HOW TO HAVE A SHUTDOWN (after selling your car)

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Southernboy
Joined: Thu 07 Oct, 2010 12:39
Posts: 6436

  Z3 roadster 3.0i
Location: Johannesburg

HOW TO HAVE A SHUTDOWN (after selling your car)

Post by Southernboy »

We have all encountered "Sod's Law" at some time... You know...if sh1t is going to happen, it'll always happen when you seriously don't need it to happen...
Having just sold my Z3, I went to lock it this evening...normally I can do it from about 30 meters away...so, pushed the remote lock button...nothing!...walked closer, still nothing...I had one of those "Oh F " moments... went into the garage, checked all the doors were closed correctly, still nought!...Checked the appropriate fuses..all OK there too...Now I'm beginning to really have a shutdown!! The buyer is coming by on Saturday, and the friggin remote central locking has just stopped working....
A quick trawl through the Z3 knowledgebase... and the closest is "how to change the battery"...had a read-up in Bentleys...and one item struck me...the transmittor / receiver is inside the rearview mirror... The new buyer had adjusted the rearview mirror, being a bit of a shorty - maybe something had come undone / disconnected...quick check there, and no...all seems as it should !!!
By this time I'm trying to invent new curses and obscenities to express my frustration as I walk up and down the garage trying to imagine where the fault may be....nothing enlightening comes to mind...
Back to Bentleys...One of the opening sentences suggests checking the batteries in the actual key...so more out of desperation than expectancy, I get a screwdriver out, remove the 2 little screws, pop the cover, and check both batteries with a voltage tester...as expected, they are both very good and functional...put the lot back together within the prescribed time limit to avoid re-coding hassles...and decide to go back out to the car and sit there whilst I think and pray for inspiration... 10 minutes later, and a cuppa tea...I give up and figure I'll have to have the error codes checked etc...I get out the car and decide to give it a last try...'kin thing works!!!!
Obviously the 2 little batteries in the key had "oxidised" and the connectivity there had been broken...so the friggin key wasn't transmitting!!! :head: :head:
All's well that ends well....but the lesson is, the answer to the problem here might be closer to hand than one imagines.... Check the connection of the battery in the key !! :wink:
"Normal is overrated"
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