PKE help needed. A strange thing happened

[rhodginz]

the other day. I was working in the car, took the key which is attached to the PKE transmitter out of the ignition, placed it on the dash, closed the door and walked toward the door to go back inside. I took about three steps away from the car, and the thing locked on me!

Luckily I had a spare key inside, so there was really no problem. BUT...why in the heck did the door lock with the transmitter INSIDE the car? I thought it was never supposed to do this!!!

Any ideas? I don't need this to happen somewhere away from home.

TIA.

 

[jmccloud]

Strange PKE

I had the same thing happen in my driveway the week I bought the car. Used the spare key to get in. Then read the manual and thought 'What bull'
Apparently it works very differently depending on whether the key is in the ignition.
Glad someone else had the same experience.
From now on, the key goes from the ignition to my pocket!

 

[Robertwav1]

Check battery voltage on the remote. It might loose communication with the car if it's low. Just a thought. Also, I remember reading your suppose to be able to rock the car for it to communicate but I think the key has to be in the ignition.

 

[bbw]

It can be locked in the car unless it is in the ignition. But, get this, the fob has a motion sensor. If you lock it in the car, apparently (I haven't tried it!), if you rock the car, the fob sends a "wake up" signal to the car and, poof, the locks come open!

 

[sothpaw]

me too

I assumed this experience was because the battery in the
fob was not strong enough to send a signal that would get
to the receiver. I think it's harder to receive the signal depending
on where the fob is placed.

 

[bbw]

I can tell you this about the PKE pickups: they are interfered with by some cell phone plugs. Neither I nor the dealership mechanics could determine why the usage range for the fob was so low. And then it was discovered that it was the cell phone plug. After being unplugged, the range increased by about 1 to 2 feet!

 

[Robertwav1]

I can understand this. Sometimes when I pull up to the garage the door won't respond. I have to shut down the vette and it opens fine. RF's drive ya nuts!

 

[bbw]

Actually, since we're talking about PKE peculiararities, let me try this one on you. In the convertible, there is a pickup in the driver's door and one in the passenger's door. In the owner's manual, a grey "bubble" is used in a graphic of the car to indicate the effective range of the fob around each pickup. As expected, for the convertible, there is a bubble around the driver's door, and an equally large bubble around the passenger door. Makes sense, right?

Now, for the coupe. It also has two pickups, including one in the driver's door. But, since the fob opens the hatchback, the second pickup is in the rear near the hatch—there is no pickup in the passenger's door. BUT, the owner's manual shows a bubble around the driver's door (expected!), one around the hatch (again, expected!), and, yep, one around the passenger door (???)! In practice, though, one must get quite close to the passenger door for the fob to work. I suspect this is to get in the range of either the driver's door pickup or the hatch pickup. However, the picture in the owner's manual leads one to believe there is a pickup in the passenger's door, as the bubble around it has the same shape and range as the one for the driver's door.

It appears to me that the picture is just inaccurate. Fine. But, I wonder why they just didn't put a pickup in the passenger door, since the fob works with that door lock. It's actually annoying when letting someone into the passenger seat: the fob has to be conspicuously out to catch the range of one of the pickups. This kind of goes against the philosophy of "passive".

Can anyone comment on this?

 

[Vettelt193]

The convertible has two, the coupe has three... each door plus the rear hatch area. The hatch and passenger door coverage areas are not as big as the drivers door, so you do have to get closer to the car. If I remember correctly, it is a 3 foot radius on the passenger and hatch, and a 5 foot radius for the drivers door.

 

[KOPBET]

It can be locked in the car unless it is in the ignition. But, get this, the fob has a motion sensor. If you lock it in the car, apparently (I haven't tried it!), if you rock the car, the fob sends a "wake up" signal to the car and, poof, the locks come open!

He's right. It works just like this on mine. Rock the car and it will unlock. Transmitter shuts down after 30 seconds or so of no movement to conserve battery. You will need to wait at least that long before rocking the car.

 

[B17Crew]

Rockin My Baby

One morning I was in a rush to get into work and I had forgotten my keys in my car!

After about an hour inside the building where I work, I felt a disturbance in the force and realized that I HAD LEFT MY KEYS IN MY CAR!!!!!! I had a mini heart attack.

