rx6180
Guest
Hi. I'm new here and have registered to help a family member (father) following some fun with a lost key down a drain, an emergency key that was no use, and a 180+ mile round trip to retrieve the said lost key today, with me doing the driving.
Brief as poss, Dad has a '57 reg Altea LX and loves it. He and I are Class 2 truck drivers, and yesterday in Manchester (we are Derby based) at a pick-up, his electronic key flipped out of his pocket, bounced and dropped down a soak-away, and defied all attempts to retrieve it. So intending to get the key on a return trip at a later date, he got me to meet him at the depot on his return last night, with his non-electronic spare key purloined off my mum's key ring.
Trouble was, the non-electronic spare key, never before tried, opened the driver's door okay but instantly set off the alarm, and in the ignition the engine would start for two seconds but then stop again. None of the other doors could be opened and the alarm would not shut up, ever, unless all the doors were closed, no-one was sat inside, and the driver's door was locked again. The handbook suggested you'd got 15 seconds to enter the car and get the key in the ignition before the alarm sounded, but this was not the case.
So, I'm on holiday this week, but had no choice but to take the two of us, armed with magnets, wire coat hangars, torches, Blu-Tac, you name it, plus hi-vis jackets and security passes to get in to the Manchester depot, and go digging down drains to retrieve the electronic key so Dad could get his car off the street back at Derby. We were successful, and following the 4 hour round trip, I tried the electronic key in the Altea's door using the flip-out blade, and once more the alarm sounded instantly, but when the key was put in the ignition and turned, the alarm cancelled and the engine started at once and ran. Panic over.
BUT...my question is, what happened to that 15 seconds grace before the alarm kicks in, and what use is the smaller, none-electronic spare key supplied with the car, if it will only open one door, but the alarm screams at you all the time and the engine won't run? Does Dad's car have a glitch?
Brief as poss, Dad has a '57 reg Altea LX and loves it. He and I are Class 2 truck drivers, and yesterday in Manchester (we are Derby based) at a pick-up, his electronic key flipped out of his pocket, bounced and dropped down a soak-away, and defied all attempts to retrieve it. So intending to get the key on a return trip at a later date, he got me to meet him at the depot on his return last night, with his non-electronic spare key purloined off my mum's key ring.
Trouble was, the non-electronic spare key, never before tried, opened the driver's door okay but instantly set off the alarm, and in the ignition the engine would start for two seconds but then stop again. None of the other doors could be opened and the alarm would not shut up, ever, unless all the doors were closed, no-one was sat inside, and the driver's door was locked again. The handbook suggested you'd got 15 seconds to enter the car and get the key in the ignition before the alarm sounded, but this was not the case.
So, I'm on holiday this week, but had no choice but to take the two of us, armed with magnets, wire coat hangars, torches, Blu-Tac, you name it, plus hi-vis jackets and security passes to get in to the Manchester depot, and go digging down drains to retrieve the electronic key so Dad could get his car off the street back at Derby. We were successful, and following the 4 hour round trip, I tried the electronic key in the Altea's door using the flip-out blade, and once more the alarm sounded instantly, but when the key was put in the ignition and turned, the alarm cancelled and the engine started at once and ran. Panic over.
BUT...my question is, what happened to that 15 seconds grace before the alarm kicks in, and what use is the smaller, none-electronic spare key supplied with the car, if it will only open one door, but the alarm screams at you all the time and the engine won't run? Does Dad's car have a glitch?
