fig19

I bought a '10 LS460L this past May.The car came from a private seller w/all manuals and 2 key fobs.The "master" key fob has always worked fine,the spare fob came w/no battery or key to manually operate ignition or locks.I bought and had a new battery installed(batteries plus),the red light comes on when pressing door lock/unlock function but nothing happens and it wont start the car.I've tried holding the key close to the start button,tapping the start button with the fob and the "lock/unlock 3 times" idea but still nothing.
Would not having a battery in the fob for long time remove any programming installed in the fob when new?I'm not sure how long it had been w/out a battery.
Thanks for any help/suggestions.

jkeller

Is it exactly the same as the working fob? My thought would be an aftermarket fob or a Lexus fob from a different model and or year. A Lexus LS fob from 2010 will not work on a 2016LS.

Rhambler

It might be a replacement fob that was just never paired to the vehicle?

The dealership should be able to pair it or you might even be able to do it yourself with the right OBD software, although I'm not sure how. There might be a simpler method as well, but I have no idea.

2v1g

When I bought my pre-owned 06' LS430, I got 2 master keys and 1 valet key. The valet key is not keyless entry and has more limited functions. When I bought my pre-owned 11' LS460 this time, I didn't get a valet key. Am I suppose to get a valet key for LS460?

Rhambler

I don't think our car has a separate valet key per se, my brand new car didn't come with one, just two key fobs.

However, we can turn our keys into a valet mode but removing the actual key part I think. I vaguely remember reading about in our instruction manual, although I haven't valet'd it yet.

DJWLDW

I would guess that either it needs to be paired or reprogramed. I left the battery out of my 2003 smart car cabrio while I went to Wal Mart to get a new one and when I came back and installed the new battery it would no longer work. I latter learned from reading the manual that if you left the battery out for more than 5 minutes it lost it's programing and became useless until reprogramed. It cost me $160 to have it reprogramed. I even made a trip up to Canada to get it reprogramed but it turned out that the MB dealership could not do it because mine was a gas model and they only had diesels smarts in Canada and they had different key codes. I finally got it reprogramed from a company in Seattle who had bought a program hacked by the Russians of MB's key programing codes.

Dennis

fig19

Thanks for the replies and sharing similar experiences w/key fobs.Visually the spare fob looks identical to the working fob,even has the leather cover(but no "key" inserted in the fob slot.I know the dealer charges $100 to programm a fob but having only one working fob is a serious issue waiting happen.I'll keep monitoring responses and maybe some ideas and options to get it to work will be presented.

comotiger

When I bought my car in February, it came with only one key fob. I went to a local auto locksmith who ordered a second fob, programmed it, and cut the mechanical key all for $160. I would call auto locksmiths in your area for how much they would charge to program the fob. It should be less than the dealer.

2v1g

Valet key should not be the same as the master key visually. My LS430 valet key looks like the master key, but doesn't have the trunk open sign at the button

fig19

I compared the serial/model #'s of the 2 fobs and they are different.Doing a search of the working fobs model/serial # it seems to be the OEM Lexus fob.The non-working fob seems to be an aftermarket one and I'm thinking was never programmed to the car.The serial #'s are:
Working Fob=HYQ14ACX
Non-Working=HYQ14AAB

Thanks for all the inputs.Hope this thread can help others.