Not in Range

AFAndrew

New member
Joined
May 23, 2020
Location
St George Utah
TDI
2013 Passat SEL Premium
Hello, So I am having issues with my B7 SEL Premium, so long story short my key fob got left in the washer luckily i remembered it and grabbed it, put in rice overnight than purchased a new battery for it. It worked, skip ahead 3 weeks later i took my car to the airport and left for work came back the next day got back to my car was able to unlock via the hand sensor and pushed the button to start it and it read key out of range. I tried again and no avail. Well after going to get another new battery for the fob, and messing around a bit I got it started got home turned it off and when i went to turn it back on again the message of key out of range? I am at a complete loss. I took apart the push button and cleaned the contacts like people suggest, done battery reset. Any advice would be great. Currently when i unlock the car and get in i press the push start button nothing happens, it's only after i turn the radio on manually i'm able to see the error message on the cluster. Both of my keys will not work, but they will unlock and lock the car just fine.
 

06bluebeetletdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Location
Middlesex, NC
TDI
'14 Passat TDI SEL and '13 Beetle TDI
Are you able to lock/unlock the car with the kessy door handles or are you pushing the button on the remote? You can hold the flat end of the key against the indentation on the steering column to start the car. I would try a new battery in the key you did not wash and have the washed key at least 20 feet from the car and see how it reacts to the other key.
 

AFAndrew

New member
Joined
May 23, 2020
Location
St George Utah
TDI
2013 Passat SEL Premium
Are you able to lock/unlock the car with the kessy door handles or are you pushing the button on the remote? You can hold the flat end of the key against the indentation on the steering column to start the car. I would try a new battery in the key you did not wash and have the washed key at least 20 feet from the car and see how it reacts to the other key.
Yes I have tried everything you mentioned and still nothing.
 

NSTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2002
Location
Nova Scotia
TDI
15 Passat
Maybe car battery disconnect would reset the car’s little brain?

Leave the battery out of the wet fob. Leave it in the sun for a couple of days to dry out, can’t hurt?
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Do you have the second fob? I think you may need to rule out damage to the fob by washing it, because of that, it may chew through batteries.

If you hold the Kessy remote to steering column, you should get the car to fire. I believe there are two levels of sensitivity for the FOB, one to unlock and another to fire the car and IMOB activation, thats why there are multiple KESSY sensors on the car.

We had a battery going out on our '15 would give a key not in range, held the key to the column car fired and was fine, yet never gave a low key battery warning or key not in range while driving for 4hrs. Worked without issues for few more starts then eventually a did it again, tossed a new battery in and all is good.
 
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