My Land Rover Key Does Not Work !
Land Rover owners call almost every day with some combination of “the key thing”….
“I just bought the car, but none of the keys work. Can You provide me with keys ?”; or
“I only have one key and I bought another one on the internet – can you program it for me ?” (We don’t even try to program replacement internet keys – see “The Internet Key fob Thing” below); or
“None of my keys work any more. Can you make new keys ?”; or
“My key won’t unlock or start the car.”; or
“My key fob went swimming and that was the only key that I had.”
It used to be that when you needed a key made or duplicated that it was a pretty straightforward job to go to a locksmith and have a new key cut. But, not anymore.
These days, everything has gone electronic. Electronic key fobs, electronic security measures and electronic control units for the various functions of the car …. and inbetween
There are tiny wires that connect everything together that run the length, height and width of the car; and
There are modules that fail regularly which are designed to transmit into and out of coded security rules; and
There is the VERY REAL water intrusion problem in the Land Rovers that will be the subject of the next blog. This water intrusion issue is a design defect and maintenance failure in most of the late-model Land Rovers. Water, wires, solder joints, and modules do not do well in water… water and electronic materials and solder actually create corrosion which results in insufficient connectivity and varying resistance that causes key system failure; and
The repair techs must have a background check and, in many cases, the customer must provide ID and proof of ownership of the vehicle.
IF an owner is REALLY LUCKY, “the key thing” problems are related only to the key fob – it is broken, waterlogged, out of battery or otherwise “damaged”. Sometimes, we can program a “suitable” or “qualified” replacement key fob; but
IF an owner is REALLY UNLUCKY, the problem is not in the key fob but in the onboard car systems that communicate with the key fob. You will hear words like “BECM”, “KVM”, “Security Module” etc. all of which provide a service to access the car via a key click. If these modules are water-logged, wet or have been wet in their history, or have failed for on board electrical reasons, the costs start to go up…. Way up… nothing is cheap; and / or / but
IF an owner is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY UNLUCKY, the problem is in the wiring loom that connects everything together….. (and replacing and/or re-programming all of the modules didn’t fix the problem). Each and every wire in the myriad of circuits needs to be tested individually and resolved. To find the offending wire or wires is a tedious and time-consuming endeavor. We had such a car, recently, that ultimately had a small nick in the insulation of one of the communications wires and the car had also suffered water intrusion. The wire itself had corroded so much that the wire could no longer provide a reliable connection even though the insulation appeared to be intact. It takes time to find that wire…. Yes, the one that has internal corrosion…. That’s the one… go figure how many hours it took to find it !
Sometimes, the on board modules need to be reprogrammed because of a voltage spike or a prolonged battery failure or a manufacturer’s program change. It requires special equipment and multiple technical abilities to reprogram the system. It, too, is tedious and time-consuming.
AND.. the manufacturers, in an attempt to prevent bad actors from making entry easy and stealing the car, have offered little or no serious documentation as to the systems diagnosis and operation….
The “Internet Key FOB Thing”.
Just because a key fob has been said by the seller “to be compatible with your car”… or just because it looks exactly the same as your old key fob, that does not mean that it is “programmable” to your car.
Everyday, we get customers with “Internet or aftermarket key fobs” that are simply not compatible with the on board electronics of their car… they simply will not communicate. Most of the time, this is because a cheap key fob has been ordered on line and those key fobs are not programmable using factory tools or aftermarket key tools…
Our advice is to go to your repair shop and ask for the key service you think you need and allow the shop to complete the operation by using either their source for aftermarket key fobs or the factory version….
The bottom line is that electronic key entries are a nightmare and unnecessarily complicated. You will probably not find a solution to key problems on line or by tapping your heels together and wishing for entry back to Kansas…
Motorcars has invested large suns of money into specialized key equipment and on-the-job learning the systems, and we continue to learn new solutions with each “Key Thing” customer complaint.
This process is ridiculous and unnecessarily convoluted. Try to remember, that we did not design or manufacture the “Key Thing” on these Land Rover vehicles nor did we make the rules for access and programming.
It is a world where every solution is seemingly different, and as such, we work only by the hour, even for a simple key replacement.
