Heh. I found out my Impala has hidden keyholes, and the covers are easy to pop off. A bit annoyign cause you have about 6 seconds after you unlock to stick er in the igntiion or the alarm goes off, but the car is usable. I'm assuming if the Fob is dead the key might not even work to turn to unlock. (magnetic strip links up with the fob's board/pgoramming)
Chevy was gonna charge me some crazy amount of $ for a new fob! I went on Amazon, got 2 for like $20.. followed this video and DONE! It works. I did the switch by putting the motherboard into the new fob , tested it out and saved over $100 bucks.. It's ridiculous that I replaced this thing 2x because the UNLOCK pad wears out ..😮
My husband and spent a couple hours trying to open the old one to no success. Then I watched this video today and got it open within 2 minutes... not the same way as you but this gave us encouragement that it was in fact able to be opened lol. We put in a small pair of pliers and pulled open.
Just finished swapping the circuit board into cheap shell. A few observations: The old fob is not designed to be taken apart; I inserted two screwdrivers to pull it apart and broke the old shell. The head of the key part is different (took me a lot of time to figure this out) so I removed the pin holding the key with a pushpin and replaced the pin holding it in place with needlenose pliers and hammering it it. The spring on the new fob is much weaker than the one on the old fob, so the key does not flip open with the same satisfying authority. I found the video helpful.
Did you have to do any additional steps once you switched it out? I’m having the exact same experience as you are but my car went into “service theft deterrent system”. I put the car in the on position but the signal won’t go away.
I just did mine, could't swap the key, there's a slight difference between the oem and the blank and I didn't feel like going to a locksmith. However, as someone else mentionned, by removing the tiny pin that holds the key blade using a finishing nail, needle nose pliers and a hammer, I was able to swap key blades 12$ for a "new" key fob is awesome
IT WORKED!! i damaged my fob prying it open coz it seems like the bottom just wouldn't seperate properly but no big damage, all the button worked AND the car starts!! THANK YOU SO MUCH I SAVED $65+TAX! P.S: everyone needs to understand that when he says "turn clockwise" he's talking about the upper casing with which he attached the spring, when you counter-clockwise rotate the casing while pushing down the spring locks into place.
I tried this and the actual key part like the metal peice from my old key wasnt fitting the new one. What i did is, theres actually a little hole where the long part meets the lower round part of the key, you press that it will come off and you can just do the same for the new one and just swap them. You can see the hole im talking about at 2:23 in the bottom middle of the screen, use a toothpick or something similar and a small metal peice will come out and you can just swap out the key part like i mentioned.
As the post mentioned 1 - original fob doesn't come apart easy 2 - the newpush button assembly and the old key were put together in order to work 3 - removing the little pin did not align completely, be care not bend or break 4 - spring tension is done by - placing bottom fob on surface - put spring with tab down in slot In bottom fob - put key and button together - put spring in bottom of button with key - use slight pressure to hold spring, button and key together - then rotate key counter clockwise 3 to 4 times - this should work with both old or new spring - after rotations complete, put keys in the close position and hold - it's not to hard ? but holding key in place, put circuit board in bottom fob - add top fob and press together - at this point, spring tension should work. - Hope this helps
After doing this, I realized that this key fob is the strongest thing ever built by chevrolet. Besides this toughest keyfob, everything else in this car is falling apart. Thanks chevrolet for doing something right. although instead of using glue, 3 or 4 tiny screws whould have work just fine and much easier. Thanks chevy for convincing me again to buy a japanese car next time.
To make it work correctly you must also switch the machined key, meaning you have to knock the small drift pin out of both metal keys and put the original key into the new chrome swing lock mechanism and reinstall the pin. If you don't do the last steep, the key will not stay closed in your pocket. The new parts in the swing lock mechanism are clocked differently and sized differently so no matter how you try to interchange the mechanical mechanism it does not reassemble and work. You must switch the actual metal key with the chrome swing or hinge mechanism. You need a hammer, long nose pliers and either a #53 or #52 drill bit that you will be breaking and using the shaft of as a drift punch. Drive the pin out using the hammer and drill bit with the shaft of the bit against the pin. When putting the pin back in, hold it with the long nose pliers and drive it in with the hammer. So when all is done, you use the circuit board and the machined key portion of the Original key fob, everything else is the new parts. Other then that, it's perfect! Everything else in the video is super clear. EDIT: Thank You for this video!
Great knowledge here. Mine didn't go back together right so it locks closed and pops open...but it is programmed, and does everything it is supposed to. Thank you. That was $40 saved from needing a key cut.
