1996 P38 KEY FOB

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Paul Coddington

Active Member
Posts
104
Location
Derbyshire
Hi all.
Quick daft question. An old mate during a discussion about rip of prices for replacment keys, gave me a key fob for his old 38 and said see if you can do anything with that!
My question is (ignoring the key blade problem) can a key fob be reprogrammed from one P38 to another without a huge cost.
if it can is it a dealer only job or has some enterprising soul found a way of cutting the dealer out?
 
Simple answer is no only a key direct from Germany through a stealer ready programed to your can from vin number will work.
 
Hi all.
Quick daft question. An old mate during a discussion about rip of prices for replacment keys, gave me a key fob for his old 38 and said see if you can do anything with that!
My question is (ignoring the key blade problem) can a key fob be reprogrammed from one P38 to another without a huge cost.
if it can is it a dealer only job or has some enterprising soul found a way of cutting the dealer out?
No.
 
I've just the one at the moment Mozz and fingers crossed there nothing wrong with it at the moment. I was just having a grumble with an old buddy and commenting on rip off prices that dealerships ask..
I do intend to take the gubbins out and keep it. I was just wondering if some bright spark had come up with a way of reprogramming over the last few years.
 
I've just the one at the moment Mozz and fingers crossed there nothing wrong with it at the moment. I was just having a grumble with an old buddy and commenting on rip off prices that dealerships ask..
I do intend to take the gubbins out and keep it. I was just wondering if some bright spark had come up with a way of reprogramming over the last few years.

I think the chip is one write only but then I thought the same about the engine ECU on the doozel and some bright-spark on here said something and UV light resetting it or something. As with so may things it was way over my head. Maybe I should become a limbo dancer. Anyway, maybe the key is similar and some jiggery pokery can wipe it? In which case someone somewhere might be able to clone it. Problem with cloned keys is that it kicks the other one out of sync. So OK as a backup but you cannot use both without having to resync each time. I thought MrSporty could clone them but martyuk says he hasn't quite got it yet.
 
I'm a big fan of jiggery pokery, especially if I can do it myself, but i'll live with someone elses. To be honest a backup is all that's needed. So if anyone can clone them and its going to cost less than £150 ish I'm all ears.
 
A previously used fob can be used, but only if the fob data is present & then you will only be able to program that one fob, rendering existing fobs none working. You cannot add a used additional fob to your existing set.
 
Where can we get ahold of a new or used Fob? Mine is toast. Literally, internals are just shredded. It's number one. I just want to be able to lock it from inside the shop without going outside everytime.
 
The ONLY place you can get P38 key fobs from is the Land Rover dealer. Yes, they are somewhat expensive, I paid about £170 odd for mine last year - but is came programmed, key blade cut, with batteries and literally just needed syncing to the vehicle.

It does seem like a lot for a 15+ yr old vehicle, but I suppose we should be lucky you can still buy them new! I had a P38 customer come to me for a replacement door latch, and we were having this conversation. He said his wife was wanting a new fiat 500 or something... off the lot, it comes with ONLY one remote key... they asked about a second remote and were quoted over £250 for a second remote... on a brand new car... so it could be worse!

The only thing I'd recommend if you are unsure of your vehicle's history, is to get the VIN number read from the BECM and check to see if it matches what's on the plate under the windscreen. If the BECM was replaced at some point in the past and not reprogrammed, then you might have to order a key for the VIN number of the BECM (as that's what it would be programmed to if not cloned properly!). I only say that because I've heard of a few owners now who have bought a new key for their VIN number, only to find it doesn't work... and then find out the VIN in the BECM is different as it's been replaced, so their new key is useless... (though I can now capture the ID transmitted by a fob, to identify it and check/program it to a BECM - that being said, only one lockset can be programmed to a BECM at any one time, as Rick says.)

As far as I know and have researched, the chips in the fob are OTP - one time program, and they also don't appear to be the UV erasable type either - so once a fob is programmed, that's the ID it is for good.

In theory, and if you could somehow dump the contents of the chip, find the hardware ID in the programming, and then program a NEW chip and swap it onto the fob PCB, then you could effectively make use of an old fob - but to my knowledge this hasn't been possible and done yet. As mentioned, there are some places which can clone an original key, but your replacement is the same ID (say you clone a Key1 - your replacement will be Key1 aswell) - which means that only one can be synced at a time, and they will unsync each other if you try to use both. It's not the end of the world if it's just as a spare key though - but if you want 2 usable keys that are synced at the same time, then it's dealer only.
 
The ONLY place you can get P38 key fobs from is the Land Rover dealer. Yes, they are somewhat expensive, I paid about £170 odd for mine last year - but is came programmed, key blade cut, with batteries and literally just needed syncing to the vehicle.

It does seem like a lot for a 15+ yr old vehicle, but I suppose we should be lucky you can still buy them new! I had a P38 customer come to me for a replacement door latch, and we were having this conversation. He said his wife was wanting a new fiat 500 or something... off the lot, it comes with ONLY one remote key... they asked about a second remote and were quoted over £250 for a second remote... on a brand new car... so it could be worse!

The only thing I'd recommend if you are unsure of your vehicle's history, is to get the VIN number read from the BECM and check to see if it matches what's on the plate under the windscreen. If the BECM was replaced at some point in the past and not reprogrammed, then you might have to order a key for the VIN number of the BECM (as that's what it would be programmed to if not cloned properly!). I only say that because I've heard of a few owners now who have bought a new key for their VIN number, only to find it doesn't work... and then find out the VIN in the BECM is different as it's been replaced, so their new key is useless... (though I can now capture the ID transmitted by a fob, to identify it and check/program it to a BECM - that being said, only one lockset can be programmed to a BECM at any one time, as Rick says.)

As far as I know and have researched, the chips in the fob are OTP - one time program, and they also don't appear to be the UV erasable type either - so once a fob is programmed, that's the ID it is for good.

In theory, and if you could somehow dump the contents of the chip, find the hardware ID in the programming, and then program a NEW chip and swap it onto the fob PCB, then you could effectively make use of an old fob - but to my knowledge this hasn't been possible and done yet. As mentioned, there are some places which can clone an original key, but your replacement is the same ID (say you clone a Key1 - your replacement will be Key1 aswell) - which means that only one can be synced at a time, and they will unsync each other if you try to use both. It's not the end of the world if it's just as a spare key though - but if you want 2 usable keys that are synced at the same time, then it's dealer only.
I will definentily look into it. I think it's worth it. A new Inteli-Chip key and lock remote from GM for my caddy cost me 400 so that is a good deal. Thank you for this info!! :)
 
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