[ezhil0707]

I own a 2016 Honda city iVtec V MT. I am super happy with the ownership experience so far. I never faced a technical issue so far in 7 years until the day I found my keys to keep the red light froze and didn’t lock/unlock the doors.

I assumed it’s the battery which has aged 7 years since the date of purchase. I visited the nearest A.S.S in Coimbatore and as expected the SA blindly said that my key has to be replaced which is around roughly 5k or I had the option to use my spare key. I decided to fix this issue myself experimenting by going through lot of forums and YT videos. Things I purchased are a set of precision screw drivers (you need a +1.5x25mm size for most of the keys) with a pry tool ( FYI : the SA opened my keys with a screw driver and a coin and damaged the plastics and the alignments too, I wonder how A.S.S doesn’t equip them with these minor tools).

I strongly recommend to use a prying tool to save your key’s plastic alignment. I opened my key fob and I wanted to try my first luck which is WD-40 spray which will help in cleaning the contacts in the board if at all present which was posted in many of the videos/forums. So I tried to take out the board and sprayed a very minimum quantity, cleaned the surface and allowed it to dry for a day. I reassembled it and to my surprise , I got my key back in action. I am really not sure of what fixed this, but sharing the experience of how investing in a set of tools which cost me roughly 400 Rs. for a set of precision screwdrivers and a pry tool can save you with a blind key replacement of 5k. Is there anybody who has faced this issue and can someone educate us on this with exact data pointers?

Thanks in Advance.

[Jeroen]

There are a couple of things that can fail on a FOB and do so.

Obviously the first one is the battery, it runs out and just requires replacing. Make sure the battery fits snugly onto the two contacts. One underneath, one on the side.

The second problem can be the failing of the micro switches. Sometimes just dirt and then a good cleaning with a good electro cleaner might do the trick.

Sometimes the micro switches are actually broken. They can be replaced, but you need to find a good replacement.

It is very rare for the actual electronic components to go bad. I have seen one case where some of the soldering was done poorly and came undone.

When cleaning the electrical bits off, it is best to use a proper electro cleaner. WD40 is fine as is not conductive, but it will leave some sticky residue behind.

Whereas fixing a FOB tends to be relatively easy, reprogramming it might not. The more fancy the car, the more complex the reprogramming procedure will be, sometimes requiring special equipment.

Check your owner manual. Replacing the FOB battery should be described, including on how to open the FOB. It will also state if any reprogramming needs to be done.

Here you see me fixing my Jeep’s FOB very similar to how you did yours

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...ml#post5588707 (My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One)

Jeroen

[KHegde]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

There are a couple of things that can fail on a FOB and do so...

Hi, As @Jeroen has pointed out, one of the reasons for a FOB Key Not Functioning could be requirement of Battery Replacement. You would need to refer to your Car's Owners' Manual for detailed instructions.

I can vouch for the above from personal experience; I have replaced the Key FOB Batteries twice on our 2013 Global Ford Fiesta which ame with only 1 Key FOB & 1 Regular Key and once on our 2019 Maruti Suzuki Ertiga for both Key FOB's.

[Encyclopedic]

Honda keys of the mentioned generation seem to have this issue. Both of my Honda City IDtech's keys also stopped working in a similar fashion of red light freezing. I was also able to repair the key with just a cleaning of the PCB and new batteries.

[arjunsatheesh]

There is a WD40 Contact Cleaner. Please use that to clean electrical components.

[arnieshwartz]

We encountered the exact same problem with the key fob for the 2017 Honda WRV (has the same key as in the original post).

Opened it up, cleaned the circuit board generously using rubbing alcohol and q-tips and even changed the battery for good measure. Put it all back together and it started working okay again.

I'm not sure what caused it to stop working in the first place. The original battery wasn't exactly weak, when checked using a multi-meter so it must've been something else that thankfully went away.

I even saw a YouTube video that involved shorting some IC pins but without any mention of exactly which pins. Needless to say, I did not have to try that method.

[greenhorn]

-1 to using regular wd 40 - It leaves a residue that gathers dust and junk and long term, will make the problem worse
you need to use this product
Alternately, searching for "Contact cleaner" on amazon etc will yield a lot of cheaper alternatives. Would advise you to open it up and flush out the switch with this spray to remove traces of the original WD 40.

[dieselOmaniac]

I have a weird issue, the Honda Jazz key is working perfectly, but the upper part of plastic cover is teared off therefore I cannot put a key-ring over it. Its looking quite ugly (although its functioning absolutely ok)

Any idea how to get around / fix this, Honda dealership obviously saying full key needs to be replaced (approx pocket pinch 5K!)