I'm relieved and surprised this worked because usually when I try DIY I do more damage than good. Most of the tutorials on the internet make this seem effortless but getting the original key apart is a bit tricky. I work in a company that assembles electronic devices similar in design to this key and I knew exactly that the shell is going to be glued, but I did not expect it to be glued by some kind of military-grade super glue. Or maybe it was so hard just because my Chevy Cruze keys are almost 10 years old. I kinda chipped away bits of the plastic shell away with a swiss knife, destroying the knife and my desk in the process, until I got pissed and went to the garage and locked the key in place in a vice and used iron pliers. In hindsight I should have done that right away because the key then came apart smooth as butter. Of course you gotta be really careful not to damage the electronic chip inside but there's enough of the plastic bits that you can grab onto to take it apart safely. So really that is the only difficult part. While I did put the thing back together easily enough, just like in your case the metal key part itself does not fit the plastic shell perfectly, apparently mine is a size 6 and the key I bought was a size 1 - I think. The thing doesn't stay closed, BUT, if you DO NOT ROTATE the spring when putting the case back together the key will just be kinda loose so you can put it in your pocket without getting poked and you can open it like a zippo - how cool is that! And another thing, even though this process took like half an hour and the battery was removed the whole time, the new key surprisingly still worked and did not need any kind of re-programming. Not sure how, I'm guessing the code is hard coded into the chip or whatever. I do drive an European 2011 Cruze, so it could be a totally different story for cars in other markets.
ty for this video. was these being sold on amazon and was weary because i couldnt find any videos of how it worked. this gave me confidence to order it and stop dealing with this broken unlock button (hopefully)
After doing this, I realized that this key fob is the strongest thing ever built by chevrolet. Besides this toughest keyfob, everything else in this car is falling apart. Thanks chevrolet for doing something right. although instead of using glue, 3 or 4 tiny screws whould have work just fine and much easier. Thanks chevy for convincing me again to buy a japanese car next time.
@@alexrosca6545 lol CLEARLY their way of having to make people shell out an extra $50 to $300 bucks. literally had to tear mines up all morning today with a mini hacksaw to replace it with the $10 fob case I got off Amazon. hell, I'm proud of myself. felt like I got to stick it to "the man" for at least a day... 😂
@@alexrosca6545 did you buy your car used? I have over 100k miles on my Camaro and have had zero problems or issues. Mine still looks and drives new. Maybe someone just didn't take care of your car properly.
@@gearheadjeff I have a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu with 110k miles... Yes, I bought it used at 108 miles... I always buy my cars used, drive them for couple of years and then get into something else, from german to japanese to american etc... I've tried out and had many makes and models, but NEVER ever had to put so much money into a single car within couple of months of ownership! (I have my cars inspected at the mechanic before buying). Best luck I had with the Japanese cars, one time drove a camry with 170k miles for 2 years and only did 3 oil chances! so, to maintain it I only spent under $100 in 2 years. This chevrolet Malibu already cost me thousands in maintenance in 2 months!!! I drove it normally for a month, then it overheated.. did a headgasket replacement.. then 2 weeks later the engine compartment was smoking.. replaced the intake manifold... then exhaust, then sensors, then bushings and links, then the radio, nav with backup camera and the power seat stopped working, haven't repaired these yet, I probably won't, too expensive, then a week ago even this damn key broke!!! WTF GM... this thing looks beautiful but boy what a piece of crap this is...
Thanks for the video ... I would have never been able to have done this without it. I had a tremendously hard time opening the old fob. I had to score the edges of the fob's seams, and then use closed needle nose pliers into the side opening (then spreaded them open) to get that fob apart.
There's usually a screw that needs to be unscrewed before it comes apart. If it doesn't come apart easily, don't force it like I did. Use needle nose plyers for better leverage.
Man idk how you got your original fob apart so quickly! I literally broke mine piece by piece after fighting it for an hour!lmao Ps great tip on turning the bottom counter clockwise I thought I had messed up on assembly lol
Next time don't work on a rug when dealing with electrical components. Static/friction will mess your circuits up. Aside from that very useful tutorial vid!
I was successful, but I had to pretty much destroy the old fob to get it apart. I also kept the original stronger spring. The key doesn't swing out that well yet but I think it will wear in with time.
you have to preload the spring when putting on the back piece, carefully turn counter clock wise 2 times to "wind" up the spring so the opening action is stronger.
Yes and no. Yes, if you haven't already programmed 5 remotes to your car. No if you have. The way he did it works without having to reprogram a new remote. You can only have 5 remotes programmed to your car. After that, you have to have the Dealership un-program and reprogram to wipe out the memory. I have no idea what that would cost, but I imagine not cheap. By the way, yes, I have 5 programmed. When the recall happened on the remotes, they gave me two chipped keys. That meant I then had 4 programmed devices. The two original remotes and the two chipped keys. When they gave me the chipped keys they removed the switchblade style keys from my remotes. Well, I wanted a switchblade style remote, so I bought another and had the key cut. That made five total. Now my buttons are wearing out on the original remote. I still have the other two, but in order to repair or replace that worn out remote, I will either have to do this style of repair, or have the dealership get involved with the programming.
