Car no longer locking/unlocking via key fob.... 

 

Car opened as normal this morning. Next time went to open the car it was unlocked and the remote locking didn't lock/unlock. Tried the spare key, same result.  

 

The button on the dash still locks/unlocks so the fuse is fine (checked it just in case too). 

 

Possible that the spare key (unused) has a flat battery and that the main key is now flat too, seems unlikely but possible, so I changed the battery.

 

I did drop the key yesterday but it was fine afterwards and doesn't explain the spare key not working. 

 

My local garage can't take a look until next week... Any other suggestions for a novice to try?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 7 December, 20223 yr by pwshk

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

Best not to to view the second key as a spare key but as a second key and alternate the use of the keys on the vehicle in what ever way or time interval suits you that way you get more even wear of the batteries, keyblades and locks.

 

Does the red light flash on the remotes when pressed?

 

I always start with the quick, easy and free stuff (and anything that keeps my hands clean), first check both batteries are good and installed correctly.  Then I would try synchronising both fobs.

 

From 2017/5 Owner's Manual. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models

 

 

 

I would be very close to the car before operating the remote to reduce chance of interference, does this happen at one location only or everywhere?

 

Any other lights or dash warnings or other things not quite right?

 

HTH.

 

Edited 7 December, 20223 yr by nta16
ETA: Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

Thanks - I've got some brand new batteries arriving tomorrow as I couldn't remember how old the replacement battery was. I'll change the batteries again and have a go as directed. 

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

Might be a combination of batteries and use as some seem to report more frequent changes than others and some prefer certain makes and say they last longer.

 

The battery I replaced recently in my wife's remote was from a set from a £1-shop type place and lasted at least a few years possibly/probably longer, the missing Covid years makes things more difficult to date, but the expiry date on a that pack was "Dec 2020".  In November this year my wife got a pack of Hyundai, two times of each 2032, 2025 and 2016 "best before 30-04-23".

 

We are swimming in 2016s as we don't seem to have any use for that size and other cards with sizes we don't use it's such a waste, and to make things more fun the same batteries have three different code numbers.

 

BTW - 2032  (typo) 2025 is 20mm wide by 2.5mm deep, I'll leave you to guess the other two sizes.  😁

 

Let us know how you get on, I always synchronise things like remote key fobs whether they appear to need it or not, just in case they might play up later and this time I discovered my wife was right and the 'emergency' driver's door keyblade lock was a bit awkward, apart from remember to put the key in the correct way and turn the key opposite way to expected, perhaps the lack of use and airborne grit/**** that's about.  A quick spray of GT85 sorted the keyblade lock.

 

Edited 7 December, 20223 yr by nta16
ETA: Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

41 minutes ago, nta16 said:

BTW - 2032  (typo) 2025 is 20mm wide by 2.5mm deep, I'll leave you to guess the other two sizes.  😁

If only my fingers could work my brain, they're about the same size, this is why I turn off left when instructed to look out for the next right turn by my (human) navigator.

 

Try re-syncing the keys.  I did this the other week after changing the batteries in the key fob.

 

If the battery is low, you should get a warning on your M-Dot Display when you first turn the ignition on.

 

1. Pop the lock cover on the driver's side door off (there's a little notch underneath to fit the key blade in).
2. Put the key blade into the lock and turn the key.
3. Remove the key and press the unlock button on the key fob within 30 seconds.

The funny story to this is that I was 120 miles from home marshalling a 24 hour race in a pretty remote area when I got my warning.  I was lucky enough to find a supermarket with the right batteries in the first hour of the race and quickly changed them in the car park to find that the car was not responding to the key fob after the battery change.  I then did the re-sync and still nothing.

 

I was about to try the second battery in the pack when I noticed it had a safety sticker over the battery terminal (apparently it stops kids getting awful internal burns if they ever swallow a battery).  I popped the replacement battery out of the key fob, took the sticker off and voila, worked fine and I was back on the road in minutes.

 

 

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

3 hours ago, 0094994 said:

• Put the key blade into the lock and turn the key.
• Remove the key and press the unlock button on the key fob within 30 seconds.

You have misremembered this bit, see my first reply post with extracts from the 2017/5 Owner's Manual. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models

 

Pressing the unlock button might stop the alarm going off but I don't know as the Owner's Manual (2017/5) has that the alarm goes off when you use the keyblade in the driver's door lock.

 

 

 

And on opening the door with the keyblade I'd forgot you have to pull and hold the handle ignoring my own advice of referring to the Owner's Manual (or RtFM). 🙃

 

1 hour ago, nta16 said:

 

You have misremembered this bit, see my first reply post with extracts from the 2017/5 Owner's Manual. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models

 

 

 

Yep, got it back to front.

 

I was rushing it to the point of stupidity and went around 30 hours without sleep that day so I'm just happy I could remember roughly what I did.

 

The car was already unlocked when I did all this too because I'd slept in it overnight. Thinking on that, I probably would have messed the sequence up if the problem wasn't the battery safety sticker.

All sorted. Newly bought batteries in both fobs did the trick. Thanks for the guidance

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

Great stuff I love an easy inexpensive fix, especially if it keeps your hands clean and from too much farting about on cars, not very technically sexy but a lot of that is ego stuff.  Start very simple and move on if needed, in which case I'm lost.

 

If you read and refer to the Owner's Manual you'll know a lot more about your car than many long term owners.

 

See if there any stuff in the next two videos you don't yet know or have forgotten about.

