Member
Heya everyone,
I just changed out the battery in my OEM Alpine keyless entry. Now, the red light on my fob is constantly on and it is not working to unlock or lock my doors. I changed out the batter on advice that my fob not working half the time. It only worked after it sat around for awhile and after I drove around it didnt work again. Any ideas on the constant red light or what has happened for to my key fob?
Member
Did you try reprogramming it? I just used these instructions to program a fob from ebay, works amazingly.
1. Make sure all doors, hood and trunk are closed.
2. Open the trunk door.
3. Open the drivers door and sit in the drivers seat.
4. Close the drivers door.
5. Turn ignition switch to on and off 5 times ending in off.(do not start the car turn to just before starting)
Your alarm light will turn on and the siren on the alarm will chirp to let you know it is ready.
(this can also be used to test if you have the alarm)
6. Open the drivers door stay in the seat close the drivers door.
7. Press any button on the remote. The light will flash to indicate your remote has been programmed.
8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 to program any other remotes, up to 4 remotes a car.
9. To exit program mode open drivers door leave the door open. Close the trunk lid and close the drivers door the
siren should chirp again and the red light will shut off. Test your remotes to make sure they work right.
******Note all the steps from 2 - 5 must be done within 45 seconds. Step 5 must be done within 10 seconds.
Member
Done all that with the programming. No dice. The light on the key fob (not the LED on the car) will not turn off no matter what I do.
Member
Just open it, take out the board ,clean the button contacts and the battery contacts with plain rubber alcohol . Put it back together and try it again and let me know. Check the rubber contacts too for cracks and damage
I'm proud to drive a BMW.
Member
i'll take it to work with me tomorrow and clean it out. i'll post back after i get off. Has anyone else changed their battery and had no issues? I did leave the battery out for about 45 mins or so while i went to buy another one. dont know if that would make a diff or not.
Last edited by RED328is; 08-13-2009 at 10:58 PM.
Member
The fobs don't forget the codes so it doesn't matter how long did u left it without the batt. If u have constant led light on ur fob that means u have constant contact. I would suggest that u bath the fob board in alcohol and clean it out/dry it. I changed mine and i had to re solder the negative contacts . The fob get lot of hits and after some time they get a bit crazy. Just try to clean it out like i said and let me know.
I'm proud to drive a BMW.
Member
i go in to work in about an hour and i'll clean it out really well and follow up. thanks
Member
Originally Posted by RED328is
I just changed both of mine as PM. No problems. Sounds like a bad remote.
Member
^it has to be something like that. I've searched and searched for someone who's light has stayed on the whole time and found nothing about the fob. I cleaned it advised and put the battery back into it and it still just stayed on. Im at a loss on this one.
Member
I still am having no luck after cleaning out the contacts and everything on the fob. Tried another battery and the fob light still just stays on. I tried to reprogram it but when i press a button it doesnt flash or anything it just stays on. Also when i lock my car with the key the LED does not come one. Any more ideas?
Member
I am having the same issue latley. Just wondering if there is fit for this. I am in the market for a working Fob for my 97 E36 M3. If anyone has one for sale, please let me know.
Does anyone know an aftermarket remote entry system that is plug and play for E36? I don't want to play around with wires if I can help it.
Last edited by SwimNDrive; 01-06-2013 at 01:58 AM.
Member
I'm having the same problem with the LED staying on. I tried cleaning it with rubbing alcohol as per advice above, but it didn't work. I dunked the entire circuit board in rubbing alcohol and swished it around in it. It's drying now, so I'll let you know if it works.
\\UPDATE\\ It didn't work.... I don't know what to try next.
Last edited by SixFix; 09-02-2013 at 12:17 AM.
Member
The issue is bad solder joints on the board
Bleed your cooling system http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1709482The ULTIMATE OEM Alarm/Keyless thread http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1792200
Member
Alright, I took a multimeter to the board to find where voltage wasn't coming through. I wish we had an electrical diagram for the fob!
Anyways I resoldered the battery cage already and I've confirmed that both of my buttons are good. I'm not getting any voltage through a chip
on the button side that is labeled "455 TJ". Should there be voltage through it?
Member
I have the same problem...
any updates?
Member
i know this thread is old but ill post for future reference. i had the exact same issue with my e36 key fob and heres how i fixed it.
(BMW E36 323IC KEY FOB FCC ID:A269ZUA111).
throughout the years the alpina IC chip will develop some kind of corrosion/rust (hardly noticeable) since the weld on pins are not stainless steel.
so what i did was i GENTLY scraped the pins with a micro flathead screwdriver removing the corrosion from the alpine IC chip pins (both sides) until i was able to notice the polished aluminum on them. i then applied a small amount of basic rubbing alcohol (ON THE PINS ONLY) to ensure that no loose debris
was left behind. ( also, you might want to do this with the small black IC chip next to the alpina IC as well just to be sure).
believe me this saved me about 100.00+ dollars into buying a used replacement.
Member
Cool, exactly the same problem I'm having with both key fobs. The LED on it would stay on forever or flicker or light up on its own.
I'll do this once i get some tools.
- - - Updated - - -
So I dont have rubbing alcohol or soldering tools right now but I opened up the key fobs anyways and gently pressed on each of the pins on the Alpine chip and the smaller chip beside it just to see if it will do anything, and it actually worked!!
I didn't even have to reprogram the Fobs to the car.
I'll have to actually resolder the pins to make it permanent but its good to know its the bad connection of the pins on the chips.
Member
GRRRDASNEWE36,
Thanks for this great info. and for taking the time to post for future reference. I have just applied this solution and it worked well for me. I had not used my key fob in about three years and it drove the Mrs. nuts! "Such a nice car and no keyless entry" was her complaint. Well, not anymore. I did exactly what you recommended and cleaned the Alpina chip welds and then followed up with some rubbing alcohol. I then changed the battery and reprogrammed the key fob and all is working well again. It's so nice to have that feature working again. Thanks again!
Member
Thank you very much. You saved me from buying a used one.
Member
I wish someone would post pictures of where these pins are for us "electronically challenged" folks, one of my remotes has the LED that stays on whenever the battery is in it.
Gave away my BMWs, driving a VW and an Audi now.
Member
I have re-soldered my cage multiple times and today was the first time (at 246k / 22 years) where I've had this problem where the light just stays on dimly.
I tried everything here and none of it worked for me.
At least I should be able to get a new board from Brett for a pretty reasonable deal.
If anyone else finds themselves at their wits end (or just has more money than time trying to make a 20+ year old remote work) you can get a whole new fob for $50.
https://www.msportparts.com/collecti...-button-alpine
I bought just the fob case from him about 18 months ago and he was awesome to deal with. As if any of you guys still here don't know who braymond is.
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