The engraved key is held in by that little roll pin. Put the key in new remote and reprogram it takes 30 seconds for two remotes to reprogram, Chevy wanted $100 to reprogram
Great video, but I still can't do that. Why? Because, when I got to the part where you have to take apart the new fob and yours, "just came apart". Yeah, no. Mine is stuck together like it is Super Glued! I have nearly lost my mind trying to get this darn thing apart! On top of everything else, I locked my phone in my car and of course, now I am unable to unlock my car doors or open the trunk or anything! I swear, I really am losing what little sanity I have left. I really wish you were here to help an old man out.
In case anyone else has this problem: I had to shave down one of the three metal notches on the button so that it could into the hole of the key. The replacement I ordered from Amazon was not an exact fit. Besides that, everything else was perfect, great video!
I went ahead and paid $109 for a nee one then took a change on my old ones. I finally got them apart. No screw in either. I manger to fixed one with the two, so now she has a new one, and I have a repaired one.
My key plastic came off after droping my car off for routine maintenance at the shop. I was piss when i saw they let the rubber fall off. So i was thinking cant you just do this. Now i know its possible time to order a new keyfob shell.
with the twist and close bit, have the button and spring already placed in the key, the put the other end of the spring in the back of the case and twist the direction the key will be coming out once (or else the key wont move when you press the button). If you try to do it like he did it, it will be much harder.
Dated October 6th 2022, @ 2:01 . The Key FOB was a bitch to take apart, however; the small gap opening between the key and the folder. used a Needle nose plier closed first-> insert -> try and open that did the trick to release the casing and the motherboard. it Help on the fix!! Thanks !
The fob design for the Chevy Spark is the worst. Whomever designed it deserves a place in Hades. Per the dealer, Chevy discontinued the fob, so the only replacement option are aftermarkets on Amazon. My original fob key broke while I was turning it to start my car. When it broke, I was left with this tiny key stub that was impossible to use without pliers. Hopefully you keep a toolkit in your car like me, or you'll be stranded when the key randomly breaks. The original fob is glued shut, and it is a beast to crack open for the alarm chip. I used pliers and a lot of brute force. The assembly of the new fob is straight forward. The only hiccup is remembering to wind up the spring when you reassemble to get the spring open pop. My next stop is a locksmith to key the blank. I originally thought that I could pop the pin and swap the blank for the original stub key, but no dice.
some Krazy glue or gorilla glue applied along the clamshell contour/crack and a vise clamped tight tor 24 hours is a great way to reseal the fob, provided all your parts in 100 % working order.
Not sure whether GM Holden Australia is different - but the fob seems to be one solid piece of plastic - so unless your really prepared to break it (mine still works just) for the internals. There is no going back.....
My 2015 Vauxhall Astra which has almost the same type of key fob did the same thing a few months ago so I had renew it most be a General Motors poor quality thing my previous car was a vw which I owned for 12y and apart from a few scratches both key fobs were ok
I followed this video till the end. I did every step and his video was helpful disassembling the key and reassembling it, although once I replaced everything that need to be replaced with the old key parts the new key will not flip and the button isn't sticking out it's pushed in and I don't know how to fix this. Ive looked it up on UA-cam, iv'e searched it, tried fixing it myself and i can't find the problem.
These things are engineered this way to be hard to open on purpose. Even the air filter box in my car has star torq screws to deter people from changing the filter themselves. Capitalism at it's finest...
Hey Brandon, buddy boy, did it work to start your Chevy vehicle? I am about to switch two key fobs in bad shape into two brand new key fobs, so I am watching lots of videos like yours. The ending would be perfect if you started your vehicle with the new key fob. I am going to guess it worked. Thanks for the humor and the instructions. I am also scared to do it, to be honest, since I am programming this for someone else's vehicle, okay, it's my husband's vehicle. He borrowed my Jeep and when I saw how bad his key fobs were, I decided to program two new ones for him. Thanks so much! Wish me luck, I think I can , I think I can! Yes I can. LOL - This saves everyone a ton of money- some pay over $350.00 for a new fob, because they need a new mother board, and then someone has to but a new key, and they charge big bucks for it all. You did a good job!
Yeah, it started the car just fine and continues to work years later for the new owner of the car. Just make sure you switch the board from the old fob into the new one and it shouldn't give you any trouble starting up. If you use a new motherboard, it will have to be programmed. I did also end up switching out the blade holder to the one that came with the new fob shortly after making this video and that allowed the blade to stay closed. A lot of people have commented about that on this video and they include pretty good instructions for getting that done. The trickiest part about all of this (and hardest to film) was just getting the tension back on the spring and getting the fob to close. Looks relatively easy when you see someone do it, but it's harder than it looks to do it without everything coming apart over and over again. Good luck with everything!
Nice video, but I can't get my key to pop out. Plus, trying to take the key fob apart, it broke in half. Putting it back together in the new fob is difficult especially the spring to push the key out. My key will not popout.
