Another Immobiliser problem.

[AussieJoe]

Just working through the imperfections on my new '04 Cooper S. I replaced the damaged casing on the remote fob - the rubber cover over lock button was broken/missing. I shifted everything over to the new case no problem. The lock button (on the actual circuit board) is broken from people sticking there finger through the whole and pushing it board directly. That's not the issue. At least the fob now looks mint. I can live with not having remote lock.

The remote unlock button works perfectly. The key turns ands all accessories etc come on. So far so good...

What doesn't happen is the car no longer starts.... Car starts perfectly from my other (non remote) key.

Standard synchronisation procedure requires a combination of pressing lock and unlock buttons - with no lock button, am I stumped?

cheers

[AussieJoe]

hahaha - Problem solved.

A simple thing to overlook - the transponder is actually built in to the case backing - and could easily have been thrown out when I put the circuit board in the new case. I assumed the transponder was on the circuit board remote...

so, all good here

[Valvashon]

I hope to have a how-to posted in this section before the week is out to help people avoid this very problem- you are not the first person to have changed over your key to a new case and forgotten about the immobilizer.

If you change your mind about fixing the lock button I can help. I have refurbished several of the first generation clamshell style keys for other MINI owners, including replacing broken off button switches on the circuit board. My parts and labor prices are very reasonable compared to the cost of a new key and postage for a small packet really isn't that much. There's an active thread about this over at NAM, Motoring Alliance and I have even posted this at PSMINI.org, the site of our local MINI club.

The actual key lock in the door isn't very heavy duty and may not be able to take the use you will give it by locking your car each time with the key. I was using mine because the actuator in the door wasn't unlocking the door and I eventually broke it because the mechanism is mostly made of pot metal. Now I have to scrape up $120 and order it directly from the MINI dealer. It would be considerably cheaper to have me (or a local who can actually solder at the board level) fix the circuit board.

Val