well, bummer my Prius is dead!! well, actually the car works fine, but the remote control (no SKS) has started to fail. i guess i wore it out with the remote control distance contests with other people at work. but went out this morning to bum around town (no work today) and pushed unlock and noticed the turn signals didnt flicker. got up close and tried it again and the light was real faint and could only be seen if standing directly in front. thought this very strange and tried to lock door and it wouldnt lock. figured bummer... broke it (i have dropped it at least a hundred times) so went and got other fob (new only been used once or twice for experiments and never been dropped.) OHOH... new one not working either... shot down weak battery and abuse in an instant. sooo, out lollygagging, coming out of Costco and just for kicks try remote and it works (light still dim though) and to top it off, im at least 100 feet away. so i think... alrighty... im good, fixed that and didnt even break a sweat. well, felt a bit guilty over that, so went to gym, sweated, went out and...ohoh... broke again...cursed myself for sweating thinking maybe somehow, my body salts got in and shorted remote. but cant help but notice little red light still works. so i say... I KNOW!! Priuschat will fix it!! sooo dash on home (after stop for triple white chocolate expresso) get on computer do search and nothing... even tried the regular search function...nothing... sooo...have to wait till next week to let you know what happens
ok... update... umm well, today the fob worked fine. not sure why it didnt work yesterday. considering it was 45º, locks being frozen was ruled out. not sure what to think of it. i have an appointment for the Prius doc on Tuesday morning. we'll have to see what happens between now and then. i never did get the re-greasing when i had my s50p done. i wonder if that might have done it?
Well, you know it's gonna work just fine when you go to the doc. Is there a remote (ha ha) possibility that batteries on both fobs are low? I know you said that your back-up fob has only been used a couple of times, but maybe the battery is low just from sitting around. Just a thought.
thought about that but when the fob was not working the red light still worked and i walked all around the car up close and nothing. when i first realized that it did work occasionally, i was walking out of Costco yesterday and you know how that place is...always packed (at least here and being less than 50 miles from the headquarters doesnt give us any advantages!!) so didnt have a good parking space, but i just hit my fob while it was in my pants pocket without even pulling it out and it worked and i was at least 100 feet away. but when i got home, it would not lock the door. so had to lock it with the inside button. but all day today it worked fine. i even went out at lunch and break and it worked ok soooo... i do not know
There are some areas that have ambient radio frequencies that may interfere with the FOB. Near the airports, radio towers and some hospitals, they may emit radio frequencies that cause the FOB to not operate. Placing the FOB next to the window sometimes works but if the other transmitter are powerful enough nothing will work except manually locking and unlocking the doors. Keep in mind that the batteries do go bad and need to be replaced about every two years in normal use.
ya but it was sitting in my driveway!!. same place where one night, my neighbor comes over (i live in small apartment complex) he lives next to parking lot, i live in apartment next to one in back corner. he says my car is acting weird... i say, "what you mean weird?? are saying my car is a nerd!!" he say no... just lights keep flashing and stuff. i say "oic...maybe its cars way of being nice and neighborly...probably saying "hi" to the cute audi in the next stall" neighbor looks at me and shakes head and heads for parking lot... i follow. what was happening is i was working on friends computer and was picking up case, etc. fob in pocket. apparently i kept hitting lock and unlock buttons causing parking lights to flash. i was impressed. my apartment is done sidewalk around two corners and through a wall to boot. i had neighbor sit in my apartment and push fob and sure enough, i can unlock my car from my living room.
remember the dielectric that was supposed to cover some sort of electronic gizmo so it didnt get wet and short something?
That electronic gizmo is the MG1 sensor connector; completely nothing to do with the RF remote. I'm sure that greasing the RF receiver wouldn't make it, uh, go any faster. . _H*
that grease won't affect your remote. sounds like the fob is transmitting signal if the red light flashes... which lights were dim? the lights on the transmitter or the lights on the car?
the parking lights on the car *edit* to be honest with ya, cant say if the red light on the fob is dim or not, up until yesterday, i never really paid that much attention to it. it works... that is all i know. seems to be bright enough i guess
oh great... another day of error free fob operation... maybe it was the weather?? its been sunny last few days...
**UPDATE** went to dealer today. unfortunately, since the problem first arose, it has now only failed about 25% of the time and unfortunately, the remote was naturally on its best behavoir. not finding anything wrong, they merely reprogrammed the fobs to a different frequency. went home and boom, didnt work again. or actually, it worked, but only after hitting the button about a half dozen times. i feel that this may not be the end of this.
