keyfob locking distance?
#1
10-27-2006, 09:59 PM
keyfob locking distance?
The remote opening/locking feature on my 01 C4 only works from approximately 15 feet - is this about average?
It's not a big deal but there are times would be nice to have some more distance. Sometimes I'll forget if I locked the car and have to walk back or when (from my office window) I see people pressing their noses against the window to look into the car I could reset the alarm as a reminder to back up. The remote on my Lexus dd easily works from 75 yards or more.
It's not a big deal but there are times would be nice to have some more distance. Sometimes I'll forget if I locked the car and have to walk back or when (from my office window) I see people pressing their noses against the window to look into the car I could reset the alarm as a reminder to back up. The remote on my Lexus dd easily works from 75 yards or more.
#4
10-28-2006, 12:37 AM
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#5
10-28-2006, 08:59 AM
This is intentional on porsche's side.... Apparently a marketing decision, one they went with on the Cayenne and took a lot of heat from soccer moms who want to unlock the car from a distance away. They fixed it in recent ones. As for the 996, you can hack it to go further, I've seen it on some websites, but I don't recall which.
#6
10-28-2006, 11:11 AM
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#8
10-28-2006, 12:25 PM
And do not leave your cell phone ON in the car as it will interfere with the reception of the key remote. It took me awhile to figure this out because at times my remote will not work at all, standing there pushing the damn button and nothing happens (new battery too). Then one day decided to take my phone with me and damn remote works fine. Put the phone back into the pocket underneath the CD tray and confirmed the remote will not lock. Go figure.
#10
10-30-2006, 10:27 AM
Originally Posted by GForce83
Did you guys miss this?
He has given you the links to fix this. It is a TSB!
#11
10-30-2006, 05:54 PM
Allow me to save you guys some time and confusion...
I started out with about 1-2 foot of range. I literally had to hold the remote next to the driver's side a pillar to make it lock and unlock. I thought I needed a new battery for the remote.
I'll save you the time and trouble of reading those articles.
Here goes:
Slid the sun visor off it's mounting post. It just slides on and off. Give it a slight tug as it's only held on by friction.
With your fingernails, remove the plastic cover from the metal plate that the visor mounting post is attached to.
With a 4mm allen, remove the two bolts and remove the whole visor mounting piece.
Starting from the top of the a pillar, pull the A pillar cover off and work your way to the bottom. It's held in by snap locks, so you'll need to give it a bit of a tug.
Now the wire loom is exposed. The loom is covered with a black mesh material that is held together with Velcro. Starting from the top, open the mesh till you see a white wire. This is your remote antenna. It looks like any other antenna wire you would see on the back of a stereo, etc... Continue undoing the velcro until the white wire turns black. This is the antenna cover. All the wires in the loom are held together with tape. No need to take the tape off. Just slip the white portion of the antenna wire from out of the tape. Bend the white portion of the antenna out, so that you can reattach the Velcro cover over the wire loom, but leaving the white portion of the antenna wire exposed. Make sure the velcro cover is reattached all the way to the top. The wire loom should look exactly the way it was when you found it, except for the white portion of the antenna sticking out of it now.
Put the whole loom back into place. It is held there by velcroe as well. You can leave the white antenna wire running next to the loom. No need to tape it as far as I can tell.
Give it a test to make sure it's working. Reverse the process and put the A pillar cover back together and reinstalling the visor mount and visor.
Apparently, that velcro mesh wire cover has some sort of metallic weave that reduces reception. Just exposing the wire significantly improves performance. The tech bulletins call for shortening the wire and some even call for extending and relocating the wire. Phooey on that. I kept it simple and it works great.
No need to cut wires, extend wires, solder, or tape. I'm not saying that going the extra mile and doing what the websites suggested won't net you an extra five or ten feet. However, my method takes ten minutes, is completely reversible, involves no specials skills or tools, and will greatly improve the range. I'm pleased as punch if it works within ten feet and now I've got close to forty feet.
So I went from about 2 feet to about 35-40 feet. Hallelujah. I have the remote top and it would drive me crazy before as the remote signal would interrupt and the top would not go up/down properly.
Love to hear from other people who try this. You have nothing to lose. My remote is going on 5 years old and has the same battery. I am going to swap the batteries to see if that doesn't improve on this futher, which I'm sure it will.
