Can anyone help???? mate has got himself a merc 230 convertable. he did not get the Red key when he bought it.(ex lease car) The battery went flat . he has charged the battery but the alarm goes off when he connects it!!!

he has the "Other little Black key". Mercedes has said he will need a new ecu etc..................

But me thinks there is some smart arse out there who could sort this out!!!!!

cheers


Luke

what year is the vehicle ? you mentioned a lil black key. what alarm is on the vehicle ? that key could be for the siren or the airbag . depends ?

If it's anything like the alarm/immobiliser on my mates Alfa 146 you will need the red master key to be able to register new keys and stuff like that with the ECU. The immobiliser is built into the ECU.
I believe that because the ECU is linked into the keys in some way if you lose the red key the only way round it is a new ECU! Not cheap.

This is yet again Incorrect information !
There is a tool that can extract the origanal security code from the ecu. slightly cheaper. I would tell you where to go but i am not allowed to advertise on here.

Cheers guys

All sorted .MSCVA you are correct!!! £150.00 and all sorted.


Luke

Great Stuff !

I'm glad I was wrong and you got it sort cheaper. :D

Hi,

Also lost a red key from a Fiat Brava - dealer quoting £841.43 for replacement !

Can someone mail me details of the £150 option please ?

Cheers

Chris

EP

Spoke to guy who sorted Merc. reccons it can be done,but he only works on mercs,see if MSCVA can help.

I think you will find that the dealer is right.
Does the immobiliser have a pin code overide feature?
im sure it does , and if i remember right ..
Dont you have to enter the pin code via the throttle ?
i will look into this when i get 5 mins.

I'm preparing to sell the car - it's only just come to light that we're missing a red key - obviously any dealer is just going to knock off the price of replacement master key off of the P.Ex value - which doesn't leave much!

If I can replace the red key significantly cheaper than the Fiat quoted price then great, otherwise if I can get another spare key made up and sell the car from the drive then I will do and let someone get a bargain rather then get turned over by a dealer.

I read something on one of the news groups about something to do with the throttle and Pin codes - but it means little to me - really all I want to do is get the best possible price for the car when selling it - absolutely any advice is apreciated.

Cheers

Chris

Elvis, mate. Sorry this isn't any direct help, but knowldege is power etc.

We had a Fiat Kontiki camper-van when Hoppy Junior was kart racing all around the UK. We only discovered the mystery of the 'Red Key' when it came to sell (ludicrously high racing funds having run out). We never had the bl00dy key, and even ran somebody else's number plate for a while :eek:

First off, It was £1,200 "to get the ECU re-programmed" then this reduced to £1,000 (what a nice round number ;) )

To cut a long story short, it eventually cost us £400 off the cash-buy price of the camper, at Brownhills (Newark). As an aside, apart from this cock-up (and it's obvious we weren't the only victims) Brownhills were superb :)

Richard.

PS Camper drivers are sad. You know they wave to eachother like bike riders and Scoob drivers - and Robin Reliant drivers? (Don't ask me how I know that last bit ;) ) We want to follow F-Renault in the UK this year, and really miss that Kontiki. Had years of fun in that :D