lupo without keys .. help please :)

[zimm]

Hi,

thought i'd post on here as i've been told different things by every garage ive spoken to,

whats happened is that my mother passed away recently and the keys for her 1998 (T reg) 1.4 lupo have disappeared, we hoped they would turn up when we cleared the house but alas .. no ..

The car isnt locked as she lived miles from anywhere and never locked it, but obviously we cant start it. I understand that the keys are "chipped" to match the car, so just getting a new key wont work unless its programmed to match the car.. How is this done ? does whoever is doing the programming need access to the car itself ? if so this could be an issue as the car is parked at my late mothers house in the western isles (so no-where near a dealership/auto-electrician)

so far ive been told that i would have to pay for a truck to come from glasgow to collect the car and take it to a dealership in glasgow to sort out a new key and coding it.. cost ? about £1000 !!!!!

can the key be programmed in situ in some DIY way ?

could i just get a second hand ecu plus matching key/lockset ?

any idea's ?

[midweekbeatle]

Just swapping the brain won't work, you could hire a trailer and collect it. They are fairly cheap. You can get uncut keys from ebay for about £25. VW should be able to order keys that come cut and programed

[adamss24]

It might work if you get and swap the ignition barrel, ECU and clocks (if it does not have a separate immobiliser box), because modern cars have the immobiliser built into the cluster.

[g40jon]

you'll need to swap a whole lot of stuff to make it work with new keys. if you go to your local vw dealer with a chassis no. and some proof that the car is now yours, they should be able to supply new keys that will work with your car.

[routemaster]

There must have been more than one key .. maybe she left the spare key with someone else .. maybe the spare key is in the car somewhere ... unlikely that both keys would have disappeared.

Cheers

dunk

[zimm]

There must have been more than one key .. maybe she left the spare key with someone else .. maybe the spare key is in the car somewhere ... unlikely that both keys would have disappeared.

Cheers

dunk

She only had one key, bought the car as an ex-demonstrator and someone had already lost one of them, it isnt just her car keys that have gone AWOL, its everything she entered the hospital with. Yes, im taking legal action, this doesnt help me move the car though

[zimm]

you'll need to swap a whole lot of stuff to make it work with new keys. if you go to your local vw dealer with a chassis no. and some proof that the car is now yours, they should be able to supply new keys that will work with your car.

so they can supply keys without needing the car ?

[zimm]

you could hire a trailer and collect it. They are fairly cheap.

trailer/van hire is cheap, CalMac ferries arent .. just cost me over £200 to take a van to the island and back !!! and they charge by the length of the vehicle.

You can get uncut keys from ebay for about £25. VW should be able to order keys that come cut and programed

so they can provide a key that will just work without needing to see the car ?

If this is the case then great, but every garage/dealer ive spoken to wanted the car brought in for the key to be matched to.. something about a "rolling immobiliser" ? which i though only the later cars had, surely 1998 (T reg) isnt "that" new ?