don't type the quotes.

Example:
"key fob site:landroverforums.com"

boom - pages of thread results
the more specific words you search, the better the result

 

Just to wrap up this thread (I always like to read forum exchanges where there is a definitive resolution to the original problem), I bought the Lucky8 kit with the Bluetooth enabled IID Tool and a replacement key fob for $538, and also picked up a key fob for $21 from minghua123 on eBay. Had the local locksmith cut the blades on the two spare fobs for $25 each, and I bought just a blank key for $10 from the locksmith and had it cut as well for $25. Set up the Gap IIDTool, walked out to the truck, followed the instructions on the Tool and the PDF manual, and in under 5 minutes I had reprogrammed the original fob as well as the two new ones. Total cost for two extra fobs and a spare door key was $644, but that includes an invaluable bonus of a fully featured scan and programming tool that picks up faults totally unknown to my BlueDriver OBDII scanner. I'm now able to keep a fob on my key ring, leave one fob in my house at all times, stick the spare key in a magnetic holder somewhere on the underside of the truck, and squirrel away the 3rd fob (with the battery removed but available) somewhere in the interior so that if my keys are lost or stolen while I'm on the road, I can get into the truck via the hidden key and use the backup fob to get back. Yes, I'm paranoid like that, but I am painfully aware of what happens when you lose your keys a couple thousand miles from home.

Thanks so much to everyone for the sound advice. I love the Gap IIDTool !!!

Nick in Palm Springs

 

Just to walk myself through your setup because I like the sound of it...

You have three key fobs + 1 blank key blade.
Keyfob 1 - Daily Driver "normal" use
Keyfob 2 - At home as a backup "normal" use key just in case
Keyfob 3 - Stashed inside the vehicle but you took it apart to remove the battery, then stashed both the battery and fob in the car itself.
Key blade - used as an old school "manual" unlock to get into the rig if needed.

So, just to make sure I'm understanding:
the idea is that say you're in the woods and your normal keyfob #1 falls out of a pocket into a lake and you need to be able to start and drive your car to get home. So you'd go back to the rig, snag the standalone keyblade from the hiding place simply to use the manual unlock on the driver's side door to gain access (like a valet key sorta), then once inside you dig up the battery and the keyfob #3 from their respective locations inside, put them back together, return the keyblade to it's hiding spot, and now you are using the re-assembled keyfob #3 to start and drive the car like normal to get home. And then the whole idea behind separating the battery and keyfob #3 inside the rig is simply for added security so that the car doesn't "know" there's a full fledged keyfob inside and therefore won't refuse to lock, and at the same time making it so that if a thief broke in and found the keyfob they couldn't actually start the car and drive off. Then once home, you have keyfob #2 as your new daily key, the re-deconstructed "safety keyfob and seperate battery" back inside, spare keyblade back in exterior stash spot.

So #1 disappears, the exterior hidden keyblank physically opens the door, #3 gets put back together and saves the day to get you home, once you get back #2 you make it your daily key and disassemble #3 again, and then you just need to replace the #1 slot to reset the whole system (but in the meantime still have two fully functioning keyfobs) - am I following all that properly?

 

Yeah, you have the bulk of it correct. The battery on the fob hidden in the vehicle is separated not to fool a thief (if they've made it that far, they've probably stolen everything they want anyway and 17 year old trucks are probably worth less than a few catalytic converters). It's because I was unsure whether there were some sort of proximity\sensor issues where the mere presence of a powered fob within the interior does something. Now I assume that wasn't true for a 2006, but separating the battery might help preserve its life. And when I got home from this hypothetical event where fob #1 was lost in a trout stream, I'd probably order a new key fob from eBay and then have the blade cut locally for a total of $50. I like having a backup somewhere accessible in the vehicle and a backup at home. The Gap Tool makes this possible without paying stupid money for each new key.

In the two years that I've owned this LR3 HSE, I've learned one thing: The Gap Tool is not an optional purchase. I've used it for lots of things, such as installing a trailer harness, dealing with suspension issues, setting certain options, getting regular fault checks, and a couple extra things I can't remember now. I firmly believe that if the current owner isn't including the tool when you buy the vehicle used, you have to mentally add $550 or whatever it is these days to your total price. If you can't afford the extra cash for the tool, you probably shouldn't buy the vehicle if you are going to be responsible for the bulk if its maintenance.

Nick in Palm Springs