Car fob doesn't always work

Sometimes the fob doesn't work for me for either locking or unlocking the car. I don't think it is the fob as I have two of them and when one doesn't work, neither does the other one. It failed again today so I bought a new battery (just to rule that out) for the fob I use everyday but it still failed with the new battery.

It's only an intermittent thing, it might work fine for a week and then decide not to work. I can try 5 times in a row and it won't work but if I left it for 5 minutes, it could work fine again.

The battery in the car is fine, the car never fails to start, even in this cold weather. This problem has been with me even since before the cold weather and wet weather before that again.

Any ideas, lads, on what could be causing this to happen?

Thanks,
A.

im also interested in hearing a solution to this ....

sometimes ill get out of the car , and press the lock button .... and nothing will happen , another press and still nothing ....but usually a few seconds later it will do its thing .....
never had to wait 5 minutes anyway .... (and hope i never do ) i would go off my nut

had the same problem myself,changed the batteries in the fobs,didnt help,ended up being a loose earth on the alarm.could be a million and one other things but worth a try.

if its the factory central locking system and its a common fault, then it could be a problem with the factory receiver or brain that controls the central locking.

One solution is to put in an alarm with central locking and a new fob

as above happens to mine too

Happens me occasionally too. Might take a few clicks to open it. Then most the time its fine

Mine started acting the mick by not working on the first try a few months back and I'd have to try it 3 or 4 times to get it working but by the time I'd have walked to the driver's door, it would work. In recent times, if it doesn't work first time, it's just not going to do it.

What I've done since I first posted is opened the fob, turned the battery upside down (I was trying to cover all angles!) but that didn't work.
I tried the spare fob -> that didnt work either.
I opened the spare fob to make double sure the battery in the other fob was the right way up and it was. I closed both fobs and gave it a go and both worked fine. I could unlock with one fob and lock with the other one, no bother, all locking and unlocking being done while I stood in the sitting room looking at the car lights flash on and off before me. That was half 7 this evening.

My legacy used to do it sometimes but nothing this bad and would always work eventually. I think I'm going to have to take Scoobymaniac's advice and get an alarm with central locking or else ask someone who knows what they're doing to see if it is a loose wire. The only thing I'm not massively keen on with a new alarm is that i'm going to end up with a separate fob and key.

Anyway, thanks lads. At least I know now that it seems to be a fairly common fault and what that fault is.

The only thing I'm not massively keen on with a new alarm is that i'm going to end up with a separate fob and key.

Just have key on alarm fob keyring and leave old ones somewhere safe.

CARLO

[quote author=CARLO link=topic=20310.msg247526#msg247526 date=1262817719]
The only thing I'm not massively keen on with a new alarm is that i'm going to end up with a separate fob and key.

Just have key on alarm fob keyring and leave old ones somewhere safe.

CARLO


[/quote]

gonna have to do something like that because, as it is, i've got the house keys and the office keys on the car keyring and another fob/key will be just one too many!
btw, it worked fine again this morning.

I took a trip down to In Car Technology in Ballybane. Paul Griffin put an alarm in a car for me shortly after he started out in 1997 and was very pleasant to deal with. I'm glad to say 12+ years later and he is still sound to deal with.
He says he has a mate in a dealership and will ask him if there is a fix for this problem. He's going to let me know, hopefully, tomorrow.

Let us know how you get on

[quote author=adrianfa link=topic=20310.msg247658#msg247658 date=1262869878]
I took a trip down to In Car Technology in Ballybane. Paul Griffin put an alarm in a car for me shortly after he started out in 1997 and was very pleasant to deal with. I'm glad to say 12+ years later and he is still sound to deal with.
He says he has a mate in a dealership and will ask him if there is a fix for this problem. He's going to let me know, hopefully, tomorrow.
[/quote]

bought a bit of stuff off him over the years aswell and he is sound out....

any news on this i was parked in town this evening on for 2 hours no luck had to get car towed out to crembos r house . thanks crembos r for that

No news yet. He's to email me and I just want to let a few days go as I don't want him to think I'm hassling him. But will defo update everyone with whatever I hear. I'll give him a buzz on Monday, hopefully, there'll be some news then.

A.

Update: I called to In Car Tech. today and he told me that he heard back from someone he knows in America. Subaru apparently have a fix for this problem but you have to go to a dealer to get it done. There is a link on the internet somewhere about this and he is to email it on to me for a read. As America is a bit far away, he said he will try to get in touch with someone he knows here in Galway to see if they know anything about this and can help out.

Issue update: The damn thing failed again on me today (twice). But was working again when i parked it up at home.

Any update on this as mine has just started to do this aswell?

mine was looked and had to be removed was burned out. he was hoping that it might only be a solinoid sticking, but when he looked the system was fooked , back running now

this has started to happen to my car there yesterday , cnut of a thing is only out of warenty 10 days , typical , seems to mostly happen when i park her in the garage

is the fob , operated by radio signal , or infrared ......just out of curiosity

radio signal (I think), the car is '06.
Worse thing about this is, when it's dark and you're fooling about trying to get the lock on the door, and it's p***ing rain and you can't find it!
I guess I'm just not used to using the key.