Hey y’all. I’m wondering what a possible issue could be with my key fob. It suddenly stopped working on my Toyota Corolla S 2013. It is the original that came with the car. The 2nd one it came with is lost haha.
Here’s what I did/know
I bought 2 new key fob batteries and they didn’t work.
It still unlocks my car when I put the key in the door, none of the buttons work anymore however.
When I push a button on the key fob there’s a little red light on it that stil lights up. Idk what that is.
My car battery is still top notch putting out the volts it needs to. (I read somewhere that it might be an issue if it was old or something)
I tried re programming it myself looking at a YouTube video, and it worked until the very end where it made a locking sound three times. The guy on the video said that’s bad and there’s a bigger issue at hand but never disclosed what it was.
Agreed with checking with a locksmith. I’d call around for some quotes one getting at least 2 new fobs. You also want to go to someone who has the fobs in stock for your particular car.
Going to the Toyota dealer is certainly an option, but it will be significantly more expensive than a local locksmith. Once I needed a new key fob quickly for my Honda. I ended up having to go the Honda dealer, because no local locksmiths had the blank fob in stock. I hated paying the extra money, but I was glad to have it done on my timeframe.
Those buttons do wear out. I have replaced mine. I would never go with just one fob available so you need to order one new one anyway. Just order two and have the dealer program them. My GMs cost something like $80 for two and $100 for dealer programing.
On one of “old new” cars I had fob failed in the way where “lock” button still worked time to time, while “unlock” did not work at all
battery replacement did not help
once I disassembled the fob, I found that prior owner happened to drown it in some sticky substance, probably Sprite or something of the sort
I cleaned the electronics up by dipping into rubbing alcohol and blowing with air
after that, fob started to work much better, at least it survived until car was traded a couple of years down the road
Yes sir, all fuses checked out with the multimeter. Everything else works fine. I even took it to Toyota and they said the key fob itself works. Something in the car ain’t.
Not all locksmiths do this work. It might take some on line searching for a locksmith that works in electronic car locks. My daughter’s car was stolen about 10 years ago. We replaced the electronic locking system, and there was only one locksmith in Maryland certified to do that type of work. Still cheaper than the dealer though.