Yeah I only took the fob apart so I could transfer the internal board to the new shell and wouldn't have to reprogram. A couple weeks later I dismantled the key again to fix the swivel part. To do that, I removed the pin from both metal swivel pieces so I could switch my key with the blank in the new swivel piece and then put the pin back in to hold it in place. That ended up fixing the issue with the swivel piece not clicking and staying down when in the closed position cause the swivel piece that came with the new key was slightly different from the OEM one. OEM swivel piece does not fit quite right in the replacement shell, so definitely use the swivel piece that comes with the new key fob and just take the blank out if you plan to do this. Didn't document it though and I've sold the car since then, so no follow up video or remake of this video coming from me.
My key won't lay flat and pop out like before. Driving me crazy. I have two keys and replaced both and in both the key won't lay flat. It seems so easy for you to twist the key part and it just goes back to normal. 😬
I’m Not an expert but isn’t there a screw attached behind the Chevy symbol that is required to be taken out for the key to pulled apart this is how you don’t break the fob?
The fob is suppose to flip open with the spring and click shut.. You did the same thing i did.. IT wont stay closed now... thats the problem im trying to figure out
You have to remove the pins in the blade holder parts and switch the original key blade into the new blade holder flip mechanism to get it to stay closed
GM keys can easily be re-synced if you have 1 working key without having to swap the guts over. The blade itself can be swapped over just by removing the tiny roll pin that holds it in place to the hinged part. Allot easier than total disassembly.
I am having trouble getting the roll pin back in the hole. Can't get a good grip on pin with needle nose pliers it keeps slipping. Any suggestions...also tried tweezers.
5 years later and this video is a Godsend! My fob fell apart and I bought my car used and it only had one key. 🙄
Thank you for this video!!!
Heh. I found out my Impala has hidden keyholes, and the covers are easy to pop off. A bit annoyign cause you have about 6 seconds after you unlock to stick er in the igntiion or the alarm goes off, but the car
is usable. I'm assuming if the Fob is dead the key might not even work to turn to unlock. (magnetic strip links up with the fob's board/pgoramming)
Did it work?
Did this fob work?
Chevy was gonna charge me some crazy amount of $ for a new fob! I went on Amazon, got 2 for like $20.. followed this video and DONE!
It works. I did the switch by putting the motherboard into the new fob , tested it out and saved over $100 bucks..
It's ridiculous that I replaced this thing 2x because the UNLOCK pad wears out ..😮
My husband and spent a couple hours trying to open the old one to no success. Then I watched this video today and got it open within 2 minutes... not the same way as you but this gave us encouragement that it was in fact able to be opened lol.
We put in a small pair of pliers and pulled open.
Just finished swapping the circuit board into cheap shell. A few observations: The old fob is not designed to be taken apart; I inserted two screwdrivers to pull it apart and broke the old shell. The head of the key part is different (took me a lot of time to figure this out) so I removed the pin holding the key with a pushpin and replaced the pin holding it in place with needlenose pliers and hammering it it. The spring on the new fob is much weaker than the one on the old fob, so the key does not flip open with the same satisfying authority. I found the video helpful.
Its because you got a cheap replacement. Quality is everything.
Did you have to do any additional steps once you switched it out? I’m having the exact same experience as you are but my car went into “service theft deterrent system”. I put the car in the on position but the signal won’t go away.
You need to wind the spring up to make it flip harder
same here i punctured the board when i was trying to crack it open
The key has to be spun 2 full rotations before closing the case
I just did mine, could't swap the key, there's a slight difference between the oem and the blank and I didn't feel like going to a locksmith.
However, as someone else mentionned, by removing the tiny pin that holds the key blade using a finishing nail, needle nose pliers and a hammer, I was able to swap key blades
12$ for a "new" key fob is awesome
It’s 2024 and my lock button on my 2013 Cruze fob just broke!🤦🏻♀️ Thank you kind Sir for doing the Lords work!🙏🫡🔥👏
IT WORKED!! i damaged my fob prying it open coz it seems like the bottom just wouldn't seperate properly but no big damage, all the button worked AND the car starts!! THANK YOU SO MUCH I SAVED $65+TAX!
P.S: everyone needs to understand that when he says "turn clockwise" he's talking about the upper casing with which he attached the spring, when you counter-clockwise rotate the casing while pushing down the spring locks into place.
I tried this and the actual key part like the metal peice from my old key wasnt fitting the new one. What i did is, theres actually a little hole where the long part meets the lower round part of the key, you press that it will come off and you can just do the same for the new one and just swap them. You can see the hole im talking about at 2:23 in the bottom middle of the screen, use a toothpick or something similar and a small metal peice will come out and you can just swap out the key part like i mentioned.
