Has anyone successfully reprogrammed a used LR3 key fob? I bought one from an eBay seller and he told me that I just need to take it to my local land rover shop and they can reprogram it to work with my vehicle. Well, I've contacted practically every locksmith in the area as well as the local LR dealer and they're all telling me the same thing, which is that the fobs are matched to the vehicle and once it's been programmed once it cannot be reprogrammed to function on another vehicle. The seller is of course telling me that that's not true and I just need to contact a professional. I don't know what he defines as a professional if it's not a LR dealer or automotive locksmith. Before I call him a liar I wanted to check to see if anyone has successfully reprogrammed a used LR3 fob.

 

Nope, its useless. Its is forever tied to the the LR3 it was programmed to. Period. Discovery II keys, those can be reprogrammed with a Nanocom. So I think some believe the LR3 keys can also, but they are a totally different animal.

 

So after doing a ton of research, I found out the issue. Used key fobs have a locked immobilizer chip. The immobilizer chip contains data to match it to the vehicle and once the data is written to it once, it becomes locked. If you try to use a standard key programmer, like an Autel or Thinktool or even the LR dealership software, the locked immobilizer chip will won't allow it to be re-written. The only way to reprogram the fob is to unlock the chip, which also clears the data. The LR3 key uses a PCF7941 immobilizer chip. A tool like the ones from VVDI can unlock the chip, as seen in this video:


I'm not sure if this is always the case, but the VVDI tool I looked at required an adapter for the PCF7941 chip and the chip either had to be de-soldered and plugged into the VVDI tool or wires soldered to the pins of the chip to connect the chip to the tool. I eventually found an expert in the Seattle area that has the wherewithal to unlock an immobilizer chip and reprogram keys. His phone number is (206) 569-5525. For $40, he'll unlock the chip for you. After that, you can pair to to your vehicle yourself or take it to the dealership, or have him do it for an additional $50. He also does a bunch of other stuff, like diagnose automotive electrical issues, vehicle security, and automotive software development. I've searched through every LR3 fob post and I couldn't find a single successful reprogramming of a used LR3 fob so I hope this information is helpful.