UPDATE: Given that the cutter is a bit hit and miss (I did a key the other day, that worked in all locks but refused to turn the ignition), rather than risk ruining anyone's key, if 'you' purchase a key, and get it cut from your local Timpsons or independent cutter, (I would imagine this would cost around £5) I can then program the key to start the car.
Going forward, I will only be offering Transponder & Remote programming (which is, in fact, the costly part via BMW).
To help forum members out too, the cost for programming is what I will call "Beer Money" aka "Adult Pocket Money" - in other words, pay me what you can afford - around the £20 is a very fair price for programming :driving:
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Hey,
So I have now got a Defu 368a key cutting machine, as well as the EWS Programmer (AK-90+) for EWS 2/3/4 ...
Prices and details at bottom of post if want to jump over my current experience
Obviously, Mike aka Ducklakeview is also offering this service, I don't wish to compete so to speak, I just want to help members out by offering my services in Cambridge for any members that may be much closer to me.
I have a Defu 368a and have already undertaken a few tests to test the quality of numerous blanks available on eBay.
The first ones I bought were the same Diamond shape as the OEM key. They came with the electronics included and cost £8 delivered.
The remotes and transponders are great... however, I found the blades themselves to be a very soft, if not too soft metal. With no downward pressure, other than the tracer barely touching the full depth of the OEM key, it cut straight through :rofl:
So my first impression of those particular keys from that seller are not great. I have some others on order awaiting to arrive that I hope will be a better quality blade.
I had also tried the "Flip Key" style that, for £5.98 delivered comes with just the shell and a blank blade. The case/shell itself was awful... terrible quality. So much so that I applied to be refunded and return it via eBay. They refunded me my money and I got to keep the shell.
So I figured I'd test the blade since I'd already buggered 2 up, I figured another wouldn't matter :roll:
To my surprise, the blade itself was far far better.
A Perfect, copy... fitted and works perfectly! The problem being the flip mechanism is shockingly rubbish, so this shell is of no use to me but it was good to test the blade material.
I also ordered a "Bentley Style" flip key - different I think to the one Mike ordered as mine is different to the one he pictured.
I will be testing cutting of the blade tomorrow (Friday) afternoon after work and will report back. This key cost me £21 off eBay inc delivery, and includes the blade, remote & transponder & BMW emblem. Already this feels the best quality I've tried yet. It has a nice weight to it, the flip mechanism is very nice, the buttons feel nice and all round it feels like it has real quality.
The next thing to test was the AK-90+. So the first step was to remove my EWS Module. To do this, here's what I did:
There are 3 screws that need to be removed on the lip of the tray under the steering column
Screws 1 & 2
(Screw 2 shown again, and Screw 3)
With the screws undone, you can now move the tray lip down, revealing the "BMW Gong" and footwell light. Unplug the gong and the footwell light, then you can pull the tray forward and out.
Once removed, you want to look on the right hand side, above the accelerator pedal height (Above the speaker)
You will spot the EWS module, held in place via 2 10mm nylon nuts
Undo the nuts, and it will come free:
You can then simply unplug it and then pop the top cover off (You can see the little "clips" holding the top closed
Once you've opened the top, the you need to poke the little retaining tabs (x4) around the plug socket and it will easily pull out
On the right hand side you will see the MCU. There will be an ID on the chip. It may be hard to see in the picture below, but my chips ID is 0D46J
Next I plugged it in the AK-90+ and fired up the software
Took me about 10 mins, including some "exploring" of the software to read the new transponder, and add it to EWS. I then plugged it back into the car to test & it worked perfectly!! Happy Days 8)
So, the important part - Details
I would rather not get caught up with ordering keys for people - purely because when I have previously offered service to a different forum (was a different car too, SAAB) I had people placing orders, so I ordered keys, then they backed out and I was left sitting with £100 worth of blanks it was too late to return.
SO, ideally, I would prefer people to purchase their own choice of blank from eBay or where ever. I will add links to this post over the weekend once I have tested more as they arrive tomorrow/Saturday. For the E85 make sure you order an HU92 blank blade. Transponder should be a PCF7935 with ID44.
I was thinking £40 to cut & code seems a fair price for people providing their own keys. I would be willing to order blanks for people, presuming they pay for the cost of the blank UPFRONT and then the remainder can be settled when they visit me to cut/code. If cancelled for any reason - I would post them the blank, OR try to sell it on for them
If you're feeling ballsy I can set the machine up, and you can cut your own blade using my machine, reducing the cost to £30 for the transponder & RF coding. 8)
I also have the OBD 2 Cable for Carly (Android Version) as well as Carly Pro on my Nexus 7 tablet.
Anyone is welcome to code during their visit, or can have stuff coded for what I will call "Beer Money" aka donations
.
Try and make sure the cable will work via research first. But if in doubt, we can always plug it in and see if it 'detects' the modules :wink:
If you want any more information please get in touch.