This comment right here ❤
As the post mentioned
1 - original fob doesn't come apart easy
2 - the newpush button assembly and the old key were put together in order to work
3 - removing the little pin did not align completely, be care not bend or break
4 - spring tension is done by
- placing bottom fob on surface
- put spring with tab down in slot
In bottom fob
- put key and button together
- put spring in bottom of button
with key
- use slight pressure to hold
spring, button and key together
- then rotate key counter
clockwise 3 to 4 times
- this should work with both old
or new spring
- after rotations complete, put
keys in the close position and
hold
- it's not to hard ? but holding
key in place, put circuit board
in bottom fob
- add top fob and press together
- at this point, spring tension
should work.
- Hope this helps
these are the worst fob design ever. They need real buttons that won't disintegrate over time. gm fail
Clearly you didn't use much Toyota and Hyundai ones
After doing this, I realized that this key fob is the strongest thing ever built by chevrolet. Besides this toughest keyfob, everything else in this car is falling apart. Thanks chevrolet for doing something right. although instead of using glue, 3 or 4 tiny screws whould have work just fine and much easier. Thanks chevy for convincing me again to buy a japanese car next time.
@@alexrosca6545 Literally I need a new key fob every 4 months, they're absolutely terrible.
The silicone design is 🗑️!!!
Wow I thought it was my long fingernails 😩😩
To make it work correctly you must also switch the machined key, meaning you have to knock the small drift pin out of both metal keys and put the original key into the new chrome swing lock mechanism and reinstall the pin.
If you don't do the last steep, the key will not stay closed in your pocket.
The new parts in the swing lock mechanism are clocked differently and sized differently so no matter how you try to interchange the mechanical mechanism it does not reassemble and work. You must switch the actual metal key with the chrome swing or hinge mechanism. You need a hammer, long nose pliers and either a #53 or #52 drill bit that you will be breaking and using the shaft of as a drift punch. Drive the pin out using the hammer and drill bit with the shaft of the bit against the pin. When putting the pin back in, hold it with the long nose pliers and drive it in with the hammer.
So when all is done, you use the circuit board and the machined key portion of the Original key fob, everything else is the new parts.
Other then that, it's perfect!
Everything else in the video is super clear.
EDIT: Thank You for this video!
Never bothered to make a follow up video on this before selling the car, but what you described is exactly how I fixed this issue with the key 👍
@@brandonnotgood Excellent video Brandon! Thank you for posting it.
Chevy dealer doesn’t not like this video 🤣👍🏼
Thanks bro
Liked and subscribed 💪🏼
9:00
Destroyed both key fobs trying to get them open this way. I hope whoever designed these things at GM got fired.
Plus Mazda, plus Ford, plus BMW, plus Toyota, Plus…..stop me! They all do it! ASE Master tech since 78.
Good luck...they are laughing with the large pension on a beach somewhere.
dealer wants 150.00 plus 150 programming. no wonder it made your day. me too. went to church to THANK GOD
That was the biggest accomplishment of my life ... dremel tool and patience holy shit
Great knowledge here. Mine didn't go back together right so it locks closed and pops open...but it is programmed, and does everything it is supposed to. Thank you. That was $40 saved from needing a key cut.
Where are you getting it cut for $40?
I'm relieved and surprised this worked because usually when I try DIY I do more damage than good.
Most of the tutorials on the internet make this seem effortless but getting the original key apart is a bit tricky. I work in a company that assembles electronic devices similar in design to this key and I knew exactly that the shell is going to be glued, but I did not expect it to be glued by some kind of military-grade super glue. Or maybe it was so hard just because my Chevy Cruze keys are almost 10 years old. I kinda chipped away bits of the plastic shell away with a swiss knife, destroying the knife and my desk in the process, until I got pissed and went to the garage and locked the key in place in a vice and used iron pliers. In hindsight I should have done that right away because the key then came apart smooth as butter. Of course you gotta be really careful not to damage the electronic chip inside but there's enough of the plastic bits that you can grab onto to take it apart safely.
So really that is the only difficult part. While I did put the thing back together easily enough, just like in your case the metal key part itself does not fit the plastic shell perfectly, apparently mine is a size 6 and the key I bought was a size 1 - I think. The thing doesn't stay closed, BUT, if you DO NOT ROTATE the spring when putting the case back together the key will just be kinda loose so you can put it in your pocket without getting poked and you can open it like a zippo - how cool is that!
And another thing, even though this process took like half an hour and the battery was removed the whole time, the new key surprisingly still worked and did not need any kind of re-programming. Not sure how, I'm guessing the code is hard coded into the chip or whatever. I do drive an European 2011 Cruze, so it could be a totally different story for cars in other markets.
Thanks Brandon for your video! I was able to replace my key fob, I was scared! But, I did it! Great video!!!
ty for this video. was these being sold on amazon and was weary because i couldnt find any videos of how it worked. this gave me confidence to order it and stop dealing with this broken unlock button (hopefully)
I basically destroyed mine trying to get it separated. That damn thing was sealed with the strongest glue in the universe.
