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HOW TO: Replace key fob case

BrendanP · 14 · 12452

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Offline BrendanP

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I've just replaced the case on the 2nd fob of my partners 2011 FD. As you can see from the photos, the rubber over the buttons starts to break up, and eventually the blade holder splits at which point it becomes unusable. The replacement kit cost £7-99 and includes a new battery. It is an improvement over the 1st kit I used as the two halves of the case are secured with a screw and there is a Hyundai badge to stick over the screw head. With the 1st kit, the twisting force when turning the key caused the case halves to separate so I had to glue them together. I'm hoping the screw will prevent that.

The new kit comes with a blank blade, but as the objective was to save money I re-used the old key blade. First I had to remove the new blade which I did by punching the roll pin out with a tiny hex key bit, just far enough to grab it with a pair of pliers and pull it out. The slot in the new and old key blades don't line up, so I used a needle file to open up the slot in the old blade so that I could press the roll pin back in. In addition to the roll pin I glued the blade in with epoxy.

Now comes the really tedious part of removing the pcb and transponder chip from the old key fob. The original key fob is very tough and glued together, so it won't just snap apart. I had to slowly cut it apart by nibbling away at the plastic using small side-cutters. taking care not to slice into the pcb or transponder. Start at the battery end on the case, eventually enough of the pcb will be exposed so it can slide out. The transponder chip sits in a cavity below where the red LED is positioned, you have to very careful in this area when cutting the case plastic away.

There is a white plastic cap over the transponder chip, this can be levered out to expose the lozenge-shaped chip. This is glued in place so the surrounding plastic has to be carefully cut away. Once the chip is free it can be glued into the new case, and the cap fitted. The pcb can then be laid in position, and the key blade and release button fitted. This is a little fiddly, the spring has one end where the wire is bent inwards, this end goes up inside the button. The other end is bent outwards and locates in a slot in the case moulding. Before snapping the case halves together, the spring has to be tensioned so the blade flicks out when you push the button. Start with the blade in the folded position, then rotate the blade by one full turn before snapping the case halves together.

insert the screw which holds the case halves together and test the key folds properly and flicks out when the button is pressed. Fit the battery, snap the battery cover on, and test the key actually works.

 







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Online Surferdude

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Excellent information.

Hopefully I'll not need it.

Back in the early 2000s I had a company car, Holden Commodore with RCL and couldn't get a blank, non transponder key for it.

So when I went surfing I had to dismantle the key fob before I went in the water, lock the car manually with the key blade and leave the rest of it in the car.
I was able to drill a hole through the top of the blade and slide it on a thong around my neck.
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Offline Shambles

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Splendid post - thanks for the write-up and photos. Great job :goodjob:
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Offline eye30

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To save taking to part etc etc would it be  possible just to replace the key pad or just the half which houses the keypad?
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Offline BrendanP

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It's not so much the crumbling keypad that is the problem, but the blade breaking off. The new fob has a case which snaps together, but the original case is (I find) impossible to split apart without destroying it. It wasn't made to be taken apart.
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Offline eye30

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Ok.

I've a fob which is nearing the point the key pad is nearly through so was interested in your write up.

Will keep in mind if I decide to refurbish but as I've a 2nd key I'm going to start using that.
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Offline The Gonz

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I've seen eBay selling just the rubber inserts, so changing out the whole case can be avoided where unnecessary.
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Offline BrendanP

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If it was just the buttons, I wouldn't bother. The fob looks tatty but still works. Once the key blade breaks off, it becomes useless. This was the second of the two original keys to be repaired, so if you just throw it in a drawer and use the spare key, eventually you can end up with two useless keys. I prefer to repair the key at leisure whilst still having another that works.

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Offline Pnut

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I've just had to do this for both the key fobs that came with the car, the rubber was knackered and the little plastic rods to push on the board had been lost and replaced with bits of chopsticks cut to length and electrical tape holding it all together  :eek:  :D . The blades were fine though, no issues like you show splitting.

I didn't have time to muck around ordering online, so just went and bought them at the local Supercheap Auto shop. Not the cheapest compared to what you guys seem to have access to in the UK but it meant I could just transfer the inners and the blades over directly to the new shell and was good to go. Funny though, one had the shell halves glued together like you mentioned, the other not but it had the transponder glued in place but the 1st one not (or maybe it had come loose). Either way the cap held in place so all good, and there was a link to a handy video on their website showing how to change it all. :goodjob2:

:link: Suits Hyundai, various models, replacement shell & button flip key - 3 buttons, KF330 | Supercheap Auto New Zealand
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Offline Pnut

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I know right?! I would have bought online, but just needed to get them sorted ASAP so took the hit to the wallet and moved on. Next time I'm going down that route...
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Offline GaKu

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I bought rubber pads from aliexpress and just changed them. Looks as good as new.
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Offline sheff30

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Great Post Brendan.
I just replaced the keypad on my key. I followed a video on YouTube that tells you to lever out the old one with a screwdriver - I wouldn't recommend doing this because on my key the frame behind the buttons was permanently fixed in place and levering out this way broke the pin retainers. You can see the pin retainers in the photo showing 3 of them, 1 is still inside the key. It's too late for me now but I wonder if you can carefully cut the old button pad off whilst leaving the frame in place?

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Offline BrendanP

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To be honest, I've never tried removing the button pad on its own. The buttons were starting to split but as long as they still worked I left well alone. It was when the key blade broke off that I decided to fix the fob, because that rendered it unusable. I previously had a Rover 75 where I did replace the case because the split buttons looked awful, but the case was a lot easier to take apart then the Hyundai one.
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