Tahoe PPV key fob not working

[CrashTestDummy]

Odd thing happened to us in the '10 Tahoe PPV yesterday. One of our pups got ahold of one of the keys/key fobs, and chewed the plastic on the fob up some. The fob buttons still worked, but somehow my wife broke off part of it at work. I set it on the counter to epoxy back together after we ran some errands yesterday, grabbing the other set of keys/fob that came with the truck when we bought it.

We stopped at a store, and I noticed the lock button on the fob did nothing. Neither did the unlock button. So, in order to get our errands run, I opened the door, pressed the lock button and closed the door. I verified that the doors were locked before we went in.

When we came out, I pressed the unlock button, not expecting it to work, and it didn't. So, I unlocked it with the key in the door lock. When I opened the door, the horn started blasting like I had hit the panic button (I had not). I stuck the key back in the door lock and turned it to lock, but that did nothing. I could not find a way to get it to turn off, and thought that if I maybe started the truck it would stop.

Inserting the key into the ignition and giving it a turn did nothing! The truck wouldn't start! My wife futzed with the lock and unlock buttons on the door and the horn turned off. Once the horn stopped honking, I could start the truck with no problem.

I repeated the process to see if I could repeat it, and sure enough I could. Unlock the driver's door with the key and opening the door would set off the horn. It seemed that there was a timeout on it of like 30-45 seconds, because no amount of mashing buttons on the door lock/window switches could get the horn to quit. It eventually quit, and I could start the truck.

We went home and got the other keys, which worked, as usual.

Any idea what happened? I am pretty sure I _could_ open the door with this second fob, but can not anymore. Could the battery in it have died? If so, could that have caused the 'panic mode' when I unlocked the door with the key? Can I simply replace the battery in this fob and things will work again, or might there be some other problem here? Thoughts?

 

[Doubeleive]

when you manually lock the doors from the inside button it automatically arms security, if the fob is then not used to open the doors and you use the key instead then the alarm is triggered, usually the work around is to use the key and unlock bump it twice before opening the door, however the alarm should have stopped as soon as the key was inserted and turned to start.

 

[CrashTestDummy]

Hmm. Thank you for the reply. I'm pretty sure when I inserted the key into the ignition and tried to start it, the truck did not start, nor did the horn quit blasting. I remember thinking that we may be stuck where we are. I wasn't sure that locking the truck using the door lock would lock everything, so I hit the lock switch on the door on the way out. I'll try to remember to lock using the key from now on.

Should I attempt a relearn of the fob, or does this sound like a dead battery?

 

[BourbonNcigars]

I know this is totally unrelated, but I've never had a key fob work from the distance that mine does on my Tahoe. I always park in the back when I go to Walmart or a grocery store and one day I hit the button just to test it and was amazed it worked as far away as it did. Like the span of the lot. Way farther than any other vehicle I've had.

 

[Doubeleive]

I know this is totally unrelated, but I've never had a key fob work from the distance that mine does on my Tahoe. I always park in the back when I go to Walmart or a grocery store and one day I hit the button just to test it and was amazed it worked as far away as it did. Like the span of the lot. Way farther than any other vehicle I've had.

depends on the conditions and line of sight, for instance if you place the keyfob under your chin or in your open mouth the human skull sort of amplifies the signal. same goes for 2-way radios they can be rated for 5 miles but that would be out in flat farmland with no obstructions, throw some hills or mountains in the way and that rating goes way down.

 

[Doubeleive]

and I tried the double tap with my key on my 2012 it doesn't work, I may have been thinking of my 00 nbs or my 4runner I used to have

 

[BourbonNcigars]

depends on the conditions and line of sight, for instance if you place the keyfob under your chin or in your open mouth the human skull sort of amplifies the signal. same goes for 2-way radios they can be rated for 5 miles but that would be out in flat farmland with no obstructions, throw some hills or mountains in the way and that rating goes way down.

Wow. You were really bored that day, huh?

It was just notable since I frequent the same places so often and never had any other vehicle unlock/lock from near that range. So far it's been consistent with really no variation. Yes, I do get a slight thrill from seeing how far key fobs will work, goofy bastard that I am.

 

[Doubeleive]

Wow. You were really bored that day, huh?

It was just notable since I frequent the same places so often and never had any other vehicle unlock/lock from near that range. So far it's been consistent with really no variation. Yes, I do get a slight thrill from seeing how far key fobs will work, goofy bastard that I am.

lol, no I saw that trick on youtube or something, fun fact but it works

 

[BourbonNcigars]

lol, no I saw that trick on youtube or something, fun fact but it works

Of course now I want to try it.