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      02-02-2017, 06:23 PM   #1
ParkedBMW
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BMW F30 keyfob housing replacement DIY.

I apologize for the potato pics in advance, but I wasn't thinking of doing a diy when I took the pics.

A few months ago, I purchased a used 328i and one of the key fobs I got with the car was in real bad cosmetic shape. It worked fine, but had obviously seen better days. I eventually got tired of looking at it and decided to search for DIY's on replacing the housing for the f30 style key fobs with no success, only finding guides for the older style e90 rectangular fobs, while replacement housings on eBay were available for around $40. I ordered a new sportline look housing on a whim and decided to wait and give it a try. I also ordered a used key from an F10 for $10 on eBay to practice opening up without messing up the key to my car.

The housing I ordered from eBay is a quality piece, I honestly expected less but I couldn't really notice any obvious differences in quality between both the OEM and replacement housings, other than the new housing coming with a metal valet key with the same finish as the buttons compared to my OEM plastic valet key. This is the housing I ordered but buyer beware, I waited almost a month for this piece, it ships from Poland and communication with the seller isnt too great but that was fine with me in any case I could get my money back from PayPal. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222033196814



So I received the new housing, but still did not have the used key I bought to practice opening with, but being impatient as I am, I decided to go ahead and give it a try at the risk of messing up a $350 key, stupid I know. Upon closer inspection of the OEM key, I realized you can't just pop it apart, it's joined with some sort of adhesive. I grabbed a hairdryer, 2 flat small screwdrivers and an xacto knife. Keep in mind I did pretty much destroy the old housing, but that did not matter to me as I did not plan to reuse it.

I took the valet key, battery door and battery off the OEM key and With the hair dryer I warmed the OEM key up and started cutting the sides of the housing where it looks like the 2 halves join and with my small precision screwdriver drivers I started trying to pry the halves apart with enough care to not go too deep into the key and possibly crack the circuit board. This part was scary as I had no idea how big or exactly where the circuit board laid. After about 45 minutes of cutting, prying slowly around the edges of the key and heating I finally got both halves apart. If you decide to attempt this when opening either the replacement or OEM housing, take great care to not lose the tiny spring that goes under the valet key release button as it is incredibly small and hard to find, I ended up losing one but luckily had a spare.



And here is the spring



So with the housing split open, grab the new housing, remove the key blade and just pop both halves open, thankfully the new housing snaps together securely and does not use any adhesive. Move the circuit board into the new housing, make sure the 3 locating tabs are holding it in place, place the spring under the key blade release button and snap both halves together, and make sure your key blade locks in to place securely and the buttons function as normal. The new housing came with an uncut key blade, but my OEM key blade fits into the new housing just as well as it does into the OEM one, but I do plan on having the new key blade cut to my car as I prefer the metal one and it gives the key some weight.




I made this Diy because I could not find a single post on anyone attempting this so hopefully someone that has a beat up key or maybe wants to get the sportline or luxury line key housings (they have both on eBay) on their regards key can make use of my experience doing this.
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      02-24-2017, 09:39 PM   #2
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Do you have any side photos showing where you cut your original key?

If your original fob is like mine the valet key isn't held in by a set screw, did you find a way to either use your original valet key or a place to have the blank cut to match your key?
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      10-03-2022, 08:29 PM   #3
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Just did the same thing with my original 328 keyfob. And I'll be honest it was a pain to open the original keyfob up. Took me about 45-1hr. I searched youtube up while doing it, and saw that people were just cutting it and it was going like butter. Not in my case, lol. What really helped is heating the knife up with a basic lighter and slowly going up and down with the knife on the key fob, while applying pressure. Then I took a screw driver, kind of inserted it on the side and wiggle it around, and then BOOM it opened up.
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      10-03-2022, 09:08 PM   #4
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Nice job ��
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      04-24-2023, 06:31 PM   #5
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ParkedBMW - thanks for the tip on the spring! I accidentally popped mine open when changing the battery and saw a tiny spring that I had no idea where it went! Nice write-up!
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