Did it work fine after, though?
After doing this, I realized that this key fob is the strongest thing ever built by chevrolet. Besides this toughest keyfob, everything else in this car is falling apart. Thanks chevrolet for doing something right. although instead of using glue, 3 or 4 tiny screws whould have work just fine and much easier. Thanks chevy for convincing me again to buy a japanese car next time.
@@alexrosca6545 lol CLEARLY their way of having to make people shell out an extra $50 to $300 bucks. literally had to tear mines up all morning today with a mini hacksaw to replace it with the $10 fob case I got off Amazon. hell, I'm proud of myself. felt like I got to stick it to "the man" for at least a day... 😂
@@alexrosca6545 did you buy your car used? I have over 100k miles on my Camaro and have had zero problems or issues. Mine still looks and drives new. Maybe someone just didn't take care of your car properly.
@@gearheadjeff I have a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu with 110k miles... Yes, I bought it used at 108 miles... I always buy my cars used, drive them for couple of years and then get into something else, from german to japanese to american etc... I've tried out and had many makes and models, but NEVER ever had to put so much money into a single car within couple of months of ownership! (I have my cars inspected at the mechanic before buying). Best luck I had with the Japanese cars, one time drove a camry with 170k miles for 2 years and only did 3 oil chances! so, to maintain it I only spent under $100 in 2 years. This chevrolet Malibu already cost me thousands in maintenance in 2 months!!! I drove it normally for a month, then it overheated.. did a headgasket replacement.. then 2 weeks later the engine compartment was smoking.. replaced the intake manifold... then exhaust, then sensors, then bushings and links, then the radio, nav with backup camera and the power seat stopped working, haven't repaired these yet, I probably won't, too expensive, then a week ago even this damn key broke!!! WTF GM... this thing looks beautiful but boy what a piece of crap this is...
Thanks for the video ... I would have never been able to have done this without it. I had a tremendously hard time opening the old fob. I had to score the edges of the fob's seams, and then use closed needle nose pliers into the side opening (then spreaded them open) to get that fob apart.
No problem! Just happy that someone found it useful.
I had to do the same thing with mine. It was almost like someone glued it shut. I bought mine used as well.
There's usually a screw that needs to be unscrewed before it comes apart. If it doesn't come apart easily, don't force it like I did. Use needle nose plyers for better leverage.
Man idk how you got your original fob apart so quickly! I literally broke mine piece by piece after fighting it for an hour!lmao
Ps great tip on turning the bottom counter clockwise I thought I had messed up on assembly lol
Bro fucking same holy shit it’s like someone glued it shut
That's because it wasn't the original fob.that key fob was an aftermarket fob
Thank you soo much because this fob definitely didn’t come with instructions! You rock!!! 🤘🏾
Next time don't work on a rug when dealing with electrical components. Static/friction will mess your circuits up. Aside from that very useful tutorial vid!
You saved me $200!!! Thank you, it worked. 🎉
Thanks bro with your help i managed to replace my Opel Astra H key fob.Hurray GM :D
Thanks man! Way easier to switch circuitry than program a new fob for my silverado when my old fob works fine it just looks shabby.
I was successful, but I had to pretty much destroy the old fob to get it apart. I also kept the original stronger spring. The key doesn't swing out that well yet but I think it will wear in with time.
you have to preload the spring when putting on the back piece, carefully turn counter clock wise 2 times to "wind" up the spring so the opening action is stronger.
Another way would have been to tap out the pin holding in the key on both fobs and just put your key in the good one. Nice video.
TheSocratesian doesn’t work that way. It isn’t a pin. Just looks like a pin.
Yes and no. Yes, if you haven't already programmed 5 remotes to your car. No if you have. The way he did it works without having to reprogram a new remote. You can only have 5 remotes programmed to your car. After that, you have to have the Dealership un-program and reprogram to wipe out the memory. I have no idea what that would cost, but I imagine not cheap. By the way, yes, I have 5 programmed. When the recall happened on the remotes, they gave me two chipped keys. That meant I then had 4 programmed devices. The two original remotes and the two chipped keys. When they gave me the chipped keys they removed the switchblade style keys from my remotes. Well, I wanted a switchblade style remote, so I bought another and had the key cut. That made five total. Now my buttons are wearing out on the original remote. I still have the other two, but in order to repair or replace that worn out remote, I will either have to do this style of repair, or have the dealership get involved with the programming.
The engraved key is held in by that little roll pin. Put the key in new remote and reprogram it takes 30 seconds for two remotes to reprogram, Chevy wanted $100 to reprogram
This video saved my life I almost had to buy a whole new key
Glad I could help!
On my 3rd set of crap key fobs. Tried this method too and the replacement had a different design internals for the key flip.
LOL, im glad it's not static sensitive! Carpet and electronics normally dont mix.
