Programmer88

I need to make a new key for a c230 . I am a new to making keys. I don't its too hard. I need a list of what I need to buy to make the key .

KevinH2000

I suggest that you read the reviews from folks that purchased a replacement key fob on Amazon.
It appears that you will need access to the proprietary MB Star/DAS system. There are clones of the system available, but the quality is hit or miss. I've seen used systems advertised on this site and eBay. If you plan to do a lot of work on your car, it might be a worthwhile investment. But it is a "buyer beware" type of purchase.

It looks like one of the people who bought the Amazon key was able to find a locksmith with the knowledge to program the key and saved a few dollars in the process. I have not heard of anyone who was able to do the work themselves.

Good luck.

Makkax1

W203 keys aren't straightforward to replace. Our puppy ate my only key and I looked into various ways of replacing it. I live in and around big cities and I initially contacted all the car locksmiths nearby but none were interested, they only seemed to replace keys from about 2010 onwards - having now sorted it myself, using what I assume they do, I don't know why. Anyway, I then went on eBay / internet to find a replacement service and I struggled again but eventually the cheapest I could find was for about £200 (£350 for 2 keys) which I thought was a bit uneconomical considering the value of my old banger and it also required sending off the EIS, which would probably be fine but if it did happen to go missing in the post then I would be screwed.
​​​I also looked into ECU replacement 'kits' for sale on eBay. These usually consist of an old ECU, EIS, ELS, the key and sometimes other bits like the main door lock and dash clocks from a scrapped vehicle. I've seen these for less than £100 which in theory is a pretty cheap way to get a new key. But you have to be absolutely certain you're getting the correct ECU and it's a fair amount of work, replacing a locked ESL looks like a pain in particular and I don't know if they'd be even further issues if the ECU came from a different spec car.
Dealership prices are predictably ridiculous, much more than the car is valued at! They also expect you to get the car to them, even though the key apparently comes pre-programmed. Dunno what that's about!

Luckily after looking over the course of about a month on eBay I never found an ECU kit that was suitable and I eventually turned to my brother who actually runs an independent Merc garage about 15 mins from my house, he also only lives about 10 doors away. Your probably thinking I should obviously have just gone to him in the 1st place but he's very busy and I don't like bothering the **** 'cos he moans and he has an angry ginger missus with a dislike for me. Anyway, turns out he has an Autel MaxilM IM508 IMMO kit and GBOX for replacing programmable car keys which is probably the type of thing your asking about. This consists of an Android based tablet and lots of wires, bits and bobs in a big plastic case. He'd never had a call to use it, actually forgot he had it and was surprisingly happy for me to have a dabble. It's a pretty cool bit of kit with loads of confusing looking wires, dongles and parts but it's easy enough to use, you just figure out your EIS type (mine is actually the W209 type not the standard W203) and follow the on screen prompts / diagrams for the correct wiring, dongles and button presses. I'm a retard but managed to figure it out in about 20 minutes and once setup the process took about 15 mins. If he hadn't had the optional GBOX part though it can take an age as without it you have to physically take the key in and out of the EIS, apparently upwards of 900 times whilst it tries different codes! Unfortunately all this kit costs about £1500+ (maybe more) and I think it also requires an expensive subscription as you need to connect to their servers to calculate the key codes (oh yeah, you need a decent internet connection too). I also needed to unplug / remove from the car the EIS if 'all keys are lost' - 1 minute job on mine as it's right hand drive, probably a bit more awkward on LHD though as you have to remove parts of the dash. The blank programmable keys are easy and cheap to get hold of. I got mine from Amazon next day delivery, they are Heart Horse branded and cost £25 each. You can get them for 1/2 that from AliExpress etc (make sure you get the correct radio version for your region) but they obviously take longer and if there are issues will take longer still. The 2nd one I bought as a spare, after copying (don't need to remove EIS for that), would start the car but wouldn't operate the central locking so had to be replaced - took 24 hours to get the replacement with Amazon, could've taken weeks on AliExpress.

Anyway that's your options afaik - car locksmith (good luck), local garage (good luck), eBay or buy your own IMMO kit.