 

Skoda Fabia Mk3: Tips & Handy Features Part 1

 

 

Skoda Fabia Mk3: Tips & Handy Features Part 2

 

Helpful after my fabia 3 fob stopped working. I replaced the battery 2025 with a tested one (3.2V). No red light, no response from car. Then I read this and wondered if voltage was all there was to it, so I bought a new Energizer  battery from our local supermarket. Popped that in and after a few senconds, the fob's red light began to show. No effect on car so I also had to resynch it, but my fob is still working 24hrs on.

 

I'm thinking that perhaps it's not just the voltage , but also the current (Amperage) that the new battery delivers which has an effect. I'm NOT going to set up a test rig to prove this hypothesis, but I hope it helps someone.

Have you put the 3.2v battery back in the fob to see if it works or not after the second battery worked, if not you don't know if it was the 3.2v at fault or not?  Tests need to be repeated to check the outcomes are consistent,

 

I've know a (Vauxhall) Dealership installed battery have the remote play up (not work) a good number of and days use after it was installed,   I done no more that than take the battery out give it a quick wipe with the inside of my sweatshirt and put it back in (properly) and battery and remote both worked fine for a very long time after.  I don't really know the cause and just speculated that the battery might not have been fully seated correctly but it was a quick, easy, no cost, clean hands "repair", the only type of farting about on cars I like and my wife was very pleased with the result.  She could have easily done the same but the car stuff is my job.

  

Thanks for all the info in this thread.

 

My wife's car had a warning of a flat battery in the remote so I initially changed the battery. But the red light on the remote did not come on.

I then put a new battery in the spare (it had never been used), but same result - no red led and not opening the car. So I now had two keys that didn't work. After reading this thread I tried resychonising the keys.

 

Seems that the red light in the remote does not come on when pressing a button after a battery change (unlike my Octavia) until the key until it has been resychronised with the car. Also, while doing this, you need to leave the ignition on with the new key for about a minute for the sychronisation to complete. [The ignition has to be turned on anyway to switch off the alarm when you manually unlock thr car]

Thanks for reporting your experience and advice to this thread.

 

1 hour ago, pikpilot said:

Seems that the red light in the remote does not come on when pressing a button after a battery change (unlike my Octavia) until the key until it has been resychronised with the car. Also, while doing this, you need to leave the ignition on with the new key for about a minute for the sychronisation to complete. [The ignition has to be turned on anyway to switch off the alarm when you manually unlock thr car]

AFAIK with my wife's 2015 Fabia anyway, you don't need to always resynchronise the remote keyfob for it to work (I've not looked at the red light at the time) but I resynchronise anyway just in case the car's computers should get a future brain-fart and as it's a quick easy, clean-hands job.

 

There's no dictate from VWŠkoda to turn the ignition on but as you've put you'll want to turn the car alarm off - and I thought the car alarm always went off when doing this but I've since discovered from anther and for myself (once) that the alarm doesn't always sound, I've no idea why, such is computers and programming.

 

I'm not sure it's necessary to leave the ignition on but it won't do any harm and what's another minute or so on such a quick clean-hands job, never rush computers as they are very dumb, "smart" is at total misnomer for computer devices.

  

Hi

- same problem here... 1of my keyfob has stopped working this week end.

I've changed the battery with a tested one (CR2025, 3.2v), but I still can not see the red led when pressing the buttons.

I've tried the trick described by pikpilot with no success.

my key part number is 6V0959752D.

If I buy a replacement key for £30 on ali or ebay, and replace the blade, can the new key be easily reprogrammed (immobilizer etc) thanks to VCDS or any other VAG diag tool ?

 

Thanks!

Phil

 

Hi Phil, welcome.

 

IIRC (never a certainly) the quick short answer is yes.

 

Longer answer is yes it should, I think, if IIRC.  You need a correct level scan tool and best that it's program is up to date for your year (VIN?) of Fabia before you use it and the scan tool and car (and fob) batteries are all in good state of charge. The proximity KESSY stuff always seem to be more PITA than even other VW stuff but should be no odds I believe for this.

 

There will be threads and posts on Briskoda (not necessarily for Mk3 Fabia and just for Mk3 Fabia but other models) about doing this, a Google search often bring you back to Briskoda forums for these posts and threads.

 

IIRC there is a thread or posts somewhere on Briskoda where a reputable concern done this for a VWŠkoda model and it was a rare fail needing more work (which I believe the reputable concern were going to pay for) apparently very rare - but I've had experience of 1 in 10,000 and 1 in 5,000 failure with expensive car parts and much more importantly 3% and 1 in IIRC 30,000 medical failures with others so I know rare doesn't mean non-existent.

 

Plus of course always check and cross reference any information you get from any source (particularly the internet) even from manufactures as they have are errors and omissions (and updates).

 

Good luck,  Let us know how you get on.

Just been looking at a 110R video from looking at a Felicia video posted up in the 'Classic Škoda; forums. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/529361-škoda-felicia-nürburgring

 

Finally after careful reading of the forum messages I decided to buy a brand new Energizer CR2025 battery. 
I took care to straighten the metal tabs of the battery cradle and "Au miracle!" the red led lit up when I pressed the buttons on the key!

problem solved!

Thanks to you guys!

 

Phil

@Sindbad56 Phil, thanks for reporting back.  Once again checking the very (boring, unsexy) basics has beat the sexy big-boys toys of the likes of scan tools.

 

Recently  I checked a neighbour's wireless door bell that wasn't working and sure enough the button battery in the push button end was brand new Duracell (2025) and when I took it out to check its voltage I found the cause of the problem, the baby secure sticker on the blind side of the battery was still there just at the point of the negative contact of the push button.

 

A bit of info for you, 2025 means 20mm diameter and 2.5mm thickness, so 2032 is 20mm diameter and 3.2mm thick.