Great video, but I still can't do that. Why? Because, when I got to the part where you have to take apart the new fob and yours, "just came apart". Yeah, no. Mine is stuck together like it is Super Glued! I have nearly lost my mind trying to get this darn thing apart! On top of everything else, I locked my phone in my car and of course, now I am unable to unlock my car doors or open the trunk or anything! I swear, I really am losing what little sanity I have left. I really wish you were here to help an old man out.
I guess you can just press the button on green circuit to unLock your car to take your phone out
This was a cool video but my 2014 SS fob had no screw and did not just pull apart i had to actually break it very carefully which was a hassle
In case anyone else has this problem: I had to shave down one of the three metal notches on the button so that it could into the hole of the key. The replacement I ordered from Amazon was not an exact fit.
Besides that, everything else was perfect, great video!
I went ahead and paid $109 for a nee one then took a change on my old ones.
I finally got them apart. No screw in either.
I manger to fixed one with the two, so now she has a new one, and I have a repaired one.
thank you ... very much .. i have GMC terrian and pads are just junk .. my condom last longer than the pads.. god bless u for video helped me alot ..
I did it myself twice without using 2 knives, just used hands for disassembling old one.
No one mentions the tiny skrew inside.... Just broke this shit in 3 pieces 🤦♂️
If you watched the video before doing anything......
There is a screw under the chevrolet logo ,you need to lose it before open it …
My key plastic came off after droping my car off for routine maintenance at the shop. I was piss when i saw they let the rubber fall off. So i was thinking cant you just do this. Now i know its possible time to order a new keyfob shell.
Just saved people $200 for a new key fob, so ridiculous how much dealerships charge you for that
6 yrs later. Thnx
Thank you for this video! I'm going to bookmark this so when the new key fob I bought will help.
This video was extremely helpful, but the twist and close part was so hard! If anyone has any other tips, it would be great!
with the twist and close bit, have the button and spring already placed in the key, the put the other end of the spring in the back of the case and twist the direction the key will be coming out once (or else the key wont move when you press the button). If you try to do it like he did it, it will be much harder.
Thanks! I tried to pry open old remote as shown, and ruined the case. It was not made to come apart.
Jack Keesee that happen to me too thank god I had the new shell already
Dated October 6th 2022, @ 2:01 . The Key FOB was a bitch to take apart, however; the small gap opening between the key and the folder. used a Needle nose plier closed first-> insert -> try and open that did the trick to release the casing and the motherboard. it Help on the fix!! Thanks !
The knife slipped and I stabbed myself. My wife just dialed 911. Be careful doing this. I’m bleeding out my gut badly.
nicholasyoder survival of the fittest
The fob design for the Chevy Spark is the worst. Whomever designed it deserves a place in Hades. Per the dealer, Chevy discontinued the fob, so the only replacement option are aftermarkets on Amazon.
My original fob key broke while I was turning it to start my car. When it broke, I was left with this tiny key stub that was impossible to use without pliers. Hopefully you keep a toolkit in your car like me, or you'll be stranded when the key randomly breaks.
The original fob is glued shut, and it is a beast to crack open for the alarm chip. I used pliers and a lot of brute force. The assembly of the new fob is straight forward. The only hiccup is remembering to wind up the spring when you reassemble to get the spring open pop.
My next stop is a locksmith to key the blank. I originally thought that I could pop the pin and swap the blank for the original stub key, but no dice.
Thanks you make it easy to understand and know how to do it
Thank you so much for showing me this!!!!!!!!!!!
some Krazy glue or gorilla glue applied along the clamshell contour/crack and a vise clamped tight tor 24 hours is a great way to reseal the fob, provided all your parts in 100 % working order.
Not sure whether GM Holden Australia is different - but the fob seems to be one solid piece of plastic - so unless your really prepared to break it (mine still works just) for the internals. There is no going back.....
Thanks SO MUCH!!!! You are the best!!
My 2015 Vauxhall Astra which has almost the same type of key fob did the same thing a few months ago so I had renew it most be a General Motors poor quality thing my previous car was a vw which I owned for 12y and apart from a few scratches both key fobs were ok
I followed this video till the end. I did every step and his video was helpful disassembling the key and reassembling it, although once I replaced everything that need to be replaced with the old key parts the new key will not flip and the button isn't sticking out it's pushed in and I don't know how to fix this. Ive looked it up on UA-cam, iv'e searched it, tried fixing it myself and i can't find the problem.
You might have to transfer the old key blade to the chrome button piece that came with the new one
Professional work good sir
Just put the metal key on your key ring and you wont have to worry and the key flipping out or not
These things are engineered this way to be hard to open on purpose. Even the air filter box in my car has star torq screws to deter people from changing the filter themselves. Capitalism at it's finest...
You can detach the key blade from the swivel base and swap them.
it wont fit buddy u got to cut the new key blade
sc K not true. I just swapped them.
unless you had an aftermarket remote to begin with then you can swap it
A. Marie how did you get the pin out?
@@mybro727it's a roll pin so a tiny roll pin punch would work or something small
Good video. It worked for me.
