Both Key Remotes Have Stopped Working

[bobkneale]

My 2010 Manual IQ that has a physical key and buttons to press to open doors has stopped working today.

Tried both my keys and both do not work now, If I put either key in the drivers door lock and turn it then all three doors lock and unlock OK.

I first thought it might be the Battery in the key however for both batteries to go at same time is unlikely, one key has not been used much, it was working OK a few months ago (kept at home as a spare) the other key has been used regularly to remotely unlock and lock the doors each time I use the car.

The small red light on both the keys comes on for a second when I press either the lock or unlock buttons, so maybe its not the Battery in the keys ?

My Scan Gauge has no fault indications shown on it.

1) Could it be a fuse ?

2) Or possibly the receiver unit in the car that has gone faulty and therefore not picking up the signal from either key ?

All Suggestions / Ideas are welcomed !

Positive Regards,

Bob.

[Lorna2]

Even though its a spare key, the power in it would still be going down all the time. Maybe worth getting yourself a Battery to check the fob, always try the cheapest test first. Same thing happened to my friend with a Passat and it got sorted with a new fob Battery.

[Lorna2]

Or you could try reprogramming the key. I know that 'madf' had instructions up one time in the Yaris section so should be something similar

[bobkneale]

Thanks for the fast feedback from Lorna, !

OK I will try the Battery replacement in the key fobs however (I thought) that the key fob Battery would not go down if I was not using it as its only working when you press either lock or unlock button (i think) unlike smart entry fobs that are always active !

I will try the Battery replacement idea first, as suggested in above posts.

On a slightly separate note, does anyone know if one specific fuse is linked to the receiver unit in the car ? and does anyone know the location of the receiver unit itself ?

Positive Regards,

Bob.

[bobkneale]

Car has now sat for 3 hrs since problem manifested (and cooled down a bit) now both key fobs are working OK again, even at some distance from the car !

Perhaps this is a faulty receiver unit in the car or a bad connection somewhere ?

I hate "intermittent" faults !

All suggestions welcomed !

[FROSTYBALLS]

Is there anything in the local area that could be blocking or interfering with the radio signals - mobile phone mast, emergency services communications equipment, etc. Neighbour had a Lexus IS250, and one night when he tried entering the car at work, nothing worked. Turned out that part of the car park was in range of a police communications mast.

[bobkneale]

Hi Mike,

Thank you very much for your ideas !

Re your above post, the car is parked outside my small cottage where it has been regularly parked since I bought it in Jan 2013. A very rural area, just woods and fields for miles in one direction.

I am not ware of any potential interference items that you mentioned in your above post. Even standing right next to the car both fobs chose not to work at all.

Both are working again now, so I'm back to:

Faulty Receiver unit or bad connection somewhere, that has re made itself since the car has stood for the last 3-4 hrs ?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Military?

For example a new Europe wide military system called Tetra caused problems for cars in Yorkshire last year (Fylingdale EWS thought to be the cause) which uses cell phone frequencies. Military Radar can cause issues.

Other systems caused problems in Cambridgeshire and Hampshire last year.

Any military establishments nearby or exercises?

[Cyker]

I reckon someone with a portable HAM or CB setup may have been hanging around nearby

I was going to suggest driving somewhere else and seeing if they work then - That would help eliminate whether it is the car vs something in the local environment.

I find my remote key stops working occasionally when I'm in certain areas, but as soon as I drive away from them the remotes work again which suggests some interference is jamming the remote signals.

I suspect that was the problem with yours too.

[tarquin]

Its quite a problem but rarely reported the frequency from the fob is 433.92mhz commonly used as its wireless license exempt.

The most notorious causer of blanket RF interference is the National Grid. The National Grid use pylons and transmit square wave data Square waves have infinite harmonics which generate among many others is in the 433mhz band. and have a very strong field strength. The frequency is tagged on the end of the Amateur radio band and some times this activity renders their use un-usable. The good news ( if there is one ) is that it generally lasts for only 30mins or so. So if it happens again, wait half hour and see if your good to go again. Happens regularly in my local Tesco you often see people sitting on their bonnet waiting looking at their watches

David

[bobkneale]

Both remotes are still working OK this morning, perhaps it was as David posted above, I do have some ("small" they are not big pylons) overhead nat grid high voltage electricitity supply wires about 40 feet away, so may have been the square wave harmonics that he suggests ?

