So, I have read FOB threads until my head spins.

I have one key and remote. The remote battery was going weak I could tell, and it quit working. I replaced the battery, and followed the program procedure. It appears to finish properly.

But, the remote only works once to open the doors. And it weird because I have to push the button twice. If I lock the doors, then try again it does nothing. However, if I wait like ten minutes, it will open the door again, just once, and only the driver door. The 2 push feature to open all doors doesn't work.

Now, I will add that my trunk actuator is broken. SO I have the "boot open" message and the remote lock button will not work until I repair that. But up until I replaced the battery the remote worked as expected for opening all doors, etc. Just not the trunk button, or locking. I have had to lock the car with the key for now until trunk is fixed.

So, just to list the procedure, because there seems to be some discrepancy......I open drivers door. Hold back stalk. Put ignition key in and turn to position one, and then pull stalk 4 times. I hear a beep. I push a button on the remote. I hear one more beep. I turn the key off, and hear one beep.

I have also tried pushing the remote button once, and waiting, then I get one beep, indicating it is programmed.

Has anyone else had this issue? I came across a few that have, but the only one that said he fixed it, messed with some connectors behind the door panel. Anyway, remote has always worked fine until its battery died.

Am I missing some step? I have tried multiple things, like pushing the remote button 5 times. Still seems to program it, with same result. Some things I have tried gave 2 error beeps indicating I did something wrong.

Anyway, I think I am programming it right, my owners manual does not say how to do this. It just says remove and replace battery with no further instruction. Its a 2004 VDP.

But the fact that the remote actually unlocks the car after programming, and will work again to open them if I wait ten minutes, tells me it must have been programmed.........I am stumped.

Anyone seen this before?

Thanks in advance if you know!

 

Are you sure that your new batteries are really good? I read a previous thread before. After many long stories, the forum member found that the replacement batteries went bad, probably spending most of their time on the shelf.

 

I don't know but:

Was there a need to program the remote after battery replacement?

Normally there is no need.

Sounds like the remote needs a reboot.

I wonder if you can reboot it like the car ie remove battery and short

battery connections?

Or would that be too easy?

 

I would start with a new battery. Go to a high volume battery seller for fresh stock.

 

I stopped at kroger on the way home and bought a brand new energizer battery. I'm assuming it is good but I will have to test it.

 

So, I took the new energizer battery out of the remote today, and tested it with a voltmeter. The battery is 3 volt. it tested at 3.12v with a voltmeter, so should be good.

I saw a similar post, and the guy fixed his issue by unhooking his car battery for a while and it cleared it up. I will try that and see if it helps resolve the issue, and will post back the results.

The remote still opened the car this morning. Like I mentioned, it works, just weirdly only once, and wont open all the doors, and then I have to wait ten minutes before it will function again.......so strange.

 

So I took the battery back, because I got home and tested the old and the new, and the old read slightly higher lol. Went and exchanged for a duracell marked good till 2024. It tested higher voltage than the other two.

But, same result. Reprogrammed it again, no change.

So I have unhooked the car battery, and letting it sit for a bit. Hope that does it for me.

 

Success! Disconnecting the battery for a half hour did the trick! Now remote works normal, and I didn't reprogram it even.

And a bonus repair. I mentioned my trunk latch was broke. Its been making a horrible noise, so I decided to unhook the harness to it. That also fixed my Boot open message, and now I can lock my car with the remote!

Wow, so the one post I found where he fixed it the same way, was right. I hope this helps someone down the road, thanks for the input everyone!

 

Glad you fixed it! Probably disconnecting the car battery sufficiently long clears old memories and gets the security ECU to re-learn everything, something like Bluetooth devices failing to reconnect then you can choose to "forget device" and pair up afresh.