Got home last night to find that someone broke into my house and took random valuables. Ugly. Among the biggest PITA factors, they took all my keys. Thankfully I was in the Benz, but they took the spare key. Ugh.

Any idea how hard it'll be to either have the spare key eliminated as a valid keyless-go key? Will that also block them from inserting it and usign it mechanically to start the car? I know they can still use the insert to open the doors, I'm ok with that risk as long as they can't drive it off there isnt' much to be stolen inside. ARGH!!!

Anyone know if there's a way I can do this myself; eliminate all but the key I have as keys that'll work on the ignition? That'd be huge. Otherwise, can a dealer do this easily? I hate to think what it'd cost to re-key the mechanical (backup) metal key portion.

Advice appreciated. Home alarm on the way. most real valuables missed or not taken thankfully, but still hit pretty hard. Not a single break-in since this house was built over 50 years ago. Extremely remote, gates on the small dead-end road leading to lots of stairs to the house. Very strange... Them having my keys SUCKS.

Advice appreciated,


Skeeter
2005 E55, R1

 

**** man, that sucks. Very sorry to hear. What state/city?
Call your dealer and have the recode your key. You'll need to probably change the metal key as well but I wouldn't worry about that as much. Just don't leave valuables in the car.
Install cameras

 

I do not know about the MBs, but Jeeps can have the auto start portion reprogrammed and it entails erasing ALL previous coding which would render the keyless go portion useless. That is a huge leap of faith, and does not address the issue of using the key itself. I still see a potential where they open the door with the insert and starting the car with the key itself.

call the dealer and get it done right. Good luck. hopefully, they simply cleaned house and have no plans to return.

 

Skeeter, on a domestic (Cadillac) all we would need to do is retrain a new keyless(2) and the car would no longer accept the other keyless.
I would think that Mercedes is the same

PS: your last name is it Blanton?

 

Take the car to the dealer and bring a valid ID (license). They will order new keys and reprogram the system which will make the old key useless. Cost $185 per key.

 

....and do it now!

 

Go to the dealer and have the dealer deactivate the stolen keys for your car through the Star Diagnose computer. I was told you can have total of 8 keys per ignition. After 8 keys you will have to have new ignition install. When I took delivery of the my 06'E55, the dealer lost 1 key and they had to deactivate the lost key and order me a new one.

John

 

Skeeter, sorry to hear about your mishap. What has this world come to?

 

costco has a video servailence system on sale for $1200 bucks 9 high res cameras and a dvr recorder! go buy it! getting broke into sucks ! catch'em on hard drive= pricless!!

 

No, not my last name. I live in an incredibly isolated pocket of the hills of Berkeley, California. 90% of people FROM Berkeley don't know my street exists, it is a strange little Italian style one-lane road that winds up through crazy hair-pin turns and has no outlet, so no through traffic. I get maybe two cars per day that drive by. Delivery trucks and fire trucks have an incredibly hard time getting up here, the street is so long, steep, narrow and winding. First break-in since the house was build in '48. Strange how the left tons of valuables and took others which were worth less and weighed more... Still, they got my brand new EOS 5D along with some $1k+ lenses, so they weren't all that dumb.

Alarm rep is coming tomorrow, along with a locksmith, since the f*cks have the key to my front door. Then again, they got in once without keys, and now they know I have tons of high-end gear (tube amps, plasma TVs, 2 30" LCD monitors, several computers, etc...). No doubt they (or he) noticed it but realized they could only carry so much. I hate to leave my house unguarded while I take a half of a day to wrangle with any of the lame dealers in the SF Bay Area. But until I do, I'm chancing hearing the E fire up and drive off... Some bind I'm in!

Traps are set; if they try to get in while I'm here they'll get quite a surprise. Makes you remember Charles Bronson with great admiration and respect. Oh, and dealing with the insurance company! I challenge anyone to cite a profession lower than insurance adjusters! Worse than ANY professional I've ever encountered, and I used to be a prosecutor! Hopefully home insurance people are kinder than car insurance people...

Wish me luck! Alternatively, does anyone know of an easily-accessed fuse I can pull that'll shut off the ignition or starter or something like that? Something that won't wipe out all my settings or take hours to reinstall? Couldnt' find anything easy...