I'm take positive rep donations, so feel free to send some my way if you feel inclined
I started out with about 1-2 foot of range. I literally had to hold the remote next to the driver's side a pillar to make it lock and unlock. I thought I needed a new battery for the remote.
I'll save you the time and trouble of reading those articles.
Here goes:
Slid the sun visor off it's mounting post. It just slides on and off. Give it a slight tug as it's only held on by friction.
With your fingernails, remove the plastic cover from the metal plate that the visor mounting post is attached to.
With a 4mm allen, remove the two bolts and remove the whole visor mounting piece.
Starting from the top of the a pillar, pull the A pillar cover off and work your way to the bottom. It's held in by snap locks, so you'll need to give it a bit of a tug.
Now the wire loom is exposed. The loom is covered with a black mesh material that is held together with Velcro. Starting from the top, open the mesh till you see a white wire. This is your remote antenna. It looks like any other antenna wire you would see on the back of a stereo, etc... Continue undoing the velcro until the white wire turns black. This is the antenna cover. All the wires in the loom are held together with tape. No need to take the tape off. Just slip the white portion of the antenna wire from out of the tape. Bend the white portion of the antenna out, so that you can reattach the Velcro cover over the wire loom, but leaving the white portion of the antenna wire exposed. Make sure the velcro cover is reattached all the way to the top. The wire loom should look exactly the way it was when you found it, except for the white portion of the antenna sticking out of it now.
Put the whole loom back into place. It is held there by velcroe as well. You can leave the white antenna wire running next to the loom. No need to tape it as far as I can tell.
Give it a test to make sure it's working. Reverse the process and put the A pillar cover back together and reinstalling the visor mount and visor.
Apparently, that velcro mesh wire cover has some sort of metallic weave that reduces reception. Just exposing the wire significantly improves performance. The tech bulletins call for shortening the wire and some even call for extending and relocating the wire. Phooey on that. I kept it simple and it works great.
No need to cut wires, extend wires, solder, or tape. I'm not saying that going the extra mile and doing what the websites suggested won't net you an extra five or ten feet. However, my method takes ten minutes, is completely reversible, involves no specials skills or tools, and will greatly improve the range. I'm pleased as punch if it works within ten feet and now I've got close to forty feet.
So I went from about 2 feet to about 35-40 feet. Hallelujah. I have the remote top and it would drive me crazy before as the remote signal would interrupt and the top would not go up/down properly.
Love to hear from other people who try this. You have nothing to lose. My remote is going on 5 years old and has the same battery. I am going to swap the batteries to see if that doesn't improve on this futher, which I'm sure it will.
I'm take positive rep donations, so feel free to send some my way if you feel inclined
Last edited by deputydog95; 10-30-2006 at 06:05 PM.
#13
10-30-2006, 11:40 PM
It is all documented with pictures on the link above...why do you re-write an already nicely done DIY?
#14
10-30-2006, 11:44 PM
Registered User
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Edina, MN
Age: 49
Posts: 481
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#15
10-30-2006, 11:55 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Minneapolis, Mn
Age: 48
Posts: 16,073
Rep Power: 1069
Originally Posted by deputydog95
Allow me to save you guys some time and confusion...
I started out with about 1-2 foot of range. I literally had to hold the remote next to the driver's side a pillar to make it lock and unlock. I thought I needed a new battery for the remote.
I'll save you the time and trouble of reading those articles.
Here goes:
Slid the sun visor off it's mounting post. It just slides on and off. Give it a slight tug as it's only held on by friction.
With your fingernails, remove the plastic cover from the metal plate that the visor mounting post is attached to.
With a 4mm allen, remove the two bolts and remove the whole visor mounting piece.
Starting from the top of the a pillar, pull the A pillar cover off and work your way to the bottom. It's held in by snap locks, so you'll need to give it a bit of a tug.
