spare key

[Menoporsche]

I understood the blade is cheap, it’s all the reprogramming/ coding that costs. 
 

Above points are fair and I haven’t seen them here before. We assume it’s Porsche tax but the costs are comparable to cheaper marques.  And we know it’s not just monopoly abuse as the indies can’t do it much cheaper either. 

[Paul P]

10 hours ago, Spuggy said:

I have also been referred to this supplier.  Having bought the cut key, what would it cost to have it programmed to the car?  I have two keys but one seems to have lost its link to the immobiliser..it does everything else upto and including lighting up all the dashboard lights.  Q  Can this be repaired/reprogrammed?  Spug

The key/blade works the physical locks.  Door, ignition, glovebox.  Purer mechanical. 
 

the key head contains 2 chunks of electronics. 
 

one is the remote function (open close  etc ). That’s one thing that the car needs to be taught. If everything else is fine, this is a a connivence.
 

the other thing the key head contains the immobiliser pill. A passive component that responds when the coil attached to the ignition barrel causes it to respond with a code.  That code is known to the immobiliser.  The car needs to be taught about this code as well.
 

 Thus the mechanical blade turns the barrel.  That powers all the things that need to light up.  The dme then check the code returned from the immobiliser pill against its stored values.  If it matches then the dme lets the engine fire and run. 
 

so full key is three parts.  Physical blade, software immobiliser, software remote open and close. 
 

there doesn’t seem to a a 10 quid option for this.  If a 35 quid repair on a key that doesn’t work remote doesn’t fix it then it’s 300 from A few indies or 350 from opc of you want it all. 
 

as others have said this matches what Ford, Vauxhall and Toyota charge for “a new key” 

[Spuggy]

Thanks Paul,  Spug

[Bigfatfish]

Am I the only one who buys key insurance if I buy a car with one key and ‘loses’ a set of keys a few months later? £20 added to car insurance, no affect on no claims. Normally a policy covers a whole household so you get a new house and garage key done at same time. 

[tonyplymouth]

Has anyone tried cloning a working key to produce a "service" key using "Silca" cloning technology as used by car-locksmiths?  Italian company, so may be mafioso ........  

Copying the immobiliser chip in a working key apparently is easy enough; the data on the chip is fixed to the key and car (immobiliser, alarm and DME) and is easily read and copied onto a clone chip.  (The chip is actually a tubular glass pill, about 2mm diameter and 13mm long, containing the data chip and a wire communications coil.)

Cloning/duplicating the remote (radio) locking part of the fob is a different order of magnitude of problem as the coding changes each time the remote is used.  

Then the cloned immobiliser chip can be put in a plain mechanical key fob to provide a duplicate working key which will allow the doors to be opened, turn on the ignition and start the car.  This doesn't provide remote locking of course. 

I am aware of one impecunious enthusiast who has adopted a controversial only-one-key solution for his budget 986.  Only one key came with the car; this would start the car and lock the car but the remote didn't work.  So he removed the (working) immobiliser chip from his key fob and glued it under the ignition switch surround trim on the facia (thus hidden and protected), near enough to activate the immobiliser transponder coil located around the switch whenever the ignition was switched on.  Now all the time he and his wife use plain mechanical keys (with empty fobs), cut for just a few pounds each, just like the good old days!  And they have several spares too.  Apparently he informed his insurers of this arrangement and they were not concerned "in view of the (low) insured value of the car and as it has a soft top anyway".

Overall, thinking about it, this car probably isn't much more vulnerable to theft than any other similar aged 986 if the car is locked using the mechanical key.  Obviously someone knowing that the immobiliser had been compromised, having sufficient detailed knowledge of the 986 electrical system, and knowing how to gain access to the back of the ignition switch, could "hot start" this car eventually, but this would take time and be almost impossible to do without activating the alarm in the process. 

For comment and discussion ..........

[TomGW]

My 2003 car still has the original 3 keys, 2x remote keys plus the valet key. However, one of the remote keys is missing the remote components - the battery, board and buttons. While not necessary at the moment I would buy another full remote key but would prefer a more robust key, similar to the more modern Porsche keys, if that was possible. Alternatively, if a remote fob could be programmed to match (or car programmed) that would suffice. 
Is any if this possible?

[½cwt]

The original keys are pretty robust if not the big folding blade blocks we are used to today.  After market copies do tend to split around the flexible part of the button moulding.  A set of electronics for the key head and programming it is still £250-300.

[Rich2508]

On 11/9/2021 at 3:12 AM, Bigfatfish said:

Am I the only one who buys key insurance if I buy a car with one key and ‘loses’ a set of keys a few months later? £20 added to car insurance, no affect on no claims. Normally a policy covers a whole household so you get a new house and garage key done at same time. 

Yes I have done this as well, I have one remote key and one valet key so if I lost the remote one I could still get about until the insurance covers the replacement. Policy I have covers up to £650