So.. I bought two keys on ebay from a very reputable seller - over 4k positive feedback. I made sure they were year 2000 nissan keys WITH transponder chips, and purchased two for $20 a piece. I went to my local dealership to have them cut and programmed (for a ridiculous $45) and when I got home (still using my master key) all was well. The next morning (yesterday) I tried to use my aftermarket key - and what a glorious experience that was... right up until the car's immobilizer system kicked in

So apparently the new keys don't hold their programming for more than 10 minutes, and when you discover this 20 miles away from the dealership ... well it sucks. I had to have my car towed back to nissan where the nissan tech proceeded to inform me of the keys' defect ...

After all that, I'm out a total of $150 (including towing fee) and have two keys that can successfully open the driver side door, the glovebox, and the trunk.

I obviously have requested that the ebay seller refund my money, and I think he will even though I already gave him a positive feedback... and my dealership (which I have had unusually good luck with) said that if I came back with OEM keys, they would cut and program them for free.

Now I'm just waiting for Southpoint Nissan to open this morning so that I can call Dave B.

 

Thats strange... I bought 2 keys from someone off ebay a couple months back, and they are still working today... Might possibly be a faulty chip...

Hope all goes well with getting the money back from ebay..

-Donovan

 

Did you have them program the car for all THREE keys at the same time, the original + the two new ones?

If you didn't, the original key would no longer work after the procedure was completed with the 2 new ones.

BTW, the car is programmed to accept the keys, not the other way round. The keys themselves cannot "lose" their program, because there is none. That is not saying that your no-start experience did not happen, I'm sure it did. Could be the immobilizer unit is defective.

 

no.......the key could be messed up too. I bought a key from star nissan and guess what...their key was a piece of ****...key would hold program for like 5 mins then went blank. orginal key still works. went back twice to get it fixed...they didnt' fix it...said they would give me a new key and i was too lazy to go back..6 months later i went to martin nissan got a new key and works fine...guy told me that the other key is defected.