BMW E46 2000 Key Fob Dead

BillHicksRIP · 10 Mar 2010 at 23:22

I think I accidentally sat on my key fob during a long meal and managed to drain it's battery. It wouldn't unlock the doors, and when I used the key, the alarm went off until I'd turned the igintion on. It's a 2000 E46 - does this model use a rechargable key, and if not, what sort of pain is the dealer going to inflict on me?

Thanks.

BillHicksRIP · 10 Mar 2010 at 23:37

Thanks for the impressively quick response. It looks much like this one except the words LOCK are written inside the inner rim surrounding the BMW badge, rather than on the outer plastic as shown in this picture.

BillHicksRIP · 11 Mar 2010 at 17:14

Thanks for the replies. Drove it for 30 mins earlier and it's still dead. Have a 4 hour drive tomorrow so if nothing's doing after that, then I'll have to think about something else. I bought the car 3rd hand about 5 year ago and have only ever had one fob key. I've read elsewhere that the key might need pairing with the car again if I did indeed sit on the buttons for an extended period of time. Don't know if that's applicable for me.

BillHicksRIP · 14 Mar 2010 at 13:09

Hi Mougabi. Saw that advice elsewhere and was coming on here to post that it does work. Closed all the doors, turned to position 1 five times quickly, took the key out, held down the door unlock button and pressed the lock button 3 times, and the door locks opened. Couldn't believe it when it actually worked! All working fine now.

Thank you very much for the replies.