Keyless Entry Range

[adm91]

Hey alll - I've got a 97 XLS and I've been putting up with some pretty horrific keyless entry range lately... that is, until I was in a rental for for 3 weeks. What kind of range do you usually get? Generally I have to be within (I kid you not) 3 or 4 feet of the car for it to work.

It was nice to be able to not worry about jamming the button a million times when I first got out of the rental, since, well, I could always do it from across the parking lot. Heh.

Suggestions on improving the range? I am using one of the older remotes that I have, since one of them just stopped working. I'm not looking to pour money into this, anyway.

Cheers!

[fourwheeler]

I get about 10'-15' with mine.

[pmesfun]

Replace the battery.

[Jack Deth]

Originally Posted by pmesfun

Replace the battery.

i'll second

[Jigg007]

Originally Posted by Jack Deth

i'll second

Third'dd I had a range of about 5 feet until I replaced mine, then it was more like 30 to 50 feet.

If your remote looks like mine, (well, not as beat up of course!) then it uses two CR2016 3V lithium cells. About $10 for both at a radio shack. maybe 50 cents each if you buy online.

[pmesfun]

2 batteries...interesting, maybe that's way you have such good range. Mine is still about 15-20 feet with a new battery.

[Jigg007]

Well I did modify the remote, I replaced the broken membrane buttons with tactile ones, and attached a little pigtail to what I believe is the antenna. The little can has to be an oscillator, two pins on the bottom, one to ground and one to an IC. I'd rule it out but I dont see any traces on the board resembling an antenna besides the ground plane, so i just soldered to the casing of the oscillator. Maybe its placebo effect, maybe not.

But for me there is an either loose harness, or intermittent module in the car that dosent like the temperature fluctuations, to where my remote entry doesn't work half the time.

[virotek]

I feel like the range for my remote is pretty short too, maybe 15-20'. I just replaced the batteries too. $4 for 10 pack CR2016 online, so I guess I don't have to be so frugal with the clicking!

[pmesfun]

Must be normal, I'm thinking Toyota mounted the antenna in a bad location.

On the bright side I FINALLY fixed the vibration in the interior, but I still need to get my bumper repainted and got a bolt in my tire yesterday. ITS HUGE.