hi i had the same problem .bought one on the internet.it is the same unit as yours.i had booked my car into my saab dealers for a mot asked if they would program it to the car.and they did it for free.hope this is of some help to you.W :thumbsup:

 

Thanks for the reply. Just phoned a couple of main dealers; one wanted £60 to program the fob and the other wanted £35. Seems ridiculous for what i guess would only be a few minutes work. It's £90 for a new key, fob and programming!!

Is it only a main dealer who can program it or would one of these auto electrical places have the ability to do it somehow?

 

hi is there not something in manual about programming existing or new keys ? i am sure i saw this in my old manual or am i going mad ?

 

Pablo,

If I was in your position, (and I couldn't find anybody who would program the fob for a reasonable price - or include it as part of other work carried out), I would purchase a replacement Fob, (presumably brand new, clean and tidy), and then swap over your original circuit board into the new Fob Case, (after first swapping the defective micro switch), and you will then have a 'new' looking remote Fob - and hopefully fully operative!

I haven't taken my Fob to pieces, (as of yet), as I am fortunate to have both the Fob as well as the Key, (with built in remote), so I am not in a position to validate my suggestion, at this point in time, but I guess the main issue is to maintain the 'relationship' between your original Fob and your vehicle otherwise you are left with two Fobs that are of no use whatsoever!

I am presuming the 'relationship' is retained in non volatile memory, (within the remote control circuitry), otherwise it would be lost as soon as you changed the battery!

Alternatively, the remote control circuit may have a fixed serial number which has to be 'married' to your vehicles management system and no two Key Fobs have the same serial number - for obvious reasons!

Although I haven't examined the internals of the Fob I would hazard a guess that as long as the Fob is not 'hermetically' sealed, (so you can get to the circuit board without damaging the casing), and that the circuit board is not submerged in resin, (thus preventing you from accessing the components and the soldered joints), the defective microswitch should be swappable - as long as you have some reasonable soldering skills.

Perhaps I am suggesting the utilisation of a sledge hammer to crack a rather small nut!

Regards,

Martian.

 

Can't help with the reprogramming, but this looks very similar to the design (fault) of the key on my old Citroen Xantia. The moulding line along the the length probably hides the join, and with the Cit it was simply a matter of carefully prising the two halves apart (no hidden catches to find) and taking the board out. The design of the circuit board has the microswtch at rightangles to it, so every time you pressed the fob, it exerted pressure on the join between the switch and the board, eventually causing the soldered joint to fail. VERY fine soldering skills needed, but I also used tiny bits of plastic to buttress the back of the switch to absorb the pressure, spread the load, and take the strain off the solder joint.

Someone's going to tell me that the Saab key is completely different.

 

Dragging up an old thread for my first post, I've just bought a 1998 9-3 as a fixer-upper paid £480 and so far nearly all is well.
Anyway, one minor problem I have is the key-fob, one of the micro switches (locking) wasn't working. I opened up the fob to find a previous owner had damaged it somehow and instead of re-soldering the switch, had tried to fix it with what looks like superglue!!!!.
Is it possible to buy a new switch from anywhere as it looks like a cheap fix, the circuitry still works as the car will lock if I touch the 2 terminals with pliers.
Any help will be met with a big hug.

Ta muchly in advance.