Cleaning the key wont do anything, the active components are:
An RFID chip inside the key, this is a small coded chip which has a capacitor and a coil for an antenna which is charged up by a radio signal sent out by the reader device which has a coil of wire as an antenna, around the ignition key hole.
The chip is only "live" while the key is in the ignition and the two antennae are in close proximity.
A second antenna in the ignition lock side, reads the code sent by the chip and verifies it inside the engine management ECU and allows the start sequence.
No matching code...no start.
I have had lots of cars with this type of device and I have fitted hundreds of aftermarket versions of the RFID immobilisers and I have never seen the problems that Renault cars suffer from (presumably Citroen and Peugeot are the same) It appears to be a French thing.
One thing I wondered was the possibility that on the RHD version they (Renault) may have not altered the system for this market.
I say this because my present cars (both German) and the aftermarket units I fitted, have a time limit during which you can start the car after opening and closing the drivers door. The reader is also only powered up by this sequence. (The remote locking has the same effect of starting the timing sequence)
The reason for this is fairly obvious if you think about it, its to switch the reader device off, if you are not going to start the car, otherwise it would be on all the time, drawing current.
Could this be another one of the anomalies of the RHD Renault cars, like the single lock on the passenger door and the strange central locking that doesn’t operate from the drivers door lock, only the passenger side??
One “trick” that might work, is to note which way round the key is when it works first time, because the RFID chip is mounted on one side of the key, you might get a better “read” that way round………don’t know why it should but hey….its French !
HELP!
