Hey Yall, I recently got a 2008 prius that was imported from Japan. And finding out the main key fob drains the battery after like 3 days and the 'spare' doesnt work at all. And so I'm looking to get a new fob and use the chicken dance method to program it. The issue is that I cannot find my exact key model. My fob is a black logo with two buttons, so no panic button. It is basically impossible to find the exact model (B21TA). I've found after market B23TAs and was wondering if anyone knows would these work? Or would a normal 2nd gen fob with the panic button work on my model. Apologies if there was already a thread on this I could not find it. Thank you.
I'm assuming the battery to which you are referring is the 12 V battery, not the battery in the fob. Can you confirm? If that is the correct assumption, what makes you think the fob is draining it?
It is the battery in the fob. 3 days after just changing the fob battery it will no longer lock or unlock doors, but the car will still start.
Did you check the battery voltage with a voltmeter to confirm it was 3.2 V? It wouldn't be the first time a freshly bought battery was flat.
It may or may not apply in the OP's case, but some newer coin batteries, especially Duracell, Rayovac, and probably some others, are now coated with a "bitterant." This is an unpleasant-tasting material intended to keep small children from swallowing them. In some cases, this material is thick enough or non-conductive enough to cause a device to believe a newly installed battery is weak or not present at all. We discovered this when our Apple Air Tags failed to recognized brand new, fresh batteries. The solution is to give the battery a few swipes with an alcohol prep pad to remove the coating. Depending on the brand, bitterant might be applied to one or both sides of the battery. Hope this helps.
Thanks for that, I just happen to change my battery last night and discovered that the car still doesn't recognize the remote from distances outside of the car. Shows the key is not present. I think that could be the problem as the pack complies with child safety and it took me three days to open the pack .. lol Thank you
I will give this a try but, after taking a closer look at the fob, it seems like someone has opened the fob before and superglued the housing shut..... I think that might be causing the battery to die out? I bought a used OEM fob off ebay and tried to program with the chicken dance but the anti-theft light is flashing a 2-3 pattern when i slot the new fob in for programming for a minute then goes back to regular flashing. Any ideas what that could be?
Regardless of whether you use Techstream (or a comparable scanner) or the 'Chicken Dance', you can only program a used key to start the car in the slot. To get the other functions, the fob needs to be new, or virginized so it is like new. I don't believe there is a process to virginize Gen 2 fobs.
Seems very unlikely that the fob was glued shut, but opening it is a bit like trying to figure out a puzzle box. It's easier if you have three hands! First, you have to slide that little spring-loaded latch next to the key ring and pull the metal emergency key out of the fob. Then, you have to slide that latch over once more and while holding it in that position, insert the metal key into the opening from the side and use it to slide the fob's back cover off. Then, you'll need a tiny Phillips screwdriver to remove the four screws from the inner cover to access the 2032 battery. My explanation might not have been very helpful, so here's a YouTube video that demonstrates the process. Hope this helps!
I know how to take out the battery. Im saying the two halves of the fob casing has been glued back together. I'll just be going to a locksmith.
The OEM fob case for the Gen 2 is glued together from the factory. In order to get to the board, and if you want to reuse the OEM case, you need to destructively separate the case front from the case back as cleanly as possible. After doing whatever necessitated getting into the insides, you then need to superglue the case back together, as it is the only way for the two halves to stay together. With most aftermarket replacement case shells, the front and back snap together, no glue required. The only reason I can think of for the Toyota design is to make it more splash-proof/rainproof.
I stand corrected! This has never been the case (no pun intended) for Prii sold in the U.S., but the Google Machine reports the following: European Toyota Prius key fobs are often sealed shut with adhesive to increase structural durability, prevent moisture ingress, and ensure security, making them difficult to open to replace batteries, unlike many North American counterparts which often use screws or plastic clips, say Reddit users. This design choice is frequently found on Gen 2 European models, which may require specialized opening techniques like cutting or using solvents, say YouTube users. Apparently, this also applies to the Kiwi versions of the Gen 2 key fob. The DIY fix appears to be: (1) carefully crack open the factory shell to remove the circuit board and the small, oddly shaped transponder chip, (2) order an aftermarket key fob shell, then (3) transfer the circuit board & chip from the factory shell to the replacement. It looks like the replacement shells come with blank metal keys, so if the original doesn't slide into the new shell and click in place properly, a visit to the locksmith will be needed to cut the new blank emergency key to match the original.
The light bulb finally came on, and looking back through this thread, I realize we're talking about two different things. In msg #8, the OP mentions that it looked like someone had superglued the two halves of the fob together and I thought he was still referring to accessing the battery. Then I saw that in msg #3, he notes that he had changed the fob battery, so in the later message he must be talking about getting the entire shell open to access the circuit board. That does require cracking the glue or heat-weld bond to separate the two halves of the case—unlike the Gen 3 fobs, which can simply be popped apart to access both the battery and circuitry. Sorry for adding confusion to the discussion. This does make me wonder, however, about Google's assertion that in European Gen 2 fobs, the whole thing is glued shut, including battery access. True? Or is this just Google's A.I. making things up?
I doubt that is true for the EU Gen 2; these AI apps LLMs are known to just make stuff up. Here, and in Australia, the fob casing is sealed, just like the US fobs. The only major feature difference is that our fobs do not have the panic button and use a different frequency to Tx/Rx.
