I brought in my '04 RX8 for warranty work and asked that they program the switchblade key (had the key cut at Ace Hardware and modified it to fit in the switchblade) and keyless remote. I only had one remote and one key, so I could not do it myself. They told me the cost would be $85 (not much I can do since I cannot do it myself).

They just called and said they got the key to work fine with the ignition and it will run the car, but the keyless entry part will not work.

Here is the EXACT keyless remote that I bought:

Ebay link to Mazda RX8 Switchblade

Yet, I know that tons of people talk about having this done with the '04. What do I need to tell them to do, or do only the '05 switchblades work on the '04? I hate to pay $85 and not have the whole thing programmed as that was the main point in my getting the whole thing to begin with.

 

What do you guys think... Think I should try and "deal" with them.

Tell them that if I can get the remote to program, then they do not charge me for programming the key? Since they could not do it. If I cannot get it to program myself, then I will shut up and just pay the $85.

I never thought about programming the remote part before (since I did not need more than one remote to program others).

The remote should work correct??? And think the dealership will "fall" for the deal and maybe save me $85?

 

Program the remote yourself. I'd try and get it free if they couldn't perform the service then you shouldn't have to pay. It's really easy to program the remotes, just search for it.

 

I'm prettys sure the instructions for keying your own keys are on this site.

 

Just don't key the car!

 

Ben98gs- was it hard to modify the key to fit into the switchblade? I will need to do that for my next 8.

 

I actually took pictures and was going to do a write up...

I will try and get to that tomorrow evening.

No, it was not that hard, hardest part was Ace Hardware cut the key wrong the first time (but did not have the car to check it on). For some reason, the new/correct cut key will lock the door from the outside, but not unlock it, but works perfect in the ignition (which is what I mainly cared about since you have the keyless remote). I am going to wait and see if normal "wear" on the key fixes this, but like I said I never use the key outside anyway.



As for everything else... I am all talk.. lol

I got somewhat shitty with them about how they could not get it to program. They gave me a BS excuse that if it was used on a another car that sometimes they will not reprogram to another car (but mine was BRAND new). I then asked what method they used to try and program it. And then just figured since they already ran my invoice and I DID actually need the key programmed (since I only had one) and the price was about what I thought it would be, so I went ahead and paid it.

The guy went to get my car and I was planning on taking the car in the parking lot and using the method on here (Yes, I had searched before I posted this, I just figured since I had to pay them for the key, I was just going to have them do everything) and then if I got it to work, that was when I was going to get shitty. Well the Service guy that went to get the car, ended up trying to program it himself (I had not told him the instructions) and got it programmed before he pulled the car around.

 

I only had one key. I am not a newbie, I did search


Since I was going to have to pay them anyway, and I knew the price would not be different, I just decided to have them do that as well. I had searched and knew the procedure, but since they had my car, I posted this to make sure that I had not gotten the wrong fob as in my search everything talked about the '05 keyless and not the '06 (as most posts were from late '04 and thus the '06 model would not have been out yet).