stong

2007 RS4:
Had a really bad day and didn't pay attention to the key in the wash.
When I took it out of the washing machine, the red light was constantly on. I took out the battery and tried my best to dry it out. Now with new batteries, there is no red light anymore. The immobilizer chip still works (starts car), but the remote buttons don't work anymore. Got a hold of some small torx screwdrivers and opened it up to clean out any gunk (it was clean).

So my question short of buying a new key from the dealer ($300?) - If I buy an ebay B7 key ($25) and swap the IC board, program the remote via the manual (I don't have VAG-COM), will this get it working again?

Newtdog73

Do you have an NGP near you? You may be able to have them program it for you. I had to buy a spare key when i bought my car and it was about 300 after the dealer programmed it.

stong

Had to look up NGP - New German Performance?
I live near NYC, but my key died in the DC area and looks like I drove past NGP Aberdeen yesterday. Good to know another source anyway. Thanks.

sakimano

simple solution to try whenever you drop your phone/key etc. in water

1. dry item as much as you can physically (blow water off, paper towel etc.)

2. get a bowl full of dry uncooked rice

3. submerge item in rice for a couple of days

The rice is a desicate and will draw the moisture out of your item.

I once dropped my phone in a river - rice fixed it
my friend was pushed into a pool with his iphone in his pocket - rice fixed it
I once found someone's phone in a melting snowbank, and it had been there for 2 months - rice fixed it

I have known of about 10 people to try this, and it worked for everyone. It's pretty incredible.

stong

Thanks - I know, but have need tried the rice bowl.
I was away from home and a spare key, so couldn't let it sit in a bowl for long.
I'm trying the $25 IC board swap method. I'll post how it goes once it gets here.

sakimano

so you are not going to try the rice? I would try a $3 bag of rice first before buying a new board.

ELEVENS

I'm batting .500 on the rice thing but for fiddy cents worth of rice, it can't hurt to give to try. It might depend on the purity (more specifically, conductivity) of the liquid that got it wet in the first place. Wet conductive liquid, or dry conductive residue, could spell doom to an uncoated circuit board.

sakimano

strange decision for a black guy (you) to make an Asian racist comment.

BADRS4

Racist? Really??? Guess you're not really a car guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ricer

Kris Hansen

Dude, YOU brought up rice. It's a bad as African Americans putting the N word in songs and then complaining when white people repeat the lyrics..