Hello, my car keeps appearing the red key light even though the key is in the car. It won’t detect the key at all after changing the battery & won’t even lock the car. I’ve already done the thing where you push the start button with the key while holding the lock button but it did not work. please please help

 

What year is your car? Which battery did you change, the one in the iKey or the car's main battery? If you mean the iKey battery, check to see if the "new" C2032 battery is good (sometimes they've been sitting on the shelf so long they're dead). And check to see it's the right way up in the key (easy to confuse). Are you able to start the car by putting the key fob in the "port" by the driver's left knee (depending on the year)?

 

It’s a 2009 G37X. I changed the key fob battery. I even put back the only battery because although it wasn’t working in terms of the car detecting it, it was still unlocking the car just not locking it. I am able to start the car once the key is in the port by the drivers left knee. I did the trick where you press the push to start while holding the locking button with the key but still no luck. It happened randomly because earlier in the day it was operating normally

 

That's a weird set of problems with your fob. Unless your car has taken on water or something it seems most likely to be the fob itself. "Unlocking but not locking" sounds like it was failing.

I presume you don't have a 2nd fob to try? It may be time to look into grabbing one somewhere. But research it because it has to be the correct match for your '09. As long as your backup "port" is working at least you can drive the car. And that means the car recognizes the RFID chip embedded in your physical key so if you get a replacement fob I believe you could slip your original physical key into the new fob and keep that backup system intact.

If you go that route you'll need to "register" the new fob to get the iKey stuff working. I'm not familiar with the "trick" you mentioned, is that supposed to be a shortcut to registering? Not sure about that, you might need some additional steps or maybe even a locksmith to help. Let us know what you figure out.

 

Clarify what you mean. Is the light blinking every 1.5sec. or is the light constantly illuminated?

It almost sounds like premature ESCL failure, though, being the car starts with the fob inserted into the keyport, points to something else going on. It could be the amp, BCM, or RKE module- anything at this point. Are you 100% certain the BCM did NOT get wet?

Again, clarify the RED light behaviours so we can narrow it down some.

 

been busy at work, but the light blinks about every 2-3 seconds if i’m not mistaken but i’ll double check when im home. i’m 110% sure the BCM didn’t get wet because last night i was looking and the entire passenger side of the car is fully dry. My biggest question is, if it had been water damage, would it not have just started the problem as soon as the car turned on? i drove it for about 3 days no problem before the problem started.

 

update … i had put the key fob battery on backwards ._. … no further comments … its working fine now