Subaru remote keys

Five remotes over what period of time? In the last couple of months, the last year, the last couple of years, or on average once per year ever since you got the '07 (which presumably you acquired in that year and didn't buy used a week ago)? If fobs were surviving for the first 4 years and all the failures appeared in the last year, my guess is there is some physical abuse they are encountering that they didn't before.

But what you don't mention is why you believe or how you found the PCB or switch was damaged because it only has 4 solder pads. Just what leads you to believe the switch or PCB are damaged or the solder joints got fractured? For fractured solder joints, just resolder.

Have you ever looked inside your computer's mouse to notice how it is affixed to the PCB within? Yep, the soldering is the only physical means of affixing the switch to the PCB.

So you're saying the PCB (onto which the switch is soldered) is getting damaged? You sure you aren't sitting on the remote fob?

Maybe this will work:

I still have the same remote fobs that came with my 2003 and 2005 Legacies. Have had to replace the battery within, though. You never mentioned if you tried replacing the battery and retesting.

Five since October of '07 when I bought the car new.

When the fob failed, I opened the fob, that switch was loose. If I nudged it back into place and reassembled the fob very carefully, it would work for a while, but eventually that didn't work anymore. The solder joints are under the switch and are about .5mm square(.02"), far smaller than any soldering I've ever done and not accessible anyway. I tried a tiny bit of superglue to thy to hold it in place, but that didn't work.

Yes, I used to repair mice like that sometimes until mice got cheap and my time became more valuable(to me, anyway).

PCB seems fine, the switch just comes loose. I don't keep the fob where it would be exposed to damage.

I once spent about 45 minutes trying to program a fob I got online, using the instructions that came with it. These instructions were similar to others I found online. I never got it programmed, so I bought another new one at the dealer and had him program both.

See above. Have you ever programmed one?

That's not the same remote, mine isn't shown. Searching the site for "keyless remote Impreza 2007" got no hits.

Yes, of course, the first thing I did was replace the battery.

David

Superglue works best when in a thin layer, not in filling gaps or as an external bonding caulk. It may look like you are just squeezing out a single bonder from the tube, superglue is activated by water (from the air or microscopic dew on surfaces). A thick layer won't last and may not even set properly. If using gel superglue, the surfaces must lie close for the water to get absorbed throughout the layer to act as the hardener. Huffing on the surfaces (as if to fog them with your breath) helps the hardening and why a thicker coating results in a poorer bond or incomplete hardening.

Epoxy would better (where you actually have seperate bonder and hardener, mix the two, and have to apply to cleaned surfaces a short time after mixing); however, the broken solder joints would have to be repaired first (or you do the epoxy bonding before the solder joints break as a preemptive repair by reinforcing the physical positioning).

I don't if it will work with the plastic or phenolics used for the PCB or the switch housing but I've used JB Weld steel reinforced epoxy and it indeed turns as hard as steel when it hardens. If it does bond to the PCB and case housing, you'll end up ripping those apart before breaking the epoxy. This is like using Hard As Nails epoxy to bond a wood 2x4 to a concrete wall: you'll splinter the wood rather than the bond between it and the wall.

I didn't list all sites supplying Subaru parts. I picked one that I happen to have bookmarked as just an example showing you can get parts other than from the Subaru dealer and pay his severe markup.

The ones that I saw listed there looked like the one at:

I usually google 2007 Subaru Impreza keyless remote.

Mine looks like this:

Most of what I find has a trunk release and panic button which are not on mine.

Unfortunately, there is no way to tell if the number sequence entered registered, other than failure of the remote to work. I followed the procedure several times with no success.

Have you programed a remote? Do you know of someone who has?

David

Do you have any specialist computer repair shops locally? From what you describe the repair would be a few minutes work for anybody having a hot-air rework station and a bit of experience. Once the solder is in order a dab of epoxy will hold the switch to the PCB so it doesn't shift and strain the solder joints again.

You're supposed to hear a beep upon each successful programming step according to your manual's instructions.

Apparently you haven't because it has failed every attempt according to you. Considering the timing of your replies after mine, I'm not sure that you even tried to do the programming AFTER you started this thread. I've done it just once but for a 2005 Legacy. The reset worked. That was about 3 years ago and I don't remember whose procedure that I used. I figured the right manual for your car would have the right instructions providing you were programing the right remote and you followed the instructions correctly. If the manual's instructions aren't working for you then I suspect you are doing them wrong, like taking too long between each programming step, or you're using the wrong remote (since you say it doesn't match those shown for your car). Did you even get the beep after the initial 10-time flipping the ignition switch from Lock to On within 15 seconds? Did you hear any beeps after any step in the many described in the manual? Considering all the setup, steps, and indicators involved, you should write down a checklist along with the timeouts for each step to make sure you do them in order and get the indicators specified and you complete the steps within time.

For now, looks like you'll have to pay someone else to do the job. Now you have to figure out how to keep from physically breaking the thing. I'd suggest changing from pressing with the fingertip to pressing with the fleshy flat part of the finger (thumb) so some of the pressure is also against the case and you're more likely to be pressing straight in on the button instead of at an angle. You might also want to get a velvet pouch with pull cord or a coin purse (split plastic pouch) in which to carry the remote to cushion it during carry. Don't hang it from your belt as that gets it banged into everything. If you wear shirts with pockets, put the remote in there. If you have to carry the remote in a pants pocket (a front one only) and with no protection then make sure there's nothing else in that pocket, like a cell phone, and face the buttons inward to press against your thigh instead of outward to get pressed by anything you press into.

A beep from the remote? If it isn't very loud, I probably couldn't hear it as my hearing is poor even with my hearing aids.

Yes, I wrote that.

Since I currently have one working remote and several with failed switches, I currently have nothing to reprogram.

The remotes I've bought and tried to program were the same as the two that came with the car.

No and no, but, as I mentioned, I may not have been able to hear it.

Pointless if I can't hear the beeps, I guess I'm doomed to relying on the dealer for programming.

Sigh...that's the way I have been doing it, with the flat instead of the thumb tip.

Or maybe a small stiff leather belt pouch to fit the remote. I'll look around for something like that.

David

That's a good idea, I know a computer tech who can do repairs on multilayer motherboards, I'll show him a dead remote and see what he thinks. A drop of epoxy to hold the switch on my single working one might help it live longer.

David

Now you have some info to try out next time.

Do the instructions for programming the remote (page 2-10) in the manual that I found from Subaru's own web site for a 2007 Impreza Outback Sport match what your manual says?

A leather belt pouch for a swiss army knife would probably be about the right size.

I had missed that point in the instructions, for some reason, I had thought I was programming the remote to the car, not the other way around. :^)

Or maybe I can get my friend to repair one of the failed ones.

DLed and read it, it's the same procedure I tried before. Still, I heard no beep then.

A vendor at one of the local gun shows has different size belt pouches for gear, he had one just right for my Leatherman tool. Maybe I can find something the same style in the right size.

David

Programming remotes to cars would make stealing them too easy. :-)

It's bad enough that there are stories of people being able to unlock and even start the wrong car by accident using these things, but the cost of replacing the various electronic gizmos is ridiculous and really just a con by the car companies.

Technology for the sake of it isn't progress, nor is technology for the sake of sheer laziness. Bring back the good old fashioned key (although even replacing those was expensive for the likes of Mercedes, etc).

The housing suburb we live in was all built by the same company, so uses the same supplier for things like garage doors - initially we had issues of the door opening "by itself" because someone else too nearby had the same code for their door and remote ... and the same remote also controls the house alarm!! All a criminal has to do is drive around a neighbourhood pressing the remote until they find a house where it works. :-(