My daughter has a base 08 with a manual transmission. She has been having trouble getting the car started. When EITHER fob is inserted, the car sometimes responds normally, and other times nothing happens. It's like you didn't insert the key. Nothing lights up. She doesn't have comfort access, so the battery in the fob can't be changed. Last week I had her take it a dealer to ask a tech if they had any ideas. I assumed the fourteen year old fobs were bad. Service said it wasn't the key because it works in their reader just fine. The tech suggested it is either the socket the fob goes into, or the electronic module it connects to that communicates with the key. He said in either case, it isn't worth fixing. She said the tech also noted her car battery was from 2017, but didn't test it or suggest that was the problem. I've read two threads where many people have reported a similar issue. None of them have a solution. Most of the suggestions are to have the car battery tested because that can cause strange electrical issues. The other main suggestion is to change the key fob socket in the dash. The part is $150ish and the tech told her that even if she changes it herself, the dealership will have to program it which is about $200. So that's $350 just to guess whether that's the issue.

This morning, she can't get either fob to work at all and is stranded. She's been trying for almost an hour. Of course, she isn't at her apartment or here where it would be more convenient to work on. I'm going to drive a few hours to where she is to take her battery out and get it tested. After that, I'm not sure what to do with it.

If anyone has solved this issue, I would love to hear it. This is a horrible time to buy a car (not that she can afford one). This one already wasn't worth much and won't be worth anything not running.

 

I was able to get the car started. We traded cars and I drove the MINI back so I can fiddle with it. I'd still appreciate opinions if anyone has an idea.

 

I once had an issue where the key would go into the socket, the car would not start, and then Ii coudn't remove the key, it was trapped in the socket. It would happen intermittently. I could remove it with brute force. It was a long time ago, 10 years ago. My mechanic fixed it, I'm pretty sure he reprogrammed or recoded something. That car had a few flat batteries prior to this, which IIRC the mechanic thought was related

 

The battery tested ok. I ordered a new ignition switch. The key slot and start/stop button are all one unit. I'll update when I get it installed. (I called another dealership and a tech said it does NOT have to be programmed. It's just plug and play.)

 

Since I already ordered a new switch, I decided to go play around with the old one. After inserting and removing the fob several times in a quiet garage, I noticed a difference in the click it made when it worked vs when it didn't. There was a much deeper, more solid sound when the fob worked. I'm reasonably sure the new ignition switch will fix it now.

To satisfy my curiosity, I opened up the switch so I could see its innards (sorry, no photos). There were two copper coils inside. One large coil that encircled the fob. I'm assuming that's to energize and read the chip in the fob. There was also a small (~1cm diameter) copper coil tube running horizontally across the back of the switch. There was a plunger that snapped forward and back when the fob was inserted/removed. I assume the other end was connected to a switch on the circuit board to energize the car. I worked the plunger back and forth several times. It was a bit stiff, but it was free. I'm sure the deeper click I heard was that plunger snapping into place. I was hoping there was something that just needed to be lubed. I didn't really see a place for grease and didn't want to accidentally short anything, so I just put it back together. I plugged it back into the wiring harness and tried the fob 20+ times. It energized every single time. I'm not sure what I did, but it seems to work now. I'm going to go ahead and install the new switch when it arrives and keep this one as an emergency spare.

I'll update the thread when I install the new switch to confirm that it works. (Is there any way for me to retitle the thread now so it's more useful to people searching for key fob issues?)

 

The new ignition switch is installed (after the first arrived defective - wouldn't eject key). The key now operates as it should. The hardest part was taking apart enough of the dash to get the switch out.

 

Nice, glad to hear you got it fixed without replacing a ton of parts.