phil the greek
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Having got totally fed up with my keyfobs falling to bits with insulating tape keeping them together, I felt there must be another way of renewing your key without giving 200 quid to your local Honda dealer. There is. Read on:
I made my first one a few months back and it's still very solid, so when it came to doing the spare, I decided to share the love.
To make yourself a new key, you will need the following:
Pair of pliers, a candle, matches, Stanley knife, small optical screwdrivers, pair of tweezers, and optionally a new battery (Panasonic CR1616 I bought 2 on ebay for £2.50). Of course you need your old knackered key and a new key blank which I bought on ebay for £5.50.
First, take the old key apart, being careful not to lose any of the bits inside it.
Now separate the two halves of the new key fob, after first unscrewing the Philips head screw from the key blade.
You will realise that the key blade is firmly embedded in the plastic of the key fob. First of all, take a Stanley knife and start exposing some of the key as shown:
Once you’ve exposed the metal as shown, time to get burnin’!
Hold the blank key blade with some pliers, with the key blade over the candle flame.
After about a minute, gently pull the keyfob away from the blade – they should part fairly easily.
Pull the key blade so the metal that you exposed earlier comes out first, then the rest should follow.
Now get your old keyblade, hold with some pliers and start heating it. As it heats up, hold the new plastic keyfob next to the blade and put gentle pressure on the blade through the pliers. As the blade heats up, the fob will soften and allow you to push the blade in. You can put one end of the tee of the blade into the hole, then carry on heating until the whole tee of your old keyblade has been accepted into the new keyfob. Try and line the blade up so that the hole for the Philips screw lines up with the hole in the new fob.
Now get the old electric switch bit from the old keyfob
If you want to renew the battery as a precaution, unclip the sides of this switch and put a new cell inside
Place the switch unit into the new keyfob
In the old fob you’ll notice a small white plastic thing in its own enclosure
Using a small screwdriver, gently persuade this bit of plastic out. Underneath there is something that looks like a dead maggot: is it a chip? Is it important? Dunno, but I slotted it into the new fob just in case.
Now snap the two halves of the new keyfob together and screw the Philips head screw into the old keyblade.
And with any luck you should now have a fully functioning key without a keyblade which flops about uselessly with black tape keeping it from falling apart. No, it might not be as pretty as a brand new key from Honda for £200, but for less than a tenner it sure beats the old disintegrating keyfob.
Check it all works, wipe the soot off with a cloth and Robert’s yer Mum’s brother!!!
I made my first one a few months back and it's still very solid, so when it came to doing the spare, I decided to share the love.
To make yourself a new key, you will need the following:
Pair of pliers, a candle, matches, Stanley knife, small optical screwdrivers, pair of tweezers, and optionally a new battery (Panasonic CR1616 I bought 2 on ebay for £2.50). Of course you need your old knackered key and a new key blank which I bought on ebay for £5.50.
First, take the old key apart, being careful not to lose any of the bits inside it.
Now separate the two halves of the new key fob, after first unscrewing the Philips head screw from the key blade.
You will realise that the key blade is firmly embedded in the plastic of the key fob. First of all, take a Stanley knife and start exposing some of the key as shown:
Once you’ve exposed the metal as shown, time to get burnin’!
Hold the blank key blade with some pliers, with the key blade over the candle flame.
After about a minute, gently pull the keyfob away from the blade – they should part fairly easily.
Pull the key blade so the metal that you exposed earlier comes out first, then the rest should follow.
Now get your old keyblade, hold with some pliers and start heating it. As it heats up, hold the new plastic keyfob next to the blade and put gentle pressure on the blade through the pliers. As the blade heats up, the fob will soften and allow you to push the blade in. You can put one end of the tee of the blade into the hole, then carry on heating until the whole tee of your old keyblade has been accepted into the new keyfob. Try and line the blade up so that the hole for the Philips screw lines up with the hole in the new fob.
Now get the old electric switch bit from the old keyfob
If you want to renew the battery as a precaution, unclip the sides of this switch and put a new cell inside
Place the switch unit into the new keyfob
In the old fob you’ll notice a small white plastic thing in its own enclosure
Using a small screwdriver, gently persuade this bit of plastic out. Underneath there is something that looks like a dead maggot: is it a chip? Is it important? Dunno, but I slotted it into the new fob just in case.
Now snap the two halves of the new keyfob together and screw the Philips head screw into the old keyblade.
And with any luck you should now have a fully functioning key without a keyblade which flops about uselessly with black tape keeping it from falling apart. No, it might not be as pretty as a brand new key from Honda for £200, but for less than a tenner it sure beats the old disintegrating keyfob.
Check it all works, wipe the soot off with a cloth and Robert’s yer Mum’s brother!!!