Not the Fob battery but the main battery.

My other key which is a brand new key has same issues . I can see the led light up well on both keys along with seeing that they are both activating the Red Light sensor on top of the dash.

I'll order the switch today and install when i get it and see if that cures the issues.

 

I've never heard of the fob's programming giving out and needing to be "re-programmed" while their failure given their age, is common. though i suppose its possible.

the key's lighting up is the sign that the fob battery is functional, while the inwards are not. i suspect the key fobs innards are bad, and will require replacement. if you open them up, ( which you may have already ) you'll easily see the electronics are not that robust. its just a circuit board with many potential failure points.

my bet is that the ignition switch is having nothing whatsoever to do with the key fobs. plus, a new 15 year old key! does nothing to ensure the innards are fully functional, even if the battery inside is.

 

If the system thinks the key is in it, which it does based upon the error message, the alarm won't arm. Try it with the key in the ignition sometime and see for yourself. $5 says that your issues will be resolved by a new good quality electrical switch. My key was near impossible to remove when my first switch failed and I saw some truly whacky symptoms when the crap knockoff I installed wasn't working right. Swapped in the Porsche part from Pelican and I've not had an issue since to include having the car sit for two weeks sans tender. The switch can cause a ton of issues so swap that first and then troubleshoot what's left if anything.

I opened up the crap knock off switch after swapping it out. There's nothing inside but brass fingers and wipers, no discrete electronics that I could see. How it fails and how the knock off was so screwy I don't know but the effects are pretty pronounced and very common on these cars.

 

thats wierd. do you think the 9$ amazon part is the "knock-off"? as thats the one that has worked as a replacement for me, for several years now.

the only thing i remember happening when i knew the switch was going south, was the cdr23 would go on/off at will, without my help. that was annoying and a quick a swap cured that issue. but i never had any reluctance from the lock mech to insert, or remove the key.

 

Common reported symptom is the key being difficult to remove, it's what I found when I searched the issue for my own car. Pelican sells two switches, one cheap, the other not so much. I've now purchased BOTH and guess which one worked properly? I'd want a proper replacement part and while I love Amazon I see knock offs of various things sold often. The price difference is small and while that part might work fine it might also strand you if its not and leaves half your electricals on. My big wake up, aside from the odd whirring key out and dead batteries, was my auto wipers running while I was 20ft from the car with a key in my pocket when it began to rain.

This part isn't THAT hard to replace but in my case it meant standing on my head with my feet in the backseat with a flashlight in my teeth after removing a duct and a vent. Fun it wasn't and doing it a second time sucked! At least the second time there wasn't locktite to deal with. So, spend the extra couple of coins to get a BRANDED part be it VW or Porsche. Not something that just got recreated in China and sold for a pittance as the pita factor if it isn't right isn't worth it. I opened up the junk one I had and saw nothing obvious wrong, poor design I'd guess. Not sure how I could possibly be clearer here, this isn't a controversial subject I'd think.

I look forward to the op getting back on the road and bet this does it as it did for me...

 

no, it isn't controversial at all! i just wondered if for what was then SIX bucks i got the knockoff part. it would stand to reason, but all brands are marked up even if the part IS an oem, just not branded. not important, was just curious. still i cant imagine my ever needing to swap out the ignition switch again. it's not like an accumulator or something lol. anyway way.. doesn't matter! cheers.

 

"Success".........Got er Done!!!

I bought the original Audi Part ( Has there logos on the part as the original i took out. I didn't want to take a chance on an inferior part

$30 from Pelican Parts

Well it certainly didn't take me 20 minutes.
I am 6'2" tall around 240 and being that my arms and fingers are long i found that if i unbolted the seat and left it plugged in and just lifted it backwards and folded it offered me a bunch more room for my body to maneuver under the dash. I found that the loctite /paint smeared over the tiny slotted flat head screws proved to be the worst challenged i encountered. I used a 90 degree right angle metal fabricators scribe and a mirror to break off the sealant put over the screws Once i got the screws out it all went smoothly. I can't thank everyone enough for all the helpful info and links with pics that were made. I wish we could all get together and i could buy you all a beer or 2 to celebrate. cheers..........Geno

 

congrats! love it when the small stuff gets tackled. rep pts for killin it yerself.

at least ya got one day delivery from pelican

 

I'm about the same size as you so I know it makes these type of repairs harder= nice to see it worked out.

 

Same size here too, perhaps slightly fluffier... Lay the seat all the way back, put your ankles on the headrest, slide under the dash. Yeah, it's NO fun! Very happy to hear this solved the issue, your symptoms were pretty much the same as mine and it was certainly worth the $30 shot to try and make it right before going deeper :-)

 

I did mine too...it took about a hour and 15 minutes...mostly to remove side vent and stuff...

If it was a Toyota or Mazda Miata, there would have been a access panal left of the steering wheel and it would have taken 10 minutes to replace...

I used a dental scraper with right angled point to remove red painted screws...literally less than 5 minutes to remove and maybe 5 to replace.

 

Here is what I ordered. Works fine on my 2002.