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1996 E320 switchblade key fob issue

8954 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  flogger00, 
F
'96 E320, which I bought cheap ~ 10 years ago and (after I plug welded new front spring perches on - the main reason for the cheap price) I have driven it for 120,000+ more miles (Now at ~228,000)

Anyhow, when I bought the car it only came with one key - a switchblade key fob/remote. I've been living dangerously all this time and never got a spare key. ~ 2 years ago I had to replace the ignition tumbler and the metal key. No problem, but I discovered the behavior when the fob wasn't near the ring that goes around the ignition cylinder that the car would crank but not fire. I reassembled the rest of the way and everything's been working fine until...

Fast forward to a couple days ago - I had in my pocket the W210 switchblade fob, 2 other set of keys, some coins and an aluminum case flashlight. I reached in my pocket for the MB keys - and pulled out pieces. The case had popped apart, and it's contents (including the button cell batteries) had been floating around with the conductive contents of my pocket for a while. I reassembled the fob and discovered that I could operate the remote, locking and unlocking the car (and viewing through my camera shows a strong IR signal). The red and green lights respond as expected and the doors lock and unlock properly. Using the remote I can open the trunk and arm the alarm and even disarm the alarm after triggering it. When I try to start the car though, it cranks but does not fire. I can hear what I believe is the fuel pump running, but it acts starved for fuel. I sprayed some starting fluid in the intake and got it to run for a few seconds. Basically, it's acting like I remember what it did when I tested it with just the metal key and with the fob out range of the ring only a couple years ago. I'm having trouble finding info on this. Is it an RFID chip or something on the circuit board inside the key fob? I've examined the circuit board and don't see anything burned or broken, but don't know precisely what component I'm looking for. Any bright ideas?


TIA
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Deplore
Per google maps:


You need that chip. No chip, no bueno.
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F
Here's what I've got. Are you saying I'm missing something?

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Al_Savage
The RFID chip that the previous poster's purloined picture purports to ID is not on the PCB; it's on the shell under the PCB that you have not pictured, if I understand it correctly.
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F
Huh. So there used to be an RFID chip in the well down below the red piece? Weird. I would have expected something like that to have been epoxied into place. I haven't done laundry yet, so I checked very carefully in the pants pockets I wore that day, but no luck. I guess I'll keep looking.

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M
I thought early models of the 96 e320 did not have the chip. Look at your ignition key slot. If you have a black ring around it (the transponder coil ring). It will have one.

What do the red/ green lights do when you put the key in the ignition / crank?
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Al_Savage
Hmmm.

mrboca said:
What do the red/ green lights do when you put the key in the ignition / crank?
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flogger00 said:
'96 E320 . . . The red and green lights respond as expected . . . When I try to start the car though, it cranks but does not fire.
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M
The question is :) do the red and green lights blink alternately when the key is inserted for 30 seconds or so ?

"As expected" is ambiguous. You mean red is lit when locked and green is lit unlocked ? This is the central locking function. The alternate blinks mean authorization failure (not necessarily due to key).
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F
Quick followup: First - sorry.... I don't know why I initially wrote that it's a '96. I know better. It's a '97. I probably momentarily confused it with my tow vehicle which IS a '96.

I never could find the chip, so I went to the dealer. New fob was $179 +tax and arrived next day. Switched over the metal keys to correspond with my earlier cylinder change, and after syncing the fob (no issue - worked on first attempt) everything works correctly. Yay.

Oh, and WRT price, the parts manager said the fob had been $179 for a very long time, but just went up to $200 something, but he'd do it at the old price of $179. He also said he knows of another dealer that charges $458 for the same key fob. How accurate his stories are I don't know, but that's what he said.

Anyhow, thanks for the help. I still say that RFID chip ought to be epoxied into the fob. ;-)
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F
So I posted a follow up to this the other day, but it didn't show up.

I got the new key fob and everything works again. Sorry I wrote that it's a '96 initially. It's a '97, and I know better. I confused it with another one of my cars, I guess. New key w/fob was $179 + tax and it was NBD to swap the correct metal key on to it so that it matches the ignition cylinder I replaced previously. It synced up first try and everything works fine (and the red/green lights never did "blink alternately"). Oh, also the parts dept. manager said that these had been $179 for a long time, but had recently changed to $200 something, but he changed it back to $179 for me. He also said he knows of another dealer that charges $408 for it. I can't guarantee that all of that pricing background info is accurate, but that's what he said.

Thanks, everyone, for your help.
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