Keyless entry- super-crap range? (1 Viewer)

[wrigh003]

One of my major 100-series accomplishments lately has been to get a new battery into my key, so the keyless entry works. Clearly I am a master tech now. Well, it works if you're within 6' of the car, which is great and all, but it's not much help if you want to beep the car from a parking lot row away, or make sure you have the doors unlocked while your people wait in the rain and you're behind them, etc.

Is this normal 99 LX470 behavior, or is there a receiver antenna somewhere I should be looking to fix/ update/ repair? I have my suspicions that the busted factory aerial for the radio may play in, but haven't looked into that because I don't bother with terrestrial radio, and I kinda wonder if it's even hooked to the aftermarket receiver that was in here when I bought this thing.

(Mods if this fits better in the ongoing 100-series discussion, LMK and I'll dump it in there instead.)

 

[saucebox]

Mod: Extending range of keyless entry

Like other members with early-year Cuisers the effective range of my '98 LC's keyless entry was pretty dismal. We're talking 10 feet at best. New batteries in the key fob didn't help and I may have a permanent imprint on my chin from attempting to use my head as an amplifier. By relocating the...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[wrigh003]

Mod: Extending range of keyless entry

Like other members with early-year Cuisers the effective range of my '98 LC's keyless entry was pretty dismal. We're talking 10 feet at best. New batteries in the key fob didn't help and I may have a permanent imprint on my chin from attempting to use my head as an amplifier. By relocating the...

forum.ih8mud.com

Awesome. I've got a growing list of 'lectrical stuff to attend to on the old girl (most of which involve various levels of dash disassembly...), so I'll add this to the list. Thanks for the share.

 

[gregnash]

Awesome. I've got a growing list of 'lectrical stuff to attend to on the old girl (most of which involve various levels of dash disassembly...), so I'll add this to the list. Thanks for the share.

Yeah I am not sure which book it was in but when I was going through my FSMs I found that the "maximum recommended operating range" for the keyfob was something stupid like 3.3m from the vehicle. That would mean the range is all of about 15-20ft. Which really does jive with what I have experienced.