joelawyerz

I made it to 63.6 years old this past weekend without losing or destroying a key fob….Visited family about three hours away and jumped into the pool without realizing my key fob was still in my pocket. I figured at least I have the hard key in the fob to get into the car. Surprise! The key didn't work. My second fob was back home, so rented a car to drive three hours home and then three hours back. That fob works fine and had the correct key. Wondering if anyone has ever experienced this.
Is it a manufacturing mistake or the dealer screwed up keys and no one has caught it all these years??? I bought the car used about 2 1/2 years ago and never thought about checking the hard key in these things. Lessons learned are best when they can be easily corrected! Anybody know what the cost of a new fob & key is? I'm figuring this is one of those things that I'm not likely going to find on eBay/Amazon/whatever and am going to have to suck it up and go to the dealership.
What say the group?

vincheung

Dont know much about how the physical blade key could have been the wrong one (unless it was previously missing and the owner/dealer just stuck one in to make it look good). Did you compare the two blades to see if they are definitely different? Ive only had to use the physical blade once or twice on my previous E-class and it was a bit cumbersome to use but did work.

Cost of the Key I also don't know, but any purchase of a used one on ebay/amazon etc will be useless so don't bother looking there. It will have to be done at the dealer, hopefully you have a few in the area to shop around. With the key that took a dive, give it the bag of rice dry out treatment and a new battery; it's possible it will work. If theres any visible corrosion on the circuit board, use a soft toothbrush and high % isopropyl alcohol to clean it off. I've run a key fob through the laundry and was lucky to have it still functional.

Newbyloub

A little over a year ago, I bought a new key from my dealer and the cost was a tad over one grand coded for my '18 S5 60. Later found the "lost" key, but the money was gone. I learned this year they cannot be re-coded.
C'est la vie.

dlafever

Just a thought on the wrong blad in your keyfob ... I have two benzos and they both use the same key style. It could be that the previous owner accidentally switched the blade with the fob for another car and since 'who checks that anyway during a purchase?' it was never noticed. Until now.

Tom in Austin

Interesting, I've never tried using either of the pull-out key blades. Prob worth doing just to make sure they work!

dlafever

While you're at it, check the mechanical lock in the trunk lid ... I needed mine a few years back and it had become seized with road crust. Had to poke a hole behind the rear seat armrest and use a piece of pipe to push the panic button to get the trunk open.

tx170754

You're looking at around $250 from the dealer, you need to bring proof of ownership and then they'll order one form Germany...
Did that for my previous CL600, paid by the dealer where I've bought the car from.

HAILERS2

I had a FOB replaced at Mercedes and it worked fine. .......untill one day I wanted to see if the metal key worked or not. No Worky. Back to dealer. They also NO Workyed it and reprogrammed it. Was fine after that.

Also sent a FOB thru a full cycle of the washing machine. Oppps. Did not try to make it do anything. Left it out in the Texas sun with the batt cover removed for a few hrs. Works fine now. Got lucky I guess.

tx170754

In my case I was missing one....