1) Ok so here is my first "KEY DIY"attempt at a detailed also if you mess up your own key trying to do this don't yell at me!

So I have the 2 key fobs that came with my car when I bought it used. One I use everyday and the second one has had a dead battery since I got the car. When I called the dealership they wanted like $260.00 for a new one. I did a search around here and found you could get deals and what not and possibly get it down to around $90-120 bucks.. still way too much in my book since I already had a working key.

After talking to RICHIRICH who had taken apart a key fob . I decided what the hell the key was already dead anyways...

Here is the key before I tried anything..


2) I then proceeded to take a matt knife and xacto knife and basically carefully cut the key open along the seam where the top and bottom joined up.

3) Next I took a small chisel and broke the spot welds on the battery that connected it to the rest of the circuit board.



4) Once I had the battery out I looked at it and took the model number "a panasonic VL2020 3v" I found the exact same battery on ( VL Lithium Coin Cell Batteries 3V 20mAH 2 PIN VERT )Mouser Electronics - Electronic Component Distributor for $4.73. Once I got the battery is was a simple matter of soldering the new one in and making sure everything fit back together.


5) Before I glued it up I rubber banded the thing together and went out to my car to see if I could program it.

Put the working key in the ignition. Turn to position 2 for like 1 second then back and remove the key.

Press and hold the "unlock" button then press the "lock" button 3 times, you should hear all the locks cycle through.

Now take the non working key and press and hold the "unlock" button then press the "lock" button 3 times.

Then turn the ignition on and off again to end the programming....

I took the car for a drive to charge up the battery. Once I was certain it was all working I glued up the key again with some super glue....

Here is a pic of the key being glued.( I used liquid glue)



6) While definitely not a hard or complicated "DIY" project I did save myself about $200 and had fun while doing it...