Remote Central Locking

[farmerpug]

The forester has got central locking and a remote key fob, but even after changing the Battery and checking all the fuses the car doesn't lock/unlock remotely. I think the key fob has been in the water at some point and got damaged.

Is there a way to reprogram old 1998 key fobs or even test if this one is doing anything, it has no LED indicator, is there any way to detect the radio signal coming from it?

[Gambit]

Not sure there is anyway to test them, other then getting a new one :(

[farmerpug]

Are subaru dealers as expensive as other dealers for parts?

[Jay762]

Not as expensive as Honda or Toyota about the same as Mazda, slightly more than Nissan for the bits I have looked at so far

[Gambit]

There cheaper then thought they was going to be.

[farmerpug]

I had a read at this:

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/keyless.html#code%20alarm

 

"NON-US Foresters, 1997 to at least 1999, standard keyless central locking remote control only, no alarm.

How it looks: 

Feb 2006. 
How to find: 
Call up your local wreckers until you find one. May take a while, but someone would keep them ( I found one after all). Cost about 30 Australian Dollars used from a wrecker, cost new 285 Australian Dollars from the Dealership plus 30 Aus Dollars reprogramming.

How to program: 
Undo the plastic door sill protector (driver door with right hand drive model) 
Undo the trianglish plastic plate at the front of the sill protector, right to your gas pedal just at the lower front corner of the doorframe 
Hidden under the plate are two cable ends with plastic plugs, possibly clear/whitish. Connect (doesn’t matter whether the window is up or down, the door closed or shut, or the key in ignition or not) 
Press “Lock” on the working remote, then immediately afterwards “Lock” on the new one. Then press  “Open” with the working remote and straight afterwards “Open” with the new one. That's it. 
Don't forget to undo the cables again and re-assemble your car ;o)"

 

Thats the same as the fob i have, i have one of them PDF repair manuals off eBay for my forester and checked all the things, i also found the central locking ecu in under the dash and its ok, so its the fob which is faulty.

 

I wonder would one of these 2 do:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=151020284426

(slightly different design but probably same inside)

 

this looks the same:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUBARU-2-BUTTON-REMOTE-KEY-ALARM-FOB-1-665-320-31-CIRCUIT-BOARD-/140943503276#vi-content

 

The car is in a good state to have any of the ackward to reach stuff looked at:

 

Somone had a very badly wired phone kit, (ie exposed positive wires) so i took the dash apart to sort out any previous work, removed a few blue scotch locks and replaced them with solder, also addressed the non lighting heater bulbs, just wired in LED's ill get a picture when its back together. Also ordered a replacement electric antenna so the the dash needs to be left this way to route the new cable in.

[farmerpug]

I got the faulty key fob and gave it a few decent whacks with a hammer and then threw it in the bin.

 

No point in spending any more money trying to get the factory setup to work, so i got a Hawk central locking kit for £20 used one of the 4 servos and mounted it in the drivers door, and after a few hours, some scratched hands and some curse words it now locks the car:

not the tidiest looking  job some of the duck tape is there to stop rattles:

 

It might be possible to wire up the hawk kit so that it sends power directly to the subaru solenoid but i was messing about with the wires for quite a while and couldnt get the subaru solenoid to work out of the car, it would have been much handier if it did as it would save the mechanical instalation of the second solenoid.

 

I also added a screw to the door handle, getting the froester door panel back on with the handle unit not staying in place is a bit of a nightmare so i put in a screw to keep it held in place:

 

All back together:

 

Its a fiddly job, especially threading the wires through the door grommet into the car, but a lot cheaper than buying a new or reprogrammed key fob.

[Gambit]

I got the faulty key fob and gave it a few decent whacks with a hammer and then threw it in the bin.

 

PMSL Good man

And was the dirty hand picture for my benefit :D

But back on topic great job mate money saved bit of hard work but does it's job what I like to see. And if you think the duck tape is rough you not seen what's holding my speakers in :)

[Jay762]

That screw in the handle is a useful tip, nice one

[farmerpug]

Ahy the dirty hands was there for you :D

 

The screw in the handle was needed, trying to get the doorcard back on any other way is a nightmare. it kept popping out of alignment with the door as soon as the handle was opened to go through the door panel

 

The only thing i need to do is supply the reciever ecu with a permanent 12v, at the moment i just have it running off a lawnmower Battery but it shouldnt take too long to put right.