Boxster 987 Key Problem

[marios]

Hi all experts!

I have a bit of a difficult issue in my hands and I'm hoping that one of you may be able to help! I recently imported my 987 from the US. Unfortunately, the shippers somehow managed to smash the plastic bit of my key up! I bought a brand new spare key on eBay, carefully swapped the plastic bits to my key, but for some reason it won't work now! Is there some kind of frequency difference between US & UK cars or is there a different reason? Any ideas?

Many thanks,
Marios

[Popolou]

Do the electronics still work?

Pops

[ChrisG89]

The spare key on my 997 is smashed up, the key still works, but held together with selotape. I went to my OPC to get a spare case and the parts man said you have to buy a whole new key, £100, then get it programmed for another £100. Its because there is a chip fixed on the case, so you can't swap the case basically. I'm guessing it the same with your 987, because the key for my 987 was identical as the 997, but with an extra button for the back boot.

[marios]

Thank you both for the response! The key electronics work fine, so it must be the latter! It looks like Porsche are now putting a transponder which is glued to the key, so you cannot get away with it...:-( £200 for a new key!!! Ouch...:-(

[Popolou]

Well yes, the transponder is common knowledge but your post alludes to the remote function.

If you need to start the car, the transponder needs programming. OPCs have quoted varying prices for doing this.

Pops

[NickUSA]

marios said:

Thank you both for the response! The key electronics work fine, so it must be the latter! It looks like Porsche are now putting a transponder which is glued to the key, so you cannot get away with it...:-( £200 for a new key!!! Ouch...:-(

Welcome to the UK!!

Btw I also imported my 987 into the UK from the US.

To answer your original question yes the frequency is different to that of the Euro/UK spec cars. Also if your car has TPMS sensors on the wheels the frequency for those is different too.

If you can get a new case the electronics and the chip aka the pill can be swapped over.

You see them on ebay sometimes:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PORSCHE-3-buttons-remote-key...

That is a new style key head. You would need to swap the key, pill and electronics.

Here is an old style one, albeit it is Euro spec 433MHz (yours is 315Mhz so you will need to swap the electronics and pill):

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PORSCHE-3-BUTTON-REMOTE-ALAR...

btw Did you manage to get your car to pass the import test?

Edited by NickUSA on Thursday 9th June 23:18

[D900SP]

Make sure you have TWO WORKING keys......if you loose the only one, life gets really annoying.

[Scelto]

In your shoes, I'd be pursuing a claim on the shipper's insurance.

[marios]

Hi again guys,

thank you all for the additional comments. As one of you suggested, I'm alredy claiming with my shippers insurance and hopefully I'll get something from them. As for passing the IVA test, the lights were a bit of a nightmare, since we needed to do some re-wiring, but it all worked fine in the end.

It looks like I have no other option, but to take my original key to Porsche, ask them to replace the cracked plastic and re-program. At least, since I have the original keys, they will be able to use my own blade and not take forever to order a new key from Germany. I have to admit though that it's such a shame that they use such poor quality plastics in such good cars. I had a couple of 986s in the past and I have to admit that the 986 keys were much sturdier than the 987 ones!

Thank you all once more,
Marios

[NickUSA]

marios said:

Hi again guys,

thank you all for the additional comments. As one of you suggested, I'm alredy claiming with my shippers insurance and hopefully I'll get something from them. As for passing the IVA test, the lights were a bit of a nightmare, since we needed to do some re-wiring, but it all worked fine in the end.

It looks like I have no other option, but to take my original key to Porsche, ask them to replace the cracked plastic and re-program. At least, since I have the original keys, they will be able to use my own blade and not take forever to order a new key from Germany. I have to admit though that it's such a shame that they use such poor quality plastics in such good cars. I had a couple of 986s in the past and I have to admit that the 986 keys were much sturdier than the 987 ones!

Thank you all once more,
Marios

You don't need to re-wire the lights as they can be changed via the dealer computer. The only ones you need to physically change is the headlight units if you have the xenon lights as the USA units do not have the Euro/UK beam switch.

All the other lights, side markers and rear fog can be altered via a software setting.

[marios]

Thx Nick. I wish I knew that before I ended up doing all the re-wiring...:-(

BTW, I found a key on eBay and I'm ready to buy it, but it has a 997 part number and not a 987 one. Does anyone know if a 997 key can work for a 987?

Thanks!

[marios]

Hey NickUSA, sorry to be such a pain, but I really need your help/advice. Porsche appear to be unable to provide me with a key on time, so I may need to exchange the plastic casing for the one I have. I'm struggling to see how to exchange the "pill" you refer to though. That looks to be glued on the plastic cover and I'm afraid to try and take it out, just in case I break it. Is there any clever way to do it? Thanks!

[jonamv8]

Hi - resurrecting an old thread here.

I have this problem and I think it's because I haven't managed to transfer over the transponder, aka the pill?

You say it's glued to the case, what's the best way of swapping this out?

Any help appreciated

[richard1466]

This may help you

http://www.planet-9.com/reviews/electronics/p376-r...

[jonamv8]

cheers - sorted