I remembered that if you pull a stupid stunt like I had pulled, you could wake up the fob (just as bbw says) by rocking the car. I rocked my car and it worked instantly as intended. I was grateful for the feature and that I didn’t provided some unscrupulous character a deep discount on an LT4.

B17Crew

 

[bbw]

Vettelt193, what year? On the 1993 coupe, I am fairly certain there are only two. I'll check and post.

You are correct about the coverage areas: the driver's door uses bubble "A", with a (supposed) range of 5-7 feet. The hatch and passenger's door use bubble "B", with a range of 3-5 feet. Even without the cell phone plug interference, the ranges I experience are less than 5 feet for bubble "A" and 3 feet for bubble "B", i.e., both below the advertised minima.

When I first experienced the low range, the dealership exposed the pickups and "cleaned" them. That added less than a foot (a few inches?), but still generally below the minima.

Although I haven't tested lots of fobs on various makes and models, I begin to expect that GM ranges are fairly small. This certainly could be a consequence of the few specific cars for which I have experience.

Anyway, I either read that the coupe uses only two pickups, or was told by the dealership the same. I am leaning more towards the former, but I'll check it out.

 

[B17Crew]

Just a thought:

bbw, could your key fob battery be near the end of its service life?

B17Crew

 

[bbw]

I am the second owner. When I bought the car, the owner provided me with two fobs. Oddly, one had the word "Corvette" depressed in a yellow/goldenrod color. The other just had the word depressed. When I took the car to the dealership about the low range, they discovered that the "yellow-worded" fob was for a different year! ??? No biggie. The other fob was, indeed, for the correct year. I then ordered a new fob (so I could have two). Additionally, before I even took the car to the dealership, I replaced the batteries in the two fobs I was originally provided. So I now have an old fob with a new battery and a brand-new (as of several months ago) fob.

I use the new one. I get no noticeable difference in range between the new and old fobs.

I read (or was told by the dealership) that the fob is most effective when it is help upright (in a vertical plane). I found that to be true.

The idea behind "Passive" KE is that one doesn't explicitly need to be concerned with it. For me, though, it is less than passive. When I approach the car, I hold out the fob (upright! ) and even sometimes have to jiggle it a little near a lock for it to work properly. So my experience is not quite passive.

I should be able to approach the car with the fob in a pocket or some such and let the (passive) magic happen. But, not for me!

 

[Robertwav1]

I can honestly say on my 93 the range is even with the doors and a little less range with the rear of the vehicle. Every once in a great while it won't work so, I open the door with the key! But for the most part I think it works fairly well.

 

[SPANISHVETTS]

When I had the ´93 the PKE drove me crazy. I loved the feature but I park my car in the garage at the kart track where I walk by it 200+ times a day. Click-clack, click-clack 200 times a day. I was sure that the locks were going to wear out so I hung the keys on a nail just out of range.
If I have to buy gas or large parts for the karts I take the Tahoe so several times I arrived home without the non passive entrance keys to the house which were on the same fob as the Vettes PKE keys.

Outside of my own stupidity I never had a problem with the PKE but then I only had the car about 8 months.

 

[bbw]

The passive feature can be disabled easily, so if you are in a situation (like cleaning the car!) in which the system will be excessively and unintentionally used, just turn it off temporarily.

If I remember correctly, get in the car and hold in the door button on the fob for a few seconds. You'll hear the locks cycle, signifying the disabling. Do the same to re-enable it.

 

[bbw]

Vettelt193, here is what the 1993 owner's manual (page 46, in section "Features and Controls") states.

The signal of the transmitter is picked up by two antennas. On the coupe, one antenna is located in the driver's door, and one is located in the rear of the luggage area. These antennas do not require any routine maintenance. On the convertible, one antenna is located in the driver's door, and one is located in the passenger's door. These antennas do not require any routine maintenance.

Are there really three in the coupe? Does the owner's manual contain a typo regarding this? The picture that accompanies the text above does show an "A" bubble around the driver's door, a "B" bubble around the passenger's door, and a "B" bubble around the hatch area. I often wondered how the passenger's door bubble could exist considering what the accompanying text (quoted above) indicates.

 

[Robertwav1]

Dunno....but I will check the manual again myself! I'll repost if mine has reference to three antennae.

 

[Rabbit]

Both the coupe & the vert have 2 antennas. The coupe has 1 (one) antenna in the drivers door & 1 (one) in the back of the luggage area. The vert has 1 (one) antenna in each door.