Advanced Keyless Entry/Start problems

MikeMS6GT

Member
:
MS6 GT
Hello everyone,

I have read a few posts about problems with the advanced keyless entry/start. I must say that I researched it before I bought the car and was hesitant in buying the GT because of it, but the leather and sunroof made my decision for me. Anyway, I got the red "KEY" illumination in the dash last week. It would never go away and all of the request buttons on the outside of the door would not work. Luckily, the buttons on the key card worked to unlock/lock the doors. I was able to start my car without using the emergency key but there was that annoying red "KEY" light on the dash. As I said, this went on for a week. Everytime I would go up to the car I would try the button on the door handle and every once in a while it would work. So, I made an appointment and the service man neglected to tell me to bring all of my keys with me because they would have to reprogram them. SO now the car goes into the shop for the second time on friday and the "KEY" light is no longer on in the car. I don't think I notice it ever going green but it is no longer illuminated red and I can open and lock the car from the door buttons. I just hope that the service department does not give me one of those, "It must have fixed itself..." lines. I remember one forum'er said that the service guys shrink wrapped the connections of the proximity modules.

I just want to know if there is anything that I can do to make sure that this is not an ongoing problem. Where are these modules? I have not been under the car lately because of the weather. I think I read that there is one somewhere under the rear bumper and the others are in the doors. Is there a place to avoid spraying the water at a car wash. I like to spray the undercarriage to get all of the salt off.
I have been keeping the car in the garage at night and spray it off every few days. I hate when there is salt on my car. I am guessing I must have sprayed one of the proximity sensor modules (or whatever they are called) when washing the car off and messed up the connections.

Anyone else have some insight on this problem? Has anyone had more problems since they got the module replaced?

I love the car.

Thanks in advance for your time,

Mike
 
yeah, mine hasn't worked right all winter. Biggest complaint of the car so far and i knew it was going to be an issue. There was even one point where the buttons on the remote wouldn't work anymore either. I bring it in the shop one day, they call me at work mid afternoon and say there was nothing wrong with it.
I go up, sure enough, it was fine. So I had them do the autolock feature so the trip wasn't a waste of time. That too stopped working after a few days. I think the cold kills it. they had my car in the garage for an hour or more before trying, so maybe it dried or warmed up.
 
UPDATE:
The service man told me that the car will have to come back again and that they needed to order the antenna. This really pissed me off because this is going to be the third time that I will have had the car in for the same problem. He offered me a rental car this time. Supposedly, Mazda techs would not troubleshoot my car over the phone because I did not have all of my keys with the car the first time it was there. So, this last time that I brought the car in, they actually did something with it. I must say that I was not happy that I had to miss work twice for this crap. At any rate, it looks like they are going to put a new antenna in and hopefully that will eliminate my problems. I hope to crawl under the car and see if I can tell where the water is getting into this antenna. Or maybe I can come up with a way to shrink wrap the connections. There has to be a way to water/weatherproof this part. This part seems to be causing people a lot of grief.
 
So this is what I'm in for next since my key light is red and my door buttons no longer work? Great. (bang) (argh) (rant)
 
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