Tell me it aint so. My keyfob was working this morning, but it required me to press the unlock pad really hard for it to work. So I opened its case and cleaned the black slimy rubber reside and also replaced the battery. Closed it back up, and now it does not work at all. I repeated the process, tried other buttons, and finally came in to search on this forum. Only to find out that others have had this same issue. The summary being that taking the battery out of a keyfob requires a visit to a dealership or locksmith and $50+ in cost. Each of the other threads had their own peculiarity, so I am trying to spell it out as clearly as possible here for others to search and find.

Am I right or just missing something obvious? Because a shortcoming this significant should be a sticky or FAQ warning people not to remove the battery until it is dead dead.

Thanks again for all of your help thus far. I feel like I fell down the H3 rabbit hole with this recent purchase!

 

More searching has revealed that the BCM may be related to this issue. I am going to dig into the passenger floor board kick panel area and see what I can shake loose. Also, this is a sunroof vehicle. so who knows what drenching the interior has seen in its past life.

I'm going to put a few hours into this, but no money. If I don't fix it, I'll go with an aftermarket setup with remote start. which means I have to get smart on that anti theft bypass thing-a-mabob. did someone say rabbit hole?

 

Changing the battery shouldn't involve anything special that would require a trip to a locksmith, unless something got broke in the process. Slimy residue doesn't sound normal - what was it and how did you clean it? It's possible you could have damaged something on the remote PCB if you cleaned too vigorously.

It's never a bad idea to measure the resting voltage of the old battery and compare it to the new one before you put it all back back together. I've found once a button cell gets below 3.0V in a remote that performance starts to suffer. Others will say the cell isn't dead until its down to 2.7V. Full voltage is 3.2-3.3V

 

I will check the old key fob battery. I see what you mean in that the old battery could not have been bad after all.

I cleaned the contacts with my shirt, so a cloth. No chemicals. I do that same process on my bedroom wireless light controller. Any device that uses these rubber membranes to "close" a switch circuit always leave behind deposits as that rubber breaks down. it takes a while, but it happens. That residue becomes an insulator between the PCB copper and the carbon pad on the membrane. You can even order replacement carbon pads that you trim down and glue. I'm big on keeping old junk alive. Too much of America is disposable everything. /nerd moment.

 

Ok. A gentle wipe with a soft cloth should be fine. I would normally use a q-tip with isopropyl to clean the contacts for something like that. You want to be careful about touching the components on the circuit board as they can be sensitive to static electricity.

Any chance you have a SERV TPM message in the dash, or see the flat tire warning light flash then go steady when you start the engine? If you have those problems and the keyless entry is not working, that's generally a sign that the BCM can't "hear" the radio signals from the TPMS sensors or keyless remote (both systems operate on 315MHz and the BCM only has one antenna to receive and process the signals).

Some have had success fixing these issues by using CRC electronics cleaner to clean the antenna and wire harness connectors at the BCM and/or the connectors in the main harness leading up to the BCM, or by cleaning various grounds, or by cleaning the circuit board in the BCM using electronics cleaner like CRC or Deoxit.

Other's have "fixed" it by installing aftermarket alarms with new remotes and ignoring the TPMS warnings.

 

No extra lights are lit up in the cluster. That's one thing this truck does have going for it.
But I do still plan to check out that BCM area.

The key fob worked fine when I bought the truck 2 weeks ago. So frustrating. On the plus side, remote start is a reason to delete the anit-theft ignition switch deal that I have read can flake out and keep you from starting your own car.

 

I've now replaced numerous times key Fob batteries. No need to go deeper. Check battery polarity is correct and clean key Fob pcb with electronics cleaner or light rubbing alcohol. Make certain battery is removed. Reverse procedure of tear down. Double check battery polarity and # b4 closure.

CR2032 battery

Avoid cheap batteries. I personally use Duracell or energizer.

 

Along with the FOB dilemma which seems to be quite common, our remotes weren't working when we got it.
And the previous owner stated that it had to be done by a dealer with a cost of $100 ea.
I find that hard to swallow at best.
So, after a lot of different programming solutions I found online to no avail, I found the offical one from Delco Remy which is different.
It requires that you first remove the ECM fuse, which I did and for following it's instructions to the T.
But alas, it doesn't work either and so frustrating after following what should be an easy peasy.
I'm now thinking scan tool, which I don't have, but should have an elcheapo for reading codes from ebay, tomorrow.
Has anybody done this with any success?
Any other ideas or solutions?

 

Also watch this might help some small way.

 

The video was informative and for now having to think outside the box I was in, so we shall see, even if it might be an eventual thing on my priority list.
Thanks!