Now the wire loom is exposed. The loom is covered with a black mesh material that is held together with Velcro. Starting from the top, open the mesh till you see a white wire. This is your remote antenna. It looks like any other antenna wire you would see on the back of a stereo, etc... Continue undoing the velcro until the white wire turns black. This is the antenna cover. All the wires in the loom are held together with tape. No need to take the tape off. Just slip the white portion of the antenna wire from out of the tape. Bend the white portion of the antenna out, so that you can reattach the Velcro cover over the wire loom, but leaving the white portion of the antenna wire exposed. Make sure the velcro cover is reattached all the way to the top. The wire loom should look exactly the way it was when you found it, except for the white portion of the antenna sticking out of it now.
Put the whole loom back into place. It is held there by velcroe as well. You can leave the white antenna wire running next to the loom. No need to tape it as far as I can tell.
Give it a test to make sure it's working. Reverse the process and put the A pillar cover back together and reinstalling the visor mount and visor.
Apparently, that velcro mesh wire cover has some sort of metallic weave that reduces reception. Just exposing the wire significantly improves performance. The tech bulletins call for shortening the wire and some even call for extending and relocating the wire. Phooey on that. I kept it simple and it works great.
No need to cut wires, extend wires, solder, or tape. I'm not saying that going the extra mile and doing what the websites suggested won't net you an extra five or ten feet. However, my method takes ten minutes, is completely reversible, involves no specials skills or tools, and will greatly improve the range. I'm pleased as punch if it works within ten feet and now I've got close to forty feet.
So I went from about 2 feet to about 35-40 feet. Hallelujah. I have the remote top and it would drive me crazy before as the remote signal would interrupt and the top would not go up/down properly.
Love to hear from other people who try this. You have nothing to lose. My remote is going on 5 years old and has the same battery. I am going to swap the batteries to see if that doesn't improve on this futher, which I'm sure it will.
I'm take positive rep donations, so feel free to send some my way if you feel inclined
I started out with about 1-2 foot of range. I literally had to hold the remote next to the driver's side a pillar to make it lock and unlock. I thought I needed a new battery for the remote.
I'll save you the time and trouble of reading those articles.
Here goes:
Slid the sun visor off it's mounting post. It just slides on and off. Give it a slight tug as it's only held on by friction.
With your fingernails, remove the plastic cover from the metal plate that the visor mounting post is attached to.
With a 4mm allen, remove the two bolts and remove the whole visor mounting piece.
Starting from the top of the a pillar, pull the A pillar cover off and work your way to the bottom. It's held in by snap locks, so you'll need to give it a bit of a tug.
Now the wire loom is exposed. The loom is covered with a black mesh material that is held together with Velcro. Starting from the top, open the mesh till you see a white wire. This is your remote antenna. It looks like any other antenna wire you would see on the back of a stereo, etc... Continue undoing the velcro until the white wire turns black. This is the antenna cover. All the wires in the loom are held together with tape. No need to take the tape off. Just slip the white portion of the antenna wire from out of the tape. Bend the white portion of the antenna out, so that you can reattach the Velcro cover over the wire loom, but leaving the white portion of the antenna wire exposed. Make sure the velcro cover is reattached all the way to the top. The wire loom should look exactly the way it was when you found it, except for the white portion of the antenna sticking out of it now.
Put the whole loom back into place. It is held there by velcroe as well. You can leave the white antenna wire running next to the loom. No need to tape it as far as I can tell.
Give it a test to make sure it's working. Reverse the process and put the A pillar cover back together and reinstalling the visor mount and visor.
Apparently, that velcro mesh wire cover has some sort of metallic weave that reduces reception. Just exposing the wire significantly improves performance. The tech bulletins call for shortening the wire and some even call for extending and relocating the wire. Phooey on that. I kept it simple and it works great.
No need to cut wires, extend wires, solder, or tape. I'm not saying that going the extra mile and doing what the websites suggested won't net you an extra five or ten feet. However, my method takes ten minutes, is completely reversible, involves no specials skills or tools, and will greatly improve the range. I'm pleased as punch if it works within ten feet and now I've got close to forty feet.
So I went from about 2 feet to about 35-40 feet. Hallelujah. I have the remote top and it would drive me crazy before as the remote signal would interrupt and the top would not go up/down properly.
Love to hear from other people who try this. You have nothing to lose. My remote is going on 5 years old and has the same battery. I am going to swap the batteries to see if that doesn't improve on this futher, which I'm sure it will.
I'm take positive rep donations, so feel free to send some my way if you feel inclined