Hello.

My only key snapped off in the ignition of my Cinquecento this morning. I was pretty surprised, as I hadn't applied a significant amount of force - metal fatigue, I suppose. Fortunately I was able to remove the inserted part with a pair of pliers.

How easy is it to get a replacement? Would an ordinary key cutter like Timpsons be able to make a copy from the broken key parts? Can I get one from a Fiat dealer by quoting the code (C followed by three digits) stamped on the key?



I've read a lot on the web in the last 20 minutes about some kind of red key / blue key code system. This looks very much like an ordinary mechanical key, so I'm hoping that my Cinquecento (a '99 model) precedes this. Certainly the pictured broken key is the only key that I was provided with when I bought the car second hand.

Thanks for any help or advice ..

That is a blue key, it has a chip inside, Timsons should be able to clone it, > £.

If you had a red key as well you could have ordered a replacement from Fiat and done the ECU recoding yourself.

Noel

Pep0 said:

That is a blue key, it has a chip inside, Timsons should be able to clone it, > £.

If you had a red key as well you could have ordered a replacement from Fiat and done the ECU recoding yourself.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll head to Timpsons this lunchtime, then.

And I did. The guy at Timpsons told me it was a "dealer only" job after checking the transponder, but I asked him to copy it anyway. And I'm happy to report that it works. I held the original key stub near the ignition while starting it.

It only cost me a fiver, and he reckoned that a Fiat dealer would charge in the region of £150 to sort it out, so I'm somewhat surprised he didn't suggest this solution himself.

I guess I can either discreetly tape the original near the ignition or plastic tie to the key. The first option seems like the best bet quite honestly as clearly I'm buggered if I lose the original key stub.

It may be possible to remove the plastic from the new key, carefully split the plastic on the old key and glue it on. The alternative (usually tying the old key to the transponder link) works fine, but renders the immobiliser useless.

I was in Timpsons today getting a shoe repaired and remembered this thread while I was waiting and asked the guy if he could do my Sei's key. He put it into an RFID reader which displayed 'Dealer only'. He said it'd cost £80 for FIAT to replace it....

As fingers said, remove the transponder from the old key and you're sorted

Putting them both on the same split ring of the photo should work miost of the time.

Of that is too intermittent removing the blue hand hold of the new key and drilling it for the split ring will.

the ECU is only trying to recognise the code in a transponder.

If you damage the transponser in the old key fob you are walking...

Noel

Is it possible to have the immobiliser bypassed? I'm sure the old key stub is going to get lost or broken at some point.

Alternatively, where's the best point to stash it - is it a hard job to remove the plastic 'cover' underneath the wheel and tape it down somewhere?

Easy enough job. A few allen screws, is all. Use a tie wrap around something and it won't come loose. You could always get a decent aftermarket immob fitted to replace the (now) by-passed factory system.

I like self amalgamating tape for that use.

Cheers

SPD

Thanks a lot for the replies - is it obvious where to put the key stub? I ask because it seems to be a bit fussy when applying round to the ignition socket - now taking a few goes to start

Take the cowls off, unclip the sensor ring from the barrel. There is enough slack to move the sensor under the dash.

Cheers

SPD

Timpsons cloned two blues for my brother's Cinq S, can't remember how much (not a lot) but they are ones with the rfid chip inside - maybe only some branches have the right kit?

I went to a dealers long before with the red, only to have them clone the blue for my Cinq Sporting instead - £30.

May be more for Seicentos, I'm guessing later ones have the code 2 system?

All seis, I think, have the Code 2 system (as do very late Cinqs).