Skeeter

 

This should take care of them

 

Ooooh, you have no idea... Plenty more where that came from. Speaking of which, gotta get a gun safe put in with the alarm system. But believe me brother, I'm no stranger to the 75-round drum.

Skeeter

 

that is the beauty of the smart key system. Other cars would cost thousands to rekey. The smart key is just some computer programming.

 

Pm sent.

 

I'll check with my boys and see if they will return the key.

Why is john PMing? He gonna send the hick patrol out there?

 

Sorry to hear about the break-in. That *** sucks. A low tech, old school, temp deterrent might be to buy a CLUB at Kragen, etc. If you can't figure out what fuse to pull, you could always unhook the battery and then lock the trunk. It will at the very least slow a thief down.

 

Damn that sucks, they'll get theirs, hope you get everything straightened out

 

I would make it easy for them to get in your house again. That way you have an excuse to take out their kneecaps and have some target practice.

 

Unfortunately he lives in Kalifornia. Criminals have to sign a waiver before you are allowed to shoot them.

Not here in AZ of course!

 

You have a total of 8 key tracks, 3 keys per track, so 24 total keys during the life of the electronic ignition switch.

For example, if key #1 was stolen a replacement for key one could be ordered and activated which would make the original key #1 useless. Or the dealer can block key #1 entirely by using the SDS.

FYI, each key is good for 200,000 starts.

On a keyless go car, tracks 1 and 2 are keyless go from the factory. An additional key 3 through 8 can be ordered as a keyless go key but requires programming in the EIS to recognize as a keyless go key.

Once that key is deactivated it will be useless for locking/unlocking the vehicle or attempting to start it. The blade key will be the only thing that works unless you go and change your door/trunk lock cylinders.

 

Yeah, this set up is PRIME time... Highly recommended.

 

I got the four-camera rig from Costco for work, I think that'll suffice for home. Great setup, couldn't agree with you all more. And the 4-camera job cost ~$400 if memory serves. I have a busy weekend in store for me.

I always had an idea for a killer new product, now would be a great time to have one: an electically deployed car cover made of ballistic nylon, kevlar, something like that. So you'd hit a button in the car and this thing would uncoil and drawn by cables in tracks or something, it would wrap the car.

Include a mild electric shock after it gets messed with for a certain amount of time, along with conventional alarm stuff (noise, etc) and you'd have a hard time getting in.

Oh, but they have my keys.

Never mind.

Skeeter

 

Batman already did it. Worked pretty well for him. I have his myspace, PM me for it.


All jokes aside, that REALLY sucks!! I wouldn't count on the same hoodlums trying it again, but I'd still camp outside in a tree next to the car for the next 3 weeks hoping to get a clear shot at one of those b@stards.

 

H a haaa.

He's right. we have to get permission here in order to shoot someone. I'm going to move to AZ>

I really hate hearing stuff like this happen. Here's the deal though. I bet they were just crack heads or speedfreaks looking for some dough so they would have the energy to get back down your windy hill. Only a rookie addict steals car keys. I bet he/they won't be back. I trained my big dog only to bark when he hears a knock. No windows looking in. When I'm home and someone knocks even the candy selling early warning gangsters in training run away before I can get off the sofa. He ( the Rott ) keeps up the routine when I'm not home also. I know that because the neighbor from across the street always have fresh pee stains in their pants after I get home from work from seeing people run away from my house.

 

Yeah, a dog is the ultimate alarm system (assuming you have the right dog). Rotts certainly get the job done, especially trained like yours is. My Siamese cat assured me that she'd guard the place, but since they didn't touch her cat-food she didn't see the need to intervene. Ohh to have one of her larger cousins, maybe a little cougar or something...

But seriously, the update today is what I was charged my MB of SF for a new key: $300! Ouch! Keyless go is a great feature, but OUCH. I was expecting half that at most. Not sure if they are gonna charge me to recode it as well, hopefully not. They did not charge me for killing the missing key at least. But $300 for a freaking key?!

Now off to get the F150 re-keyed. Local locksmith can do it for $40! It has a chip in the key, but they can hook it up, shut down the old keys and give me a new key for $40! Granted, no keyless go function on the truck, but damn...

Skeeter