Experiencing issues with your Bmw Fob Key can be frustrating, especially when you think a simple battery replacement should solve the problem. Many BMW owners find themselves in a situation where they replace the battery in their BMW fob key, only to discover it still doesn’t work. This situation can lead to confusion and unnecessary trips to the dealership. Let’s delve into why this might be happening and explore potential solutions to get your bmw fob key functioning again.
One common scenario involves replacing the BMW fob key battery with a fresh, over-the-counter CR2032 battery, only to find that the key remains unresponsive. You might even check the voltage of the new battery with a multimeter and see a reading around 3.0V or higher, seemingly indicating a healthy battery. However, despite these readings, your bmw fob key may still fail to operate.
This was exactly the experience of one BMW owner who encountered this perplexing issue. After replacing their bmw fob key battery with two different, brand-new Sony CR2032 batteries, the key remained stubbornly inactive. Seeking a solution, they visited a BMW dealership, where a service advisor presented a few options, all involving potential diagnostic fees and expensive replacements. The dealership offered to try a BMW branded CR2032 battery for a nominal fee before suggesting costly diagnostic procedures and a potential bmw fob key replacement priced at around $650, on top of diagnostic costs. The total could have escalated to over $1100 if the diagnostic was required and pointed to a faulty key fob.
Faced with these potentially high costs, the BMW owner opted to try the BMW branded CR2032 battery, priced at $9. Surprisingly, this simple switch to a BMW-supplied battery resolved the issue immediately. The bmw fob key sprang back to life, functioning perfectly. Upon inquiring with the parts department, it was revealed that this is a surprisingly common occurrence. The parts specialist mentioned that they encounter customers facing this exact scenario – fresh, aftermarket batteries failing to work while BMW batteries succeed – at least once a month.
This anecdotal evidence suggests that BMW fob keys can be sensitive to the type of CR2032 battery used. While generic CR2032 batteries might meet the voltage specifications, there could be subtle differences in internal resistance, discharge curves, or other factors that make them incompatible with the BMW fob key‘s electronics. Although technically a CR2032 battery should be universally interchangeable, in practice, especially with sophisticated car key fobs, this may not always be the case.
Therefore, if you find yourself struggling with a non-working bmw fob key after a battery replacement, even with a new CR2032, consider trying a genuine BMW battery before resorting to more expensive diagnostic procedures or key fob replacements. While it may seem counterintuitive that a branded battery would make a difference, this experience, and the dealership’s parts department’s confirmation, suggests it can be a simple and cost-effective first step in resolving bmw fob key battery issues. It’s a small price to pay to potentially avoid hundreds of dollars in unnecessary service costs and get your bmw fob key working reliably again.
