On Wed, 14 May 2014 22:52:31 -0400, Nil
wrote:

On 14 May 2014, "Pico Rico" wrote in
alt.home.repair:

look in the owners manual to see if there are instructions for
programming a new key yourself. With my old Ford, I got a couple
keys at the dealer (not sure of cost, but not what you are
quoting) and programmed them myself. Something like "put
programmed key in, turn key on three times, put new key in, turn
key on and leave it, scratch your left ball three times . . ."

I tried that. I bought an unprogrammed key off eBay which came with
specific instructions for my car (a Mercury Grand Marquis.) I never
could get it to work.

The problem with my car, a 2000 Toyota, is that the fob receiver is
broken, and I can't get the system to go into programming mode. It also
would drain the battery. I bought a second hand one from Ebay, (40
instead of 350 dollars) and it appears to also be broken, in a different
way. It doesn't drain the battery AT ALL (even though normally some
current has to be used waiting for the driver to push the button on the
fob)

So it's possible that another part in the car is preventing the key from
getting programmed, though of course I'm not saying that's what'
happening.