I'd like to just repeat, I don't intend to be a direct competitor for Mike, I don't plan on stocking blanks etc etc just trying to offer forum members a cheap service for those closer to Cambridge (CB22)
Going forward, I will only be offering Transponder & Remote programming (which is, in fact, the costly part via BMW).
To help forum members out too, the cost for programming is what I will call "Beer Money" aka "Adult Pocket Money" - in other words, pay me what you can afford - around the £20 is a very fair price for programming :driving:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey,
So I have now got a Defu 368a key cutting machine, as well as the EWS Programmer (AK-90+) for EWS 2/3/4 ...
Prices and details at bottom of post if want to jump over my current experience
Obviously, Mike aka Ducklakeview is also offering this service, I don't wish to compete so to speak, I just want to help members out by offering my services in Cambridge for any members that may be much closer to me.
I have a Defu 368a and have already undertaken a few tests to test the quality of numerous blanks available on eBay.
The first ones I bought were the same Diamond shape as the OEM key. They came with the electronics included and cost £8 delivered.
The remotes and transponders are great... however, I found the blades themselves to be a very soft, if not too soft metal. With no downward pressure, other than the tracer barely touching the full depth of the OEM key, it cut straight through :rofl:
So my first impression of those particular keys from that seller are not great. I have some others on order awaiting to arrive that I hope will be a better quality blade.
I had also tried the "Flip Key" style that, for £5.98 delivered comes with just the shell and a blank blade. The case/shell itself was awful... terrible quality. So much so that I applied to be refunded and return it via eBay. They refunded me my money and I got to keep the shell.
So I figured I'd test the blade since I'd already buggered 2 up, I figured another wouldn't matter :roll:
To my surprise, the blade itself was far far better.
A Perfect, copy... fitted and works perfectly! The problem being the flip mechanism is shockingly rubbish, so this shell is of no use to me but it was good to test the blade material.
I also ordered a "Bentley Style" flip key - different I think to the one Mike ordered as mine is different to the one he pictured.
I will be testing cutting of the blade tomorrow (Friday) afternoon after work and will report back. This key cost me £21 off eBay inc delivery, and includes the blade, remote & transponder & BMW emblem. Already this feels the best quality I've tried yet. It has a nice weight to it, the flip mechanism is very nice, the buttons feel nice and all round it feels like it has real quality.
The next thing to test was the AK-90+. So the first step was to remove my EWS Module. To do this, here's what I did:
There are 3 screws that need to be removed on the lip of the tray under the steering column
Screws 1 & 2
(Screw 2 shown again, and Screw 3)
With the screws undone, you can now move the tray lip down, revealing the "BMW Gong" and footwell light. Unplug the gong and the footwell light, then you can pull the tray forward and out.
Once removed, you want to look on the right hand side, above the accelerator pedal height (Above the speaker)
You will spot the EWS module, held in place via 2 10mm nylon nuts
Undo the nuts, and it will come free:
You can then simply unplug it and then pop the top cover off (You can see the little "clips" holding the top closed
Once you've opened the top, the you need to poke the little retaining tabs (x4) around the plug socket and it will easily pull out
On the right hand side you will see the MCU. There will be an ID on the chip. It may be hard to see in the picture below, but my chips ID is 0D46J
Next I plugged it in the AK-90+ and fired up the software
Took me about 10 mins, including some "exploring" of the software to read the new transponder, and add it to EWS. I then plugged it back into the car to test & it worked perfectly!! Happy Days 8)
So, the important part - Details
I would rather not get caught up with ordering keys for people - purely because when I have previously offered service to a different forum (was a different car too, SAAB) I had people placing orders, so I ordered keys, then they backed out and I was left sitting with £100 worth of blanks it was too late to return.
SO, ideally, I would prefer people to purchase their own choice of blank from eBay or where ever. I will add links to this post over the weekend once I have tested more as they arrive tomorrow/Saturday. For the E85 make sure you order an HU92 blank blade. Transponder should be a PCF7935 with ID44.
I was thinking £40 to cut & code seems a fair price for people providing their own keys. I would be willing to order blanks for people, presuming they pay for the cost of the blank UPFRONT and then the remainder can be settled when they visit me to cut/code. If cancelled for any reason - I would post them the blank, OR try to sell it on for them
If you're feeling ballsy I can set the machine up, and you can cut your own blade using my machine, reducing the cost to £30 for the transponder & RF coding. 8)
I also have the OBD 2 Cable for Carly (Android Version) as well as Carly Pro on my Nexus 7 tablet.
Anyone is welcome to code during their visit, or can have stuff coded for what I will call "Beer Money" aka donations
.Try and make sure the cable will work via research first. But if in doubt, we can always plug it in and see if it 'detects' the modules :wink:
If you want any more information please get in touch.
I'd like to just repeat, I don't intend to be a direct competitor for Mike, I don't plan on stocking blanks etc etc just trying to offer forum members a cheap service for those closer to Cambridge (CB22)