Only time will tell, Its not happened before though.

[bobkneale]

I am still thinking that both my IQ remotes that stopped working was due to some form of temporary air born interferance this is because:

1) After 3 hrs they both started working OK again, and the next day they are still working OK.

2) David's above post mentions high voltage power line's effecting them (I have a small, HV pylon quite near my house, about 35 feet from the car)

3) When the remotes stopped working to open and close my IQ car doors on one occasion when I pressed the remote it rang my wireless door bell.

4) After Googling this subject I am not the only one who has suffered from this intermitant issue.

Regards, Bob.

[tarquin]

Bob

The data transmissions are short lived typically 30mins. And not every day. So the chances of it effecting you are not often. And not always do they swamp 433.92. My fob activates next doors doorbell but makes it play a different tune than their normal one. Thats how they know its me

David

[bobkneale]

Thanks for the info David, I learn something new every day !

[bobkneale]

New batteries have now fitted to both my IQ remotes, however they have both stayed working fine before then, so I am still thinking it was the interference from HV power line as outlined by david in the above post.

[Guest]

Fascinating. No. really. David -Genius- 'Tarquin' strikes again.

[bobkneale]

Fascinating. No. really. David -Genius- 'Tarquin' strikes again.

Yes he does !

[scimberk]

Remote key problems are something I am very familiar with, but that was an IQ1. Never had any problems with the IQ2 system and am so far very happy with the car.

[bobkneale]

A week has now passed and both my remotes are still working OK

So David -Genius- 'Tarquin' strikes again with his assesment off the "Root Cause"

Thank You David !

[lippo]

YOU MAY LAUGH AT THIS ANSWER BUT I PROMISE YOU IT HAPPENED , HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH MY BMW X3 . FOBS WOULD NOT OPEN DOORS BUT KEYS WOULD , ENGINE STARTED SO CARRIED ON WITH MY JOURNEY , WHILE OUT THE FOBS WORKED FINE , WHEN I RETURNED HOME THEY DIDNT WORK AGAIN . AFTER AN HOUR OR SO WE FOUND THE CULPRIT , IT WAS OUR REMOTE DOOR BELL & ITS BUTTON WAS JAMMED IN , DIDNT OPERATE THE BELL BUT CAN ONLY ASSUME A SIGNAL FROM THAT STOPPED THE FOBS FROM WORKING

ALL THE BEST

PHIL

[tarquin]

Yes blanket jamming of 433.192mhz. Bell doesnt keep ringing as it is a flip-flop circuit and only responds to first coded pulse of the frequency not continuous transmission of it

The trouble is there are only a few frequency's that the government have allowed to be wireless licence exempt and every one and his dog are on it for various reasons.

David

[atkiman]

Having the fob problem as well at the minute, both the rav and iq are playing up by not locking /unlocking on the fob.put new batteries in both rav keys, then our shutters refused to open/close on the fob. Rav works fine away from the house, so I suspect I'm getting some kind of interferance. I found on the internet it could even be stray signals from a video av sender

[tarquin]

433.920mhz is a real problem in the UK. All my home automation is on that frequency. There are different code groups but essentially, it is interference from equipment which is putting out continuous "carrier" frequency, on or around that frequency. It would only take 250mw to blanket block the use of your equipment. Video senders usually occupy 2 bands, 2.4Ghz. (Also home wi-fi, which again causes problems as video bandwidth covers a lot of the allocated wi-fi channels) and 5.8Ghz much more preferred. Other sources of interferences i have mentioned before are the national grids data transmissions over .pylon cables, which is on the increase with smart metering. On one problematic day at my local Tesco, i took my portable spectrum analyser and measured the interference lasting 42mins. Not only was it bang on 433.92mhz it stretched from around 80mhz to nearly 600mhz and could be heard as variable white noise on my FM radio sounding like old modem chatter. It should be noted that they dont actually transmit those frequency's but are a harmonic product of the data square waves that have infinite harmonics spreading through the whole Radio Frequency spectrum but run out of energy as the frequency exponentially increases. Of course, the cables high up acting as aerials for these frequency's at different levels.

David