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by dieselOmaniac

I have a weird issue, the Honda Jazz key is working perfectly, but the upper part of plastic cover is teared off therefore I cannot put a key-ring over it. Its looking quite ugly (although its functioning absolutely ok)

Any idea how to get around / fix this, Honda dealership obviously saying full key needs to be replaced (approx pocket pinch 5K!)

I had the exact same problem with my key FOB of my Jeep.

Here how I fixed it

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attac...-img_9144.jpeg

Jeroen

[tc89]

Originally Posted by dieselOmaniac

I have a weird issue, the Honda Jazz key is working perfectly, but the upper part of plastic cover is teared off therefore I cannot put a key-ring over it. Its looking quite ugly (although its functioning absolutely ok)

Any idea how to get around / fix this, Honda dealership obviously saying full key needs to be replaced (approx pocket pinch 5K!)

Genuine 2 Button Key Replacement Shell Compatible for Honda City, I-VTEC, I-dtec, Amaze, WRV, CRV, Jazz etc https://amzn.eu/d/8nIfckq

Hope this helps

[ar@v1nd]

Originally Posted by dieselOmaniac

I have a weird issue, the Honda Jazz key is working perfectly, but the upper part of plastic cover is teared off therefore I cannot put a key-ring over it. Its looking quite ugly (although its functioning absolutely ok)

Any idea how to get around / fix this, Honda dealership obviously saying full key needs to be replaced (approx pocket pinch 5K!)

I had this exact same issue with my Honda City 2010's key. However, the shell is bit different from your model. I bought the below product from Amazon. It fit perfectly and the best part was that the key blade and remote from the original key could be transferred to the new shell. No blade cutting required and it could be done with just a small philips screwdriver at home. Fit and finish was superb (pretty much as good as original) and cost me just around Rs 220.

https://www.amazon.in/Abundance-Repl...dp/B0BN266XSV/

Originally Posted by tc89

Genuine 2 Button Key Replacement Shell Compatible for Honda City, I-VTEC, I-dtec, Amaze, WRV, CRV, Jazz etc https://amzn.eu/d/8nIfckq

Hope this helps

For the this (newer) model, it looks like there is no option to re-use the original blade. At least I dont find any such option on Amazon. What you shared seems to be the best option for replacement

[adiiityaaa]

Sorry for being off topic, but is there any way to press the OK button which comes up along with caution when the car starts without using touchscreen? We have a Honda City 2017 VX and it's screen is not functioning. Replacement is not an option currently, hence any help from any of the BHPians will be really appreciated! I just want to get rid of that warning caution, when, I guess, everything can be operated using steering mounted controls. Otherwise, is there any external controller available for the screen which can connect using the USB? Thank you!

[ar@v1nd]

Originally Posted by Encyclopedic

Honda keys of the mentioned generation seem to have this issue. Both of my Honda City IDtech's keys also stopped working in a similar fashion of red light freezing. I was also able to repair the key with just a cleaning of the PCB and new batteries.

Originally Posted by arnieshwartz

I even saw a YouTube video that involved shorting some IC pins but without any mention of exactly which pins. Needless to say, I did not have to try that method.

I had this issue just a few days back where the remote stopped working. Mine is a 2010 Honda City. The unlock button was actually locking the car and the lock button didn't seem to do anything to the car. And if I press the lock button, the red light on the remote was staying on. I guess it's similar to the red light freezing mentioned by Encyclopedic.

At first I thought it was a battery problem. Replaced the battery with a new one but no luck. Tried cleaning the PCB with spirit (alcohol) thoroughly with a brush but still the issue persisted. After trying a few rounds of cleaning, now I was pretty sure that the key was damaged. I was considering whether to get a new key for 5K (I guess?) from Honda or get a third party one from the local shop.

Anyways I decided to try out the pin-shorting method mentioned in this Youtube video.I was pretty sure it wouldn't work (best case scenario) or it would fry the remote (worst case scenario). Either ways, the remote wasn't working anyways so I decided to try it.

https://youtu.be/G_bSEm6G2R0?si=UtIXTdiH5gFzaP2Y

I shorted the IC terminals as shown in the video while keeping the battery connected. During the shorting process, the LED flashed a couple of times. From that point, the LED seemed to work fine (flashing only when a button was pressed - no more freezing). I was half hopeful that maybe the issue got fixed.

Tried the remote on the car. The first time the unlock didn't work, but after trying a couple of locks and unlocks, the car seemed to figure it out. The remote is working perfectly afterwards I'm guessing that the shorting jolted the chip to reset itself from some error state.

Anyways 5K+ saved through a Youtube video which I thought has zero chance of working.