Originally Posted by
Ryans323i
Yesterday, I went to my BMW dealer to pick up the new key my father-inlaw bought me for my birthday. (I had to order it, in person, so it wasn't a surprise, but I was excited none the less.) I love my BMW dealership sales guys and parts guys. Most know me by name and the sales guys always chat me up about my car and the new exciting cars they've recently got in. But I don't know any of the service dept guys. (I'm setting the scene) So I pick up my new key from the part dept, and Alan tells me I've got to get it programmed by the service dept.
So, I walk over to the service dept, stand in front of a guy with a blank look on his face, and let him know I need my "brand new" key programmed. He stutters for a sec, and asks me to wait a few minutes. I step outside, to look at some cars, and here comes a tech reaching for my keys. We go to my car, he shuts himself in the driver's seat for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, as I'm outside the car, a couple sales people come over and chat me up about my car and the Frozen Black M5 in the showroom. Very pleasant.
Then, the tech hops out of my car and informs me that I'll need an appointment. He can't seem to code the key. He shows me the key, depresses a button, and says "see how the light isn't coming on", the shows me my old key and how the light works on it. (Great, he thinks I'm an idiot.) He says it's either got a dead battery, or someone has deactivated all the spare keys for my car. I think to myself, "Now I know all BMWs only get 10 spares, but why would someone deactivated the spares?". So I ask why I need an appointment. He says it's so they can check the key to see if they need to reactivate it or do something about the battery.
Still trying to take it all in, I walk inside and make an appointment. Friday, 1pm. So I ask how much is this going to cost. Between $56-115! What!? For the brand new key I just paid $200 for!?!? that should include whatever it takes to make it work!
So get back to the car, and use the new key to start the car. (I didn't think it would work, but I wanted to try anyways.) Since it worked, I turned off the car, pulled the key out and tried the locks. Nothing, and the light didn't light up, as before. A little voice in my head tells me, 1. the keys charge in the ingition while the car's running, 2. this key's probably been sitting for years, 3. I bet it's just dead!
So I start the car, again using the new key, and drive home. Get home, try the door locks with the new key. It doesn't engage the locks but it does light up! The battery was just dead So then I hit the interwebs for coding the new key, find a DIY, and plan to do it tomorrow (today). Have't done it yet, but I'm confident it will work.
Blows my mind.
Big Earner
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