I stupidly left my E-Pace key in my pants pocket & it got a good washing, but now will not work.Dealership charges about $600 for new key + $195 for programming. Surely I'm not the only owner who has ever done this. Can any one out there direct me to a reliable & less expensive key vendor? I do have the spare key key which works fine. Armand

 

Firstly, I must be honest with you that I'm laughing as I read your post. I'm laughing because SO MANY of us have dumped our key fobs into equally "stupid" tortures, that LOL there's no sense in even beating ourselves up calling the acts stupid at all. Cut yourself some forgiveness, and welcome, New Lodge Member, to the great Pu-Bah Brotherhood Key Fob Order.

My neighbor loved his LandRover, and the mother in law suspected the love was possibly greater than the love he showed to her daughter, and that he spent too much time with his "beloved HS Sport" more than with her. So to punish him, she wanted the dog to swallow the key fob. The Dog was not STUPID... but she packed chocolate around the Fob to make the dog go for the fob... and dogs+chocolate don't go together well (she didn't know that...) and my neighbor got his Fob back covered in projectile poop, which had to be cleaned thoroughly out.... after the dog was taken to the vet for the gastro-pain.....and....

Anyway, first thing, as soon as you can, take the Fob apart and remove the battery. Detergent and water don't corrode electronic circuit boards, but the wetness can form "cross-circuits" that the board can't always deal with, and as long as there's a battery to power it, the circuit board slowly fries the sense out of its brain.
So open it, remove the battery, and let it sit around in open air and gentle heat (winter sunlight in a dry window sill is great). Shake it occasionally in a tissue or paper towel, like knocking water out your ear after swimming, and inspect the tiny board for any burn marks or white cakey residues. I can't think of a fix for burn marks, but white residue can usually by scraped away with a pencil eraser OR a VERY CAREFUL rubbing with nail file or tweezers, and a can of compressed air (like what is used in cleaning dusty computer equipment).

Don't attempt to put in a new battery (Yes, toss out the previous battery---don't try to reuse it), for a good five days or so. Five days of just warm sunlight and regular inspection.

No, circuit boards don't like water (even tiny ones like in these Key Fobs), but a bath does NOT end in guaranteed destruction.
Can you run comfortably on the emergency metal blade key, or your second Fob?
Fingers crossed.

 

We lost our 16 Merc key and the replacement cost about 800.

“Reliable and less expensive” is how they made keys for older cars of a lesser nature. Modern high end vehicle manufacturers spend enormous resources attempting to prevent theft with innovative key solutions. Thus the creation of new keys requires a specific pairing process that only the dealer can reproduce.

And that allows you to feel safe when using your vehicle around town.

 

Been there,done that ! Took it apart replaced the battery ,sadly only part of it works now. Thank goodness we had two FOB's