Uber Noob Questions

[Crunchy When Wet]

Hey Hey, I am an Uber Noob when it comes to Land Rover, Owned my 2006 LR3 Base since Tuesday, I love it. I had some questions regarding features:

1.) Is there a way to make it lower when I park? Solved on my own

2.) I have no aux input on the center console, but I have read the wiring is there, anyone added the Land Rover Aux input successfully? Not solved, but found elsewhere.

3.) Both remotes don't work, checked the wiring in passenger door (no sunroof), re spliced wires to no avail. No low battery warnings, all the buttons on remote looked mashed in (on remote I found behind the exterior trim on the tail gate). Anyone? Solved, dealership replacing remotes.

4.) Is there a cheaper place to get remotes? Land Rover of Scottsdale wants $450 a remote. Solved

5.) Any way to increase MPG? I read on a forum (cant remember which one) they plugged something into the OBD plug and were getting 36 MPG, pretty skeptical about that, but currently I drive with the Snow/Gravel setting which has increased my MPG from 13.2 to 14.8....I have a lead foot.

6.) Not a question, but I love this thing, took it off road first day and was very impressed, took it down the nastiest trail I could find behind my neighborhood, wow. Better than my wifes Jeep, now my dad wants to go 4 wheeling up north (he has a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited), cant wait.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[Delray]

Hey Crunchy...do share the answer to #4. I read numerous threads about attempts to sidestep the costs associated with ordering and programming a key from the dealer. Seems the eBay keys are useless, but you can get a key from the dealer and do the programming yourself if you have the $1000 programming unit tied to your VIN.

Did you find anything cheaper than the dealer that works?

 

[Crunchy When Wet]

Well I ordered a key from Amazon for $118, when I get it I will take it to Land Rover of Scottsdale and see if they can use it, if not I will return it.

On Amazon, by Land Rover, sold by KeysLess4u

I will let you know if it worked.

 

[Houm_WA]

The problem is going to be cutting the shank. I suggest removing an old shank and putting it on the new FOB. Then, be sure to take ALL FOBs into the dealership when it's time to program them.

 

[stmcknig]

Actually cutting the shank is the easy part. Got that done for $15 by local locksmith. Contrary to urban legend, the metal of the shank is not made of Unobtanium and impervious to Earthly tools.

The hard part is getting the car to accept the key fob for pairing. I tried a couple and neither I (with my Faultmate) nor my dealer (with JLR SDD) could do it. Had to get a kosher key from the LR dealer ($260) which was precut based on the VIN # and took me five minutes to pair using my Faultmate (saving me $120 dealer charge!).

So, I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, but keep the returns label handy.

As to #5, well if you wanted the MPG of a Prius you bought the wrong vehicle. Can't say I'm overly bothered about the consumption of the 4.4L V8 Jag engine. When you poke it, the 6000lbs of Rover get up and go which is part of the permagrin. I average about 15 around town and mid 20's on highway cruise. I regularly run in Sport mode because well, I just do. I heard that switching the traction control to snow was a good way of leaving folks at the lights, will have to verify that one ;-)

 

[Houm_WA]

If you haven't actually seen the key shank cut yourself, don't offer the process up as doable. I visited at least 3 locksmiths, some major chain types and some specialists who I was referred to. NONE of them could do it. It wasn't the material that the shank was made out of that made it impossible, it was the way the key is cut. In a nutshell the orientation of the cut is opposite of the cutting machine...at least at the one place that had a proper machine for cutting the key in that "inscribed" fashion, for lack of a proper term.

...and I live near Seattle (which is where I shopped it) so it's not like this is a small-town problem.

 

[stmcknig]

If you haven't actually seen the key shank cut yourself, don't offer the process up as doable.

I'm sitting here looking at the cut copy so yes, I know what I'm talking about. I watched it being made. Took about ten minutes. I was joking about the material itself.


The physical key itself works just fine in the locks. I forget what machine is called - you just need to find a better locksmith, or visit Texas and mine.

My problem was with the electronics side - which I'm led to believe is down to the LR factory in the UK pre-seeding the RFID chip with some magic number that correlates with the VIN # and allows the vehicle to "trust" the key during the pairing.

The only other way I've heard to get this done is again a locksmith who has a cloning tool which makes your duplicate key just that - it appears to the vehicle as the EXACT same key. Which is a bummer if the key owners have different seating positions ;-)

 

[Houm_WA]

Hmmm.....I wonder if removing the blade from the FOB would've helped in my case. It was a few years ago and I don't remember.

Good to know for next time.

 

[hell pie]

#3. Have you tried taking the remotes to your local auto parts store? They can test to see if your remote is actually sending a signal. That way you know if it's a dead remote battery or if it's your vehicle. I'm still using the original batteries in the remotes for my '05.

 

[hell pie]

Also, how is it that you don't have a sunroof?