Bad Range on Fob

On one of my '02 Jetta wagons I'm having an issue with one of the key fobs. The fob worked fine for a couple years. Recently the range has gotten terrible. The keyless entry works for all the buttons of the fob but you need to have the fob near within a couple feet of the instrument cluster area. It will not work from the passenger or rear sides of the vehicle. Oddly enough I have two other fobs for that car and they will work from 20+ feet away so it is an issue specific to the fob, not the car. I've tried replacing the battery with a couple new ones with no improvement. I've also even tried swapping batteries with one of the fobs that works from 20' away and the problem stayed with the fob so the issue is not the battery. I've opened up the fob and made sure the little metal tabs are contacting the battery properly. Anyone know what about the fob functions to transmit the signal? Any suggestions?

Its 16 years old, it may simply just need replacing. The fob portions are not terrible expensive or hard to program. Swap it out with one of the good working ones.

Yes, if 2 others work at 20 feet, it must be that one unit. A delicate cleaning could help.
Likely near impossible to source any components that go in that thing.

probably broken lead (microscopic) to the antenna. New fob

Actually the fob parts are readily available. I placed an order for a new board for it from fixmyvw.com. $15 shipped.

Hold it under your chin, I don't know how or why... but it will work better.

belome said:

Hold it under your chin, I don't know how or why... but it will work better.

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And be sure to raise your hand way above your head with it facing your car's general direction like a high gain antennae. Seriously.

I just thought I'd give a quick update for anyone who searches the archives in the future. I got the replacement board for the remote. As mentioned, it was $15 shipped. It took 5 minutes to replace the board and another 5 minutes to link the remote to the car. I'm back to a 30'+ range without holding the remote under my chin, putting my arm in the air, or shouting 'sieg heil'.