Originally Posted by
derekmw
Hi guys,
Posting this for a friend who is stranded. I tried reading up on how these newer cars work (I own an e39). I understand that the key FOB has tabs that grab the FOB when inserted and some people break these. However, I do not think this is the case with my friend. Here is the situation:
- Pressing start button does nothing. NO sounds, no humming, no crank, no dimming of lights
- Car battery appears fine (he doesn't have a volt meter but lights turn on, car unlocks, radio etc) - I know that's not the best test but read on to see why I think it may be something other than battery
- He claims there is almost as if two positions within the key hole, and usually once you push it in all the way (second notch), the tabs grab the key FOB. However, this is not happening, it just pops back out to the first notch
- Pressing brake pedal and holding FOB in place (pushed all the way in), and pressing start button does not work.
- Using his spare valet key, does the same thing
- Had him also try pressing the brake pedal very hard to make sure it engages the sensor known to cause issues
As I understood, if the tabs broke, pressing the FOB in place and pressing the start button should start it? This does not work. I almost feel like it's not recognizing the key, but he said there is no indication of that on the dash cluster.
Any ideas what this could be? He is going to try and get a jump start just to make sure and rule out a bad battery.
I think we'll all agree it's most likely not the key either since both primary and valet key are doing the same thing.
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