Hey Brandon, buddy boy, did it work to start your Chevy vehicle? I am about to switch two key fobs in bad shape into two brand new key fobs, so I am watching lots of videos like yours. The ending would be perfect if you started your vehicle with the new key fob. I am going to guess it worked. Thanks for the humor and the instructions. I am also scared to do it, to be honest, since I am programming this for someone else's vehicle, okay, it's my husband's vehicle. He borrowed my Jeep and when I saw how bad his key fobs were, I decided to program two new ones for him. Thanks so much! Wish me luck, I think I can , I think I can! Yes I can. LOL - This saves everyone a ton of money- some pay over $350.00 for a new fob, because they need a new mother board, and then someone has to but a new key, and they charge big bucks for it all. You did a good job!
Yeah, it started the car just fine and continues to work years later for the new owner of the car. Just make sure you switch the board from the old fob into the new one and it shouldn't give you any trouble starting up. If you use a new motherboard, it will have to be programmed. I did also end up switching out the blade holder to the one that came with the new fob shortly after making this video and that allowed the blade to stay closed. A lot of people have commented about that on this video and they include pretty good instructions for getting that done. The trickiest part about all of this (and hardest to film) was just getting the tension back on the spring and getting the fob to close. Looks relatively easy when you see someone do it, but it's harder than it looks to do it without everything coming apart over and over again. Good luck with everything!
Nice video, but I can't get my key to pop out. Plus, trying to take the key fob apart, it broke in half. Putting it back together in the new fob is difficult especially the spring to push the key out. My key will not popout.
Thanks! This is very helpful.
Thanks, this was perfect! Appreciate you sharing.
Wish mine was that easy. Last owner or dealer glued the fob together.....
You don't need to take the key fob apart. The flat part of the key is held in by a roll pin
So you can just take the roll pin out and replace the key without having to completely dismantle everything? Then do you need to reprogram the key?
Yeah I only took the fob apart so I could transfer the internal board to the new shell and wouldn't have to reprogram. A couple weeks later I dismantled the key again to fix the swivel part. To do that, I removed the pin from both metal swivel pieces so I could switch my key with the blank in the new swivel piece and then put the pin back in to hold it in place. That ended up fixing the issue with the swivel piece not clicking and staying down when in the closed position cause the swivel piece that came with the new key was slightly different from the OEM one. OEM swivel piece does not fit quite right in the replacement shell, so definitely use the swivel piece that comes with the new key fob and just take the blank out if you plan to do this. Didn't document it though and I've sold the car since then, so no follow up video or remake of this video coming from me.
Thanx for making❤
Thank you 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 helped a lot
2:00 you need to remove the bow tie and unscrew the screw
My key won't lay flat and pop out like before. Driving me crazy. I have two keys and replaced both and in both the key won't lay flat. It seems so easy for you to twist the key part and it just goes back to normal. 😬
🙏🙏🙏thank you for this wonderful video
Omg my unlock is pushed in!!! was so sad when I saw it
My button caved in too like that lol
Good video bro, u helped me thanks
You just have to twist it the other way. I had to do it twice to get it to work perfectly.
Very helpful
Good one. No fluff either.
I’m
Not an expert but isn’t there a screw attached behind the Chevy symbol that is required to be taken out for the key to pulled apart this is how you don’t break the fob?
Those key fobs are also Impala key fobs
Thanks 🎉🎉❤
They key didn't stay shut and this is the issue I am having swapping over a new key fob.
Thank you so much.
The fob is suppose to flip open with the spring and click shut.. You did the same thing i did.. IT wont stay closed now... thats the problem im trying to figure out
You have to remove the pins in the blade holder parts and switch the original key blade into the new blade holder flip mechanism to get it to stay closed
Thank you for saving my last nerve 😅
It worked great, thanks
Remove the screw under the bow tie and it will come apart much easier
GM keys can easily be re-synced if you have 1 working key without having to swap the guts over. The blade itself can be swapped over just by removing the tiny roll pin that holds it in place to the hinged part. Allot easier than total disassembly.
The key fob I purchased was empty inside and wouldn't work without swapping the guts over. I made the video for people in the same situation I was in
Can you re-program a key fob from another car?
So did the old key fob have a screw under the chevy emblem? Did you put a screw through the new one?
Did the lock and unlock buttons work??
I someone how manged to involve a tack and hammer lol that little screw is annoying asf
How do you program it? What if you have remote start?
Mine looks the same but the original fob is not designed to be opened. It is sealed shut.
i stg my shit got super glue or something, im having the hardest time getting it open 😂
Thank you so much. This made my day!
I am having trouble getting the roll pin back in the hole. Can't get a good grip on pin with needle nose pliers it keeps slipping. Any suggestions...also tried tweezers.
Thanks for the help
Please I need ur help
GREAT