One of my keys stopped working...

[admranger]

I had to say "one pachyderm, two pachyderm, ..." for it to work. Apparently my X5 is a snob.

Seems to have cured the intermittent key working/not working issue...

[X5NZ]

I have had a dead key for some time now and have tyried the programme tricks with no success. The cost of a new key here in NZ is approx NZ$600.00 so I have had a new battery fitted to the key by a local watchmaker ( cost $20.00) and it Works! every aspect of it.
Really pleased and recommend this to other owners with key problem.

[xrandy]

Great thread.

I had this problem last week and the mechanic said I needed a new key (+$200). When I asked if it was covered under the warranty, he said 'come back when it's quiet and talk to your account rep'. At first he said new key, (note: do not revert to jerk mode) I said gee can you try to reprogram it or something? Just like a previous writer stated, he jumped in the X5, grabbed the steering wheel in a hug (so I couldn't see??). Then jumped out said it works now, have a nice day and walked away.

Thanks for the code, my brother has the same problem with his 2005 330xi - we'll try it next week.

[x5GuyInLA]

Maybe this is only with my X, but I did this a couple of weeks ago when the 2nd key stopped working and I didn't need to click to position 2 back and forth 5x. It actually didn't work when I did that, so I just clicked to position 2 once, then followed the rest of the instructions and it worked. Also, I only had the driver's door lock open; when the key is programmed all the doors lock then unlock. If you have more than one key, make sure you do all keys at the same time like xnsf mentioned; otherwise the ones that aren't programmed during that session won't work.

[J2Izzo]

Great instructions Aussie. Took my X5 to the dealer today for service, gave them my spare key that didn't work. When I got the X back, the spare worked, but mine didn't. Thought they messed something up. Your post allowed me to program both now! Thanks X5World.

[Kev]

Hi guys,

I read and tried all of the techniques described in this post but still I have two keys that can unlock the car, but not lock it.

The turn-key-five-times trick doesnt have any effect whether I turn it to pos 1 or pos 2

When the car is unlocked only the central locking seems to be affected. The mirrors don't unfold (as usual), and the alarm does not deactivate (ie. no beep).

The two keys have sat around for a month or so unused, so I put them both in the car for an hour each with the ignition in position 1 to charge them, also used the car for a few hours so they should in thoery have been charged, and the fact that they unlock the car (from a good distance), makes me think its not a battery related issue.

For a minute this morning one of the keys was locking and unlocking (with the mirrors fold/unfold and alarm beep), but then stopped working.

I tried disconnecting the battery for 20 minutes to see if I could reset the alarm sequence. but nada.

I'm really out of ideas now. Can anyone think of something else I could try? Seems a bit wierd that both are now kaput, even if they are 7 years old.

Thanks in advance.

Kev.

[Weasel]

If they are doing part of their tasks but not all it isn't the initialization. It could be the key not transmitting the signals for the functions that aren't working, or it could be something on the vehicle end of the system.

Do you have other keys that work normally and just these two are acting up?

[Kev]

Thanks for the quick reply

These are the only two keys that I have for the car, and they are both playing up.

A few months back, one of the keys became erractic and would only unlock but not lock the car. From then, we started to only use the one working key.

Then, after coming back after a month overseas, the second key packed up.

I was wondering is theres any other way to set/unset the alarm other than with the key - just to see if thats where the problem lies.

The mirrors fold/unfold fine with the button.

It's so annoying that this should happen exactly when I want to sell the car

Kev

[Weasel]

The alarm will arm/disarm with the key in the door lock as well.

[THK]

I was at Auto Zone the other day and they had a display in which you could activate the buttons on your key and depending on what type of frequency, a light would light up indicating it was good. You might try your local parts store and see if they have a key frequency checker.