Originally Posted by
spankgo
This just happened to me 2 hours ago. My 2004 crossfire would not recognize my fob. So like everyone else I used my actual key. When I opened the door the alarm went off. Called AAA to figure it out. They tried to jump me which didn't work. Then he used the actual key to lock and unlock the door several times in a row which helped disable the alarm. Still did not start up. Then he detached the + from the battery for a few minutes. This did set the alarm off again, but when he reattached the + then jumped it again it started up like a champ!! Key fob worked and everything!!
My assessment is that once the car goes into alarm mode and doesn't recognize the fob then you have to reset the system to recalibrate the alarm and the fob. So if this happens to anyone else, detach the + from the battery for 5 min, then reattach, jump and everything should work itself out! Hope this info helps!!
I can attest to this. I was just researching this forum to see if anyone else had the issu i went through. So my story is this. I was driving the car fine (tested the batter last month when i got an oil change and it was strong) to work in the morning and then set the alarm and went to work. After work the FOB would not unlock my car. So just like the first guy in the post i thought "hey why not just use the key manually to unlock." Did that and BOOM the alarm went off. So i tried starting the key and it would not start, but all the lights and icons lit up. So i figured maybe needs a jump So the jump didn't work. I went home grabbed my spare FOB and that did not unlock/disarm the alarm. So i thought i had a starter problem. So called AAA. They guy hooked the car to the tow and the alarm kept going off, so he disarmed the negative part of the battery and towed it to the dealership which was closed due to after hours. When we got to the dealership the tow guy reconnected the battery, and BOOM he was able to start the car and the spare did work after that. So I drove it home
A day later, I went and got the first FOB and it did not unlock or lock the car (so battery dead most likely or need to resynch it) but the spare FOB did work. So my conclusion is once the alarm goes off its a master kill switch and wont allow you to start the car no matter what even with a spare FOB and the only way to do so is reset the car by disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it and then using teh spare. So my experience is exactly what spankgo encountered. I spent four hours out of my life yesterday for a darn key battery issue (atleast i'm assuming that was the problem)
So before spending all that money at a dealership. Disconnect the battery, wait a few minutes and try again (might have to sync your FOB since you replaced the battery)