Keyless programming madness???

Any possibility the battery contact isn't good becaus the metal has fatigued over time and isn't securely staying energized?

-- Todd H.

Yep. I'd check that, maybe use a cotton swab and some alchol to clean the contacts.

Any chance you bough a battery that had been on the shelf a LOOONG time?

Carl

FYI, I have similar problems with mine.

It turns out... those years those remotes just plain suck. Try hitting it many times (10 or more) for long durations and it might work.

Also, the antenna is around the windshield rear-view mirror somewhere, so point there and hold it above your head.

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks. Sadly none of these seem to be right. The inside of the remote unit is pristine (although I did try cleaning the contacts just to be sure), and the battery seems fine because the little red LED light illuminates brightly when the buttons are pressed. I tried pressing the buttons for longer durations near the rear-view mirror too and still no dice.

Now the question is whether it's just the remote that's shot or is it the keyless system in the car that's broken...? I don't want to spend $60 on a new remote if that's not the problem!

Any more insight is welcomed. Thanks.

I had a similar problem once on my previous subaru forester, this is going back several years, but vaguely wasn't there something in the manual about when reprogramming or introducing a new remote, you had to hold down for several seconds the button(s) on your remote to hear a distinctive blinking or beeping sequence from your car? Did you do that when you reprogrammed and changed your remote battery.