One of my FOB's stopped working, but after taking it apart and cleaning it good, it still didn't work. Yes, I tried a new battery. Yes my other FOB worked fine. New FOB's are certainly cheap enough, but taking it to the dealer to program as per the Factory Service Manual and using a Tech 2 is not. An internet search for alternate ways to program new ones mentions things like the instructions for a 2000, turning the key on and off 3 times, which won't work for a 1999. Another method mentions of jumpering pins 4 and 8 on the OBDII connector or looking for an unused 2 pin connector in the trunk. I'm not inclined to jumper pins on an OBDII connector without knowing more about exactly what pin 8 really is (pin 4 is a ground). After doing all this research, I remember seeing the re-synchronization method in the Factory Service Manual, which involves holding down the lock and unlock buttons at the same time for 7 seconds, and wait for it to unlock or lock the car. I stood maybe 5 feet behind the car and tried it and it worked! I'll report back if this fix works long term. I have no idea why it even needed this, but I have a feeling that I might end up resoldering the battery clip as described in this video:
tech iis are pretty awsome. But expensive. Around 5k. When i do house calls for my boss sometimes i get nervous having it in my car... Worth a lot more then my car ever will. But u can do a lot with them such as commanding things on and off (like lights, locks, fuel pump, evap purge and vent valves). also they can talk to all the modules in the car such as abs, pcm\bcm, sir, rcdlr (which is where u would program keyfobs). Amazing tools but also quite old. Been around since 94 atleast.