I am the very proud new owner of a Fiat 500 in ye ye green. It was a 5hour round trip to get her, but once I saw her picture I had to have her!

The only thing spoiling it for me is the remote central locking not working. I have changed the battery in it and it works 5 or 6 times and then stops. I'm sure battery life should be longer than this so think I may have a fault with the key fob.


Can anyone help please?

I suspect you're right that there's an issue with the fob. Cost is £150-170 though sadly.

That's a lot!

Does anyone know of any other options?

Poppy Myfanwy Jones said:

The only thing spoiling it for me is the remote central locking not working. I have changed the battery in it and it works 5 or 6 times and then stops. I'm sure battery life should be longer than this so think I may have a fault with the key fob.

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I've had my car 18 months now & my remote is still working fine on the original battery - so if it's draining that fast, unfortunately you do indeed have a problem.

Replacement keys for modern FIAT's, whether remote or otherwise, aren't cheap - a quick search of this forum will bring up several threads on this subject.

However, as your key still works, you may just be lucky - check carefully that there isn't anything holding in any of the buttons when reassembling it, as it sounds to me like your key is drawing power from the battery when it should just be turned off. Another thing to check is the quality of the replacement battery - some of the stuff you can buy in poundshops these days is basically junk.

Good luck with this, and I hope you manage to sort it out without having to fork out hundreds of pounds for a new key.

Poppy Myfanwy Jones said:

That's a lot!

Does anyone know of any other options?

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The cost of a new replacement remote key for me in Ireland is upwards of €260 so the price mentioned on a previous post doesn't look too bad.

Other options is to contact the forum trader on this post and he may be able to point you in the right direction.

Another idea is to fit a meta alarm system which comes with a remote control but it will cost you more money - unless of course you need an alarm system.
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/206074-dealer-fitted-alarm.html

Thanks for your suggestions, I'm going to take the batteries out and check connections and stuff.

Will let you know what happens )

had this on my last punto dirt and general grime along with a bit of oxidisation builds up on the switch / contacts (had that many car keys in bits in the past i cant remember what the fiat ones are like off hand


along the lines of remove the battery door get the key apart on the older square keys there is a screw under the fiat badge (not sure about the newer oval ones) then unclip the casing taking great care not to loose the tiny spring that flicks out the key blade

once in side use contact cleaner

http://www.maplin.co.uk/contact-cleaner-4153

on all electrical contacts and the back of the rubber buttons if a membrane type

Thanks Andy, that is really helpful. I will try it tomorrow.

My husband will be over the moon at having a real live excuse to visit Maplin!! ;-)