Hello everyone!

Sorry if this has been posted before. I've tried searching, but wasn't able to find my exact issue.

My wife has a 2008 Rogue AWD with the keyless entry system. Lately, she's been having some problems unlocking the door with the buttons on the door, or even directly from the key fob. It just doesn't seem to respond. Obviously, at first, I thought it was the batteries in the key fob, but when she does take the key out of the fob, and manually unlocks the door, she is not able to start the car with the key. It's almost as if the ignition is locked, and the key won't turn at all. Eventually she'll be able to get the car started, either by putting the key back in the fob and just starting the car like normal, or eventually the key will turn in the ignition and start the car. (Either way, it can take up to 15 minutes of playing around with it to finally start!)

Now, that doesn't seem like a bad battery in the key fob does it? Even if the battery was completely dead, shouldn't the key start the car without any problems?

Any info on this would be great. We're going to try and replace the battery in the fob, but like I said, I'm hesitant to believe this will fix this issue.

Thanks!

It sounds like you are having 2 separate issues:

1) The Intellikey doesn't work. Possibly due to a dead battery.

2) The mechanical key won't turn in the ignition. Sometimes this is caused by the steering wheel not being in the straight ahead position... I would have to double check to see what my Rogue does.

I would start by replacing the battery in the Intellikey. Do you not have 2 Intellikey fobs? I know some only got one with their Rogue... not sure why.

Finally, any service or replacement of the intellikey can only be performed by a Nissan dealer. They are the only ones who have the programming tools change/add intellikeys.

philipa_240sx wrote:It sounds like you are having 2 separate issues:

1) The Intellikey doesn't work. Possibly due to a dead battery.

2) The mechanical key won't turn in the ignition. Sometimes this is caused by the steering wheel not being in the straight ahead position... I would have to double check to see what my Rogue does.

I would start by replacing the battery in the Intellikey. Do you not have 2 Intellikey fobs? I know some only got one with their Rogue... not sure why.

Finally, any service or replacement of the intellikey can only be performed by a Nissan dealer. They are the only ones who have the programming tools change/add intellikeys.

Thanks for the response. Well, I changed the battery, and still nothing. It doesn't unlock, or even sense that it's in the car to turn the ignition. The mechanical key still doesn't work as well. And it's definitely not a steering lock; we've made sure of that.

To give a little more information, yes, she was given 2 key fobs. But the (dealer recommended) installer for the autostarter needed to use the other one in order for the autostarter to work. So apparently that one is mounted in the dash somewhere.

My guess is they needed to bypass the security somehow for the autostarter, so they needed to use the other fob to trick the vehicle? In any case, I guess it's possible that the battery has died in that fob. I suppose this could explain the mechanical key not working-- they may have had to reroute some of the ignition security in order for the autostarter to work correctly. This is just a guess though.

This is the only thing I could come up with for the mechanical and the intellikey not working.

Ahhh, you have a remote/autostarter. That makes all the difference in the world! There could well be an issue with that system.

I was reading through the service manual. If the BCM (Body computer) cannot properly read the ID from the key when inserted (part of the vehicle anti-theft system), it won't release the steering wheel lock and allow you to start the vehicle. This is true even for the mechanical key. There is a small antenna located around the ignition switch that reads the key ID for this purpose.

This would suggest there is an issue with either the key, the antenna used to read the key ID, or the bypass system used by your remote starter. If the latter is the case, you may need to return the vehicle to the place you had the starter installed and get them to diagnose it.

I suppose you could also try the dealer, but since the remote start system is not OEM Nissan they will likely disable it or refuse to work on it.

Not sure if this would be the case, but I keep my second Intellikey in my laptop bag which I always throw in my backseat or in the cargo area. I noticed that I was having difficulty starting my car unless my primary intellikey was out of my pocket and very close to the dash. After weeks of frustration, I came to realize that the battery in my secondary intellikey (laptop bag) was very weak or perhaps dead and it was causing the problem. Once I changed the batteries in both, the problem went away.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Well, this morning we couldn't start the car at all. The key would not turn, the intellikey wasn't functioning, nothing. I disconnected the neg battery cable and let it sit for a minute. Hoping to reset any antitheft function that might be causing the problem. Still nothing.

So, we had to towed to dealership. They're currently looking at it. Hopefully they come up with something. My guess is it has something to do with the remote starter. We'll see.