[fairmountvewe]

Hi. As a preamble, this is my first post on this forum, so please be gentle. My wife recently purchased a non-CA 2006 e91 325xIT, Today she went into town and somewhere along her route, her key fob stopped working. She got home, and I tried the spare fob with no luck. Either metal key works to both lock and unlock the door (door regulators okay?), the car starts and runs fine with either fob inserted into the dash (internal fob battery okay?), but neither fob will lock, unlock or unlatch the tailgate (almost as if the car is not receiving the wireless instruction). She did go through a carwash at some point today, but she can't remember if it was before or after the problem appeared. I am worried something got wet in the carwash, but is is only -15C or so outside so nothing will dry for a looooooong time. This is our first BMW car, and I must admit I am not at all knowledgable about the foibles and secret workings of this BMW. I have searched the forums, and I only came up with 112 pages of "key + fob+not+working" related responses, but I am hoping to solve this while I am still young. Any help or further questions to help diagnose this issue would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Peter

[onebadmofo]

Chances are the battery is dead. Battery is sealed in and non-interchangeable (think iPhone) but I've heard of people cracking fobs open and finding a replacement battery on ebay or something.
If you go to a dealer they'll say that the key went bad and you need a new one. Except to pay around 300-400 for new key with programming.

[sheerin]

and you have to wait a week for the key fob to come in.

[Chris@codemybimmer]

maybe you have an issue with this:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=645962

[fairmountvewe]

Thanks for the replys. I doubt if it is a battery issue, because neither my wife's nor my fob work, and they both worked the day before. While I certainly hope it is not the antennae module, I am seriously running out of other logical conclusions. I have an appointment at Endras (Ajax BMW) later this week. Here's hoping.

[Chris@codemybimmer]

let us know what happens
hopefully everything works out for you

[fairmountvewe]

And the winner is.......



Blown Diversity module !

It seems the antenna had been "previously tampered" with, and water has leaked into the diversity module. There is corrosion on the cover as well (where the radio antenna is located), so the tech's advice is to replace them both. That and a couple of ground straps, and labour puts the estimate at just south of 1K. After looking at the DIY for removing the module, I am pretty confident I can replace it myself. That would save me just about half, and give me an excuse to poke around a bit on her car. Thanks for all the replys, and 1lyfe, for correctly guessing the cause of the problem, you win the prize. If you will now kindly forward your SIN and bank account info, your reward will be on its way......(just kidding)

[Chris@codemybimmer]

Originally Posted by fairmountvewe

And the winner is.......



Blown Diversity module !

It seems the antenna had been "previously tampered" with, and water has leaked into the diversity module. There is corrosion on the cover as well (where the radio antenna is located), so the tech's advice is to replace them both. That and a couple of ground straps, and labour puts the estimate at just south of 1K. After looking at the DIY for removing the module, I am pretty confident I can replace it myself. That would save me just about half, and give me an excuse to poke around a bit on her car. Thanks for all the replys, and 1lyfe, for correctly guessing the cause of the problem, you win the prize. If you will now kindly forward your SIN and bank account info, your reward will be on its way......(just kidding)

i read all the way to the end...fml....
haha just kidding
glad i could help =]

[fairmountvewe]

Well thanks for all the info and support. I replaced the module last night in just under 40 minutes. Works like a charm. I did spray some non-conductive water repellant spray (Starett M1) on the module, hoping to delay the onset of corrosion. The lid seems to fit well, and came from the factory with a small bead of sealant around the inside of the rim, so I will watch it during the spring and see if I need more rigorous sealing methods. My wife is thrilled and that makes it all worth while. Again, my thanks to all.

Peter

[ZZZZ]

Glad to hear you got it all worked out Peter from Peterborough. I have to admit, that is a ridiculously silly place to put the antenna on an e91. Are there drain holes under there for water to escape that could've been possibly plugged up as well with dead leaves/debris? Good idea spraying the water repellent, same thing I would've done.

[fairmountvewe]

No drain holes. There is a sort of "well" around the diversity module, the lid sits on top of this and the thin bead of sealant is supposed to keep everything dry. Unfortunately there are 4 electrical connections into the diversity module so I couldn't cover it in plastic.