Volvo remote fob problem

mikes48

My wife has a 2008 Volvo C70 D5 which we bought just over 4 years ago. It has about 60,000 miles on the clock - mostly motorway commuting, and a couple of holiday trips abroad.
It came with both keys, which have 5 buttons for various functions and a slide-out alloy blade to operate the door locks if the remote locking/unlocking doesn't work - normally due to needing a new battery, according to the handbook.

I've always carried one of the keys for the odd time that I use her car, but the remote lock/unlock stopped working from my key about 6 months ago. I put a new battery in, but it made no difference. The car can still be started with the plastic part of the key in the ignition slot, so it didn't seem too important.

Last week her remote also stopped working, so she has the fiddle of manually unlocking and locking the car but more importantly it seems that the alarm and immobiliser aren't set either, which is bit of a worry insurance-wise. Again, new battery, expiry date 2021, no difference.

Couldn't find any positive leads on Google, most saying that on newer Volvo models, non-working remotes are a dealer job, and to be wary of keys for sale on ebay.

So she took it in to the local Volvo main dealer to see what they can do.
What they can do is to re-program the key. This normally costs £99 per key, but because we've been unlucky they can do both keys for that price. Expensive, but fair enough (plus VAT).
However, re-programming might not solve the problem, in which case they will need to download some software from Volvo. This software is a Volvo "spare part" apparently, it isn't something that they keep on their own computers, and the only way to get it is for them to download it. They can then run the software, at a cost of £30 per key.

So if the initial £99 doesn't do the job, it will cost another £60, plus VAT, a total of about £191.
The lady also informed my wife that they couldn't guarantee that the re-programming and software update would actually make the keys work anyway. "So we wouldn't have to pay in that case?" asked my wife. "Oh no, you'd still have to pay, because we'd have spent the time on it and we'd have bought the two lots of software from Volvo" was the response.

It's hard to believe that a modern, well-equipped dealership can expect you to pay so much money to have a fault fixed and you're charged the same amount whether they fix it or not, and you just walk away nearly £200 out of pocket, for nothing. I could live with paying £191 if it solved the problem, but apparently the chances of a cure are about 50:50. The only option then is new keys at £350 each. So we are potentially looking at over £1,000 for a guaranteed fix.

Can anyone suggest any other way of solving the problem?

Thanks in anticipation.

mikes48

Ah well, never mind.

Fixed it myself this morning and it didn't cost me a penny - but with excellent advice from a local firm which my usual independent garage suggested - Option4 Electronics of Preston. I'll be popping in there at the weekend and dropping a large "tip".

aVdub

So for the future search results-How did you do it?

mikes48

Disconnect the battery, leave it overnight, reconnect the battery in the morning  - system resets. Secret is, the ignition must be "on" when you disconnect and again when you reconnect the battery.

£200  saved.

It worked for me but obviously no guarantee - at your own risk etc. Seems counter-intuitive to me to whip a battery cable off and on while the ignition is turned on, but there you go.

elsmandino

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I am having a similar problem.

Mikes48 - did you ever have any further issues with you keyfobs after this?

Naaktgeboren

My dad has the newest Volvo estate... After 3 months of ownership he's had the fobs replaced twice, once coming off a car ferry, he couldn't unlock the car and the 2nd time after refuelling, Volvo didn't act too surprised on either occasion.

elsmandino

Hmm - seems to be a worryingly common occurrence.

I bought a 2009 V50 about two years ago and when it was given to me, one of the two keys did not work at all.

I was asked to go along to a Volvo garage, where they tired (and failed) to get the key to re-sync with the car.

They ended up having to buy in a new key (about a week later) and another visit ended up with this key being successfully linked the car.

Though this was a bit inconvenient, the dealer that sold me the car paid for it all.

Now my second has gone and I seem to be looking at a really hefty bill if I go back to the dealer and pay for it myself.

The key itself works fine in the ignition, it will just not open the central locking.

I was thinking of sending it to one of those online places that specialises in fixing fobs (many will only charge if they manage to fix the key) - nothing to lose in the circumstances.

I was thinking of at least giving the battery disconnect method above a try first - I really cannot understand why this would work but again, I have nothing to lose by at least trying it.

Seems that Volvo didn't spend as much time on their keys as they did on the rest of the car.

Dony

I had an S60 for 3 yrs, and now a V60 since Sept last yr and haven't had any issues with the key fobs.

mikes48

No, we didn't, worked perfectly after that. We had the car up until December 2015 and both fobs worked as intended.

elsmandino

Thanks for confirming that.

Having Googled your method (i.e. disconnecting/connecting the battery), it has popped up a number of times and clearly has worked for a number of people.

I am definitely going to at least try it.

Just out of interest, do you have any idea what the issue is?

I cannot quite understand how the key suddenly loses the ability to control the central locking (even though the battery is fine), but can somehow given the ability back without actually fixing anything.

The cynic in me cannot help but think that Volvo are up to something with this - very odd.