Hello everyone!

About a month ago now I purchased a 2004 Mini Cooper S 10/03 build from a private party. The only issue with the car is that he had lost one of the keys, and the remaing key wouldnt work the keyless entry on my car.

I quickly found this forum and looked at all the keyless entry issues that people have on here, and found the keyless entry programming pages. I tried every single way imaginable to program the key to my car, about 15 times each!

I finally gave in and took it to a somewhat local BMW/Mini service dealer, who said if he could program it quickly it would be free. After trying himself, he diagnosed that the key was broken. I agreed to purchase a new key from the dealership through him, and he would program it for free. I also got a pretty good price judging by what I have found on these threads.

I went to pickup the key today however and it wouldn't work either. Now both keys will unlock the doors manually, and start the car, but neither will operate the keyless entry system. The car just wont respond. I have absolutely no idea where to go now, and the service dealer wants two hours diagnostic fee to "get started" figuring out what it "may" be. He also stated "I hope it's not the control module, because then you will HATE your new car. It is very expensive..." I need help!

I will provide any info that is requested of me, and am able taking very comfortable taking my car apart to find out what is wrong!

 

may be the lock actuators in the doors. both driver and passenge doors actuators went out and doors wouldnt lock/unlock with the remote, but the boot would still work with the remote, had to manually lock/unlock. replaced the actuators and everything is back to normal

 

Would the door locks still work with the key in the door if the actuators were out? They also work with the center console switch. Also, the car will not respond to either key when trying to program them, the old one I had or the new one I purchased. And they don't work with the truck at all, which button would I hit for that? They have 2 buttons each, the mini logo, and the lock. Thanks!!

 

maybe see if you are getting any response from the key fob at all, holding down the mini button should drop your windows, just a thought on some potential troubleshooting....the boot will unlock on the second click of the mini logo, when the passenger door would normally unlock....

 

I am not getting any response from the key fob at all. I have one brand new key, and the other is the one that came with the car when I purchased it last month. I thought that I might not have Keyless entry on my car at all, but after removing my clock I found the receiver. I also checked to make sure the wires were plugged in, and they were. Still no luck on it. Thanks so much for trying to help me!, I am completely lost as of now...

 

When my actuators went out the locks only worked with the key manually. Didnt work with the fob or console switch. Sounds to me the problem is with the transponder. Good luck with your problem, I hope its resolved soon and cheaply. My actuators were $250

 

Thanks Jaycobb, I hope so too!

 

Anyone else have any ideas? I am really stuck, and don't really want to start handing out money blindly to a service tech.

 

I guess I will be taking it to the techs. I give up and really want my keyless entry...

 

If you do a search in the "how to" section for "Key Refurbishment" you should come up with my thread that shows you how to take apart your key (if it's the "clamshell" type). Your car probably shipped with two keys, one with two buttons- one a "lock" symbol and the other the "wings"- and the other with just wings on it that's not the remote key.

If you take apart the remote key and gently push the buttons you should see a LED on the board light up. This should at least tell you if your key is in working order; however it won't tell you if it's been programmed to actually operate your car.

Hope this helps-

Val

 

Hey Val!

Thanks for the input, but I actually already took my keys apart to check that. It was also kind of frustrating, because the Tech had diagnosed a faulty key, and yet after that when I opened it up I could clearly see the red light when I depressed the button. Since then I have the new key, which I know is functioning. Since that is the case, I am back at square one...

Thank you very much for your input!

Scott

 

Sounds like we bought the same car. Same exact situation for me as well. Bought it used a couple of months ago, one double symbol key. The key tested good. Console switch and manual key turn works. The driver door would not unlock and open with two pulls of the inside handle. I thought that might be part of the problem but it turned out to be the cable. I popped it back in place and put weld putty on it. I'm taking it to the dealer as soon as I can and will post the diagnosis/fix when I find out.

 

Any update on this issue? I have also just recently purchased a 2004 MINI with the same FOB issue.

 

Also would like to know I just to know. I just picked up my 03 cooper s yesterday
And has same problem red light on key comes on, locks work with center console switch
Hatch will not pop and the windows will not roll down with the fob. I did the key fob hokey pokey till
I was red in the face..... Any new news? I read on a different thread that the transponder is near the clock?
My clock was not working and I pulled it down and it was plugged in wrong fixed know
I am going to probe deeper tomorrow and see what I can find.

 

I purchased my 04 this last April. It appears that the windshield has been replaced. Since the control to the FOB is so close I'm worried that something was done wrong with the window replacement and has ruined the control. Not yet brave enough to try to find the control and fiddle with it. Looking forward to what you have found.

 

I did pull the headliner down and looked at the transceiver the wire runs up near the front of the headliner a cross the driver side you should be able to see it from the front if you pull it down with your fingers and put you head right next to the glass.

I am the manager of a glass shop and that could have happened but it would have been hard to do but I have seen some bad glass jobs.

my car came with two fobs/keys one worked the door and one to start the car the one for the door the mini button was broke and did not have a battery after checking everything else I pulled the battery out of the one good one and put it in the broken one and it would lock the door but the button was missing for locking it. so I soldered the button off the other whole one on the broken one that was programed to the car and it worked great. hard to do but it worked. after I soldered it on and checked that it worked I super glued around it so hopefully it wont brake off again.

 

Lost 8-

Here's a thread I started about fixing these types of keys. New shells and switches are available on eBay, so you should be able to create two nice looking, working keys, assuming they both originally came with/were for your car. PM me if you need any help-

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...rbishment.html

Val

 

I have an issue where the passenger door will not unlock with the key fob or button inside of car. It can only be unlocked by the pull of the door handle from inside. Everything works fine locking with the key but not unlocking. I hear and feel the actuator when it locks and attempts to unlock. You can feel it making noise like it's trying to unlock but nothing happens. How can this be fixed or oes the actuator need to be replaced? Thanks.