Key went through the wash.

One of my electronic keys went through the wash. I opened it up in hopes of drying it out but to no avail. It doesn't work any more. Anyone have this happen to their key? What can be done to repair it?
Thanks
Pete

I assume you've replaced the battery?

No I didn't change it yet dqa. I thought the battery would be waterproof. I'll give it a try but can't post till I get back from a short trip to warmer climbs. I'll be back next week and let you know.
Will I have to re-program the key due to the power interuption?

I jumped into a swimming pool with the key in my pocket. It never worked again. I didn't try to change the battery either. Mabe that is the fix.

Find a local fire recovery shop. They should be able to get it going again. You should see them fix water/smoke damage electronics. They are FULLY submersed in super clean water and other stuff. Check it out. $10-15 is better than the cost of a new key.

My key got soaked when I went kayaking a few years back. I took it apart, patted it down with paper towels, and let it air dry for a few hours.

Still didn't work.

So I went to the store, got a new battery, and voila, problem solved.

However, detergent, water temperature, and getting cooked in the dryer could lead to more lasting damage.

When mine went thru the wash I dried it out, put new battery in it and it did not work at first. Then for some reason it started working and has worked for several months since. I used some kind of an electronic contact "cleaning pen" on it that I got from Radio Shack.

I'm not sure exactly what is in a "contact cleaning pen", but a pencil eraser does a good job of cleaning oxidation from contacts.

distilled water is supposed to do the trick as well, luckily haven't had to try it yet.

But does it "look better" than your other keys now? Are the "colors" more vivid?

I had a Motorola pager that took a "swim" in the toilet and once it dried out and got a new battery, it was fine.

Give it a try with a new battery. It may be okay.

Good luck.

i had a cellphone (samsung) that spent the day out in the rain for some reason, i dried it off, didnt work, for 3 days it didnt work, then all the sudden i started to work, for no reason, i didnt do anything, it just started to work, although it was never the same,

Silly question, but how does one open up the key to replace the battery? I have an '03, and there's no notch on the key fob, like there was on the older years. I'm guessing it's the cover on the opposite side of the buttons, the one without the "VW" on it. I can see a circular mold mark. Do I just pry it off?

Thanks.

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i had a cellphone (samsung) that spent the day out in the rain for some reason, i dried it off, didnt work, for 3 days it didnt work, then all the sudden i started to work, for no reason, i didnt do anything, it just started to work, although it was never the same,

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The interals of a electronic device, such as a cell phone, or our keys, take a long time to dry out, unless you take them 100% apart, and hand dry them, then let them air-dry for at least 18 hours. In my experience though, usually no lasting damage is done, if you do this before attempting to use the device.

If you don't want to take it all apart, it can day days, even weeks for it to dry enough to try. Try another cycle through the dryer /images/graemlins/smile.gif

take it apart and used canned-air to blow the water out of the microswitches. I went swimming with mine when it was nearly new, performed this operation and it's still working fine 3 years later.

Thanks for all the tips fellow TDIers. I got the key apart (thanks MOGolf for the PDF) I took the batteries out and had a good look at it under the low power microscope and noticed some brown crud on the batteries which wiped off easily and the circuit board looks fine. I plan on replacing the batteries tommorrow and using some contact cleaner on the parts. Luckily the key never made it to the dryer so I don't think I fried anything. I will post back here if all goes well.
I had a hell of a day today. I just returned to -29C from a Caribbean vacation where the temperature was + 31C. My TDI sat in that cold for 7 days and it did need a boost to get it going. Luckily the airport authority give such a service for free and had me going in 5 minutes ...but in that 5 minutes my tan feel off.
Cheers Pete