Hey guys

I bought a 2006 Dakota back in November. It only came with a single key, and I have put off having a new one made due to the shockingly high cost ($300+ here in Canada).

Anyway, I finally booked it into the Dodge dealer to get a key made and they just called and told me that they cant program the key because somebody has swapped in a different PCM and the VIN on it doesn't match the truck.

They said that I will need to book the truck in for an additional appointment that could run several hours for them to figure out what needs to be done.

$300 to cut a key is hard to swallow, but adding 2-3 hours of shop time on top of that isn't going to happen... a $600 key becomes a large percentage of what I paid for the truck!

Is there anything else I can do here?

Thanks!
Paul

http://hackaday.com/2017/03/29/save-big-by-hacking-your-car-keys/

Awesome link, thanks for sending it my way!

That said, I think I'll pass on trying that! I am a computer programmer, and built my own EFI system, but that looks like too much guesswork to me.

Thanks again!

You could just have two non chip keys cut and tie wrap the chipped key inside the steering column shroud.

That is a great idea! My only concern is if something happened to the truck, I wonder what my insurance company would say if they found it set up like that? Probably nothing since its an 11 year old truck that aint worth much...

Thanks!

Putting the old key inside the steering column was suggested in the link I posted. It may have been in the comments at the bottom, but it was there.

So was the suggestion that if the truck was ever stolen, you might not want to tell the insurance co how you had rigged it.

I didn't read the link, I looked at it but since I would not be interested in hacking into an ECM for any reason I didn't bother.

Sounds like a scam. Any scan tool and hook up to the PCM and read the vin in it in about 2 seconds.

Likewise, they can reprogram the vin to what it needs to be.

Also, I am pretty sure the 'code' for the key isn't in the PCM, but rather in the body computer that holds the security programming

Once the VIN is written into the PCM it can't be changed. Additionally if the VINS don't match the other modules won't communicate with it.

Is that a new development? Because lots of pcms have been reprogrammed with a different vin number. I have 3 here for my 98 Dakota. All 3 have been programmed to have the same vin AND serial number, so that my SCT tuner can load my aftermarket engine tune to all of them, giving me spare, ready to go PCMs.

The SCT 'locks' to one PCM at a time, and can only be used on 3 different pcms before it's useless and you have to buy a new one from SCT. If your PCM fails your SCT is automatically useless because even if you have vin changes left on the SCT, you have to plug in and return the first PCM to stock before you can load to a new PCM...something impossible to do if your PCM has an internal failure.

Bottom line, it has been done in the past.

Maybe SCT has a VIN unlocking feature but the factory tools do not allow it. New PCM's have to have the VIN written into them. It can't be changed. If I get a new PCM that some dealer has returned and already had a VIN written into it then I have to get another one.

The PCM repair shop I go to can change the VIN on any unit I bring them. That is why you can swap a bad one for a good one.

It's not an SCT thing. In fact, SCT would not appreciate such antics because then you could change a bunch of different trucks to the same thing and use one tuner for all of them.

I don't know what program it is but my buddy who runs an independent shop has the equipment to do it and has to pay a subscription to the factory for access to the service.

Bottom line, it can be done, or at least up to a certain model year it can be done. We may both be right in that older PCMs can be done but newer ones can't.

If the pcm was swapped and it was from another truck with security from the factory, the wireless control module would have also had to been swapped from the donor truck in that era. PCM and WCM would have been the two modules that stored and communicated the code between each other. In that ere we (dealer) could not change vin #'s on pcms. Once they're encoded, their done.

I could tell you a long ugly expensive story about losing the pcm and wcm from that era truck. Jumpstart gone horribly wrong.

Hey Guys... just a quick update on this.

1. I ordered two aftermarket (but identical looking) keys with remote buttons off of Amazon for like $35 Canadian.

2. I stuck my original programmed transmitter key near the ignition and tried to use one of my non-programmed (but cut) keys, but it just didn't work no matter where I put the programmed key including touching the two keys together. The truck would start for a few seconds and then die.

3. A locksmith was able to program one of the keys with no issue and suggested that the dealer just didn't know what they were doing.

4. I was able to program the third key myself using the truck itself using the original key and the key I had programmed at the locksmith.

Thanks for the advice!