Anyone have any tips?

2005 MCS

I changed the battery on my keyfob, and it did not work unlocking the car.

I purchased a new Key/Fob from Seattle Mini, I followed the pairing instructions, no dice.

I called Seattle Mini, they told me the new key/Fob might be one too many and the car will not accept it until the ECU is cleared.

I decided to try to pair a key / Fob already paired with the car, the one I replaced the battery in. Again, no joy.

I can hear the ECU cycle when I attempt to pair either key. It just does not seem to allow them to function as remotes. Both Keys start the car.

Anyone have a similar experience, is this requiring a trip to the Dealership? Can an Indy shop handle this?

 

Just to clarify, you use the term "pairing" as with bluetooth devices which these keys are not. Instead, did you follow these "initializing" steps? I didn't write this but it worked as described for my 2006 built in Nov 2005 after replacing the soldered-in battery:

1) Insert the fob with the new battery into the ignition slot and move it to position 1.
2) Move the fob to the off position and remove from the slot.
3) Press and hold the open and the close buttons three times.
The door lock should trigger to inform you that you have completed it correctly.

 

Yes, I am trying to get the Key to communicate with the car to unlock and lock the doors.

The instructions that came with the new key said to cycle to position 2 three times, remove key, hold down the unlock button press the lock button 3X.

I am heading to the garage right now to try your way.

Edit - I tried your way and the way Seattle Mini sent me. Neither worked.

 

Unless the keys were constantly lost or had issues in the past it’s unlikely the car is past the 10 key limit. The timing of the button presses can be tricky so below is a video of the process. One note from the video is it says key position one at the beginning, but correctly shows position two with all of the dash lights lit up.

There’s also the chance the remote receiver is bad. On a 2005 R53 it’s inside of the rear view mirror housing.


For anyone looking to ”pair” a pre-facelift 2 button key, this process does not work and AFAIK, can only be done with a computer diagnostic interface like NCS Expert or INPA.

 

I tried everyone's suggestion, no joy. Thank you all, BTW.

I also pulled the cover off the Mirror and made sure the connections were all intact, I wondered if maybe the plug was undone for whatever reason. It was fine.

I am at a loss here, it is a major PITA to keep using the key in the door, I had hoped by now I would have this sorted, it seems to be a bigger problem than I anticipated.

I guess it is off to the drawing board to figure a plan of repair for this.

 

I think the circuit boards can be swapped without any programming except for adding your keys after. Just make sure to get the proper frequency.

As for the manual key, even if it wasn’t a PITA, the mechanism or key cylinder wasn’t designed for regular use and eventually ends up breaking when used daily.

 

That's the thing, one of the Keys is the OG key and is not working as far as remote functions go.

This is more of a weekend car, although the wife has been driving it a lot lately.

I am starting to wonder if the remote receiver is bad.

 

I took mine into the dealer after getting new fobs from Seattle mini with the correct paper work with codes. Waited an hour and they couldn’t figure it out, told me to come back and drop it off so they could try other things? I have yet to do it because the dealership is an hours drive away. And the local bmw dealers won’t touch the car.

 

Some thoughts on what can make the receiver go bad besides something just failing. I’ve seen posts where a leak in the windshield seal or sunroof caused an issue with the receiver. My other thought is, especially since you live in Florida where it can get really hot, the sun baking on the mirror housing caused a component or solder joint to fail.

Do you have a soldering iron to re-flow any joints that might have gone bad?

 

Yeah, I am going to tear into it tomorrow night, maybe.

We leave for MOTD on Wednesday, I am not about to start too big of a project now. She is running perfect, this is a minor irritation at this point.

I will start digging into this further next week. I was just on Ebay seeing if I can get a used mirror to swap out. None of them seem to have a plug on them.

I am going to take a pic of my mirror and post it in a little bit.