Washed Key Fob!

[the_road_less_traveled]

has anyone else done this. Forgot to empty my pockets and found it in the dryer. Its as dead as it can be. I have a hard time believing its fried because theres hardly any voltage in the thing. Its in a bowl of rice right now.

Any one else have any ideas?

[dparm]

I'd let it dry out, then pry it open and inspect for any obvious corrosion or deposits. The spray-on electronics cleaner (available at auto parts stores) should help clean that stuff out.

[the_road_less_traveled]

Nobody has done this? Fob is still dead 24 hours later. Need help. Fob doesn't seem to be able to be separated. New one is $200 plus 1 hour of programming.

[Lute__]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=763489

[M0J0]

I have left my key in my pocket countless times. I always catch it before I do laundry though. Mainly, because I so rarely do laundry. One day it will get past me.

[dfjaws]

I washed my 335 fob once (non CA) and it was fine after it dried out.

[the_road_less_traveled]

Originally Posted by Dashman

Let it dry out for a few days, my sister washed hers and it worked after a few days.
Don't you have a spare? lol

No spare and after 1 week I'm reporting the fob as DOA. Hard to believe, but it's dead and I'll have to spend $250 minimal if I want the creature comfort of keyless entry and comfort access. I think I'll "rough" it. Hopefully I can survive!

[Jaymax85]

250 is not terrible I guess

[Jaymax85]

Half glass full mentality?

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by xfirer1guy

No spare and after 1 week I'm reporting the fob as DOA. Hard to believe, but it's dead and I'll have to spend $250 minimal if I want the creature comfort of keyless entry and comfort access. I think I'll "rough" it. Hopefully I can survive!

The solution is.... open it and take a hairdryer...

[tinman831]

Originally Posted by xfirer1guy

No spare and after 1 week I'm reporting the fob as DOA. Hard to believe, but it's dead and I'll have to spend $250 minimal if I want the creature comfort of keyless entry and comfort access. I think I'll "rough" it. Hopefully I can survive!

Having to use your key to open the door is going to suck. Is it possible to buy a fob on eBay and program it to your car?

[the_road_less_traveled]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

The solution is.... open it and take a hairdryer...

Only PROBLEM Is That BMW Makes Them disposable. They gave to be cut open to access the board. That there is just ridiculous.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by xfirer1guy

Only PROBLEM Is That BMW Makes Them disposable. They gave to be cut open to access the board. That there is just ridiculous.

What i wanted to say is....
1- Pull the key out from the keyfob
2- Now you have a hole
3- Take a hairdryer a blow hot air into the hole of the key
4- Keyfob will be drying from the inside because it's warmed up inside
Maybe (hope) this will help

[the_road_less_traveled]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

What i wanted to say is....
1- Pull the key out from the keyfob
2- Now you have a hole
3- Take a hairdryer a blow hot air into the hole of the key
4- Keyfob will be drying from the inside because it's warmed up inside
Maybe (hope) this will help

Thanks for the info, but unfortunately I've done most of this. Parked key (without CA battery and cover and key) in bowl of uncooked rice for 2 nights and nothing. I still can't believe it's dead. I mean it's a solid state board with very low voltage. I've washed key's before, but only the expensive BMW key failed. Yaay.

[BIGW0RM]

The solution is to put it in a ZIPLOCK back of UNCOOKED white rice. The rice will absorb the moisture and the bag helps keep the humidity high enough for the rice to absorb the moisture. That's worked for me on cell phones a couple times.

[the_road_less_traveled]

Originally Posted by ILSMKU

The solution is to put it in a ZIPLOCK back of UNCOOKED white rice. The rice will absorb the moisture and the bag helps keep the humidity high enough for the rice to absorb the moisture. That's worked for me on cell phones a couple times.

Same here, not sure why it won't dry this key out. I Def put it in uncooked rice. lol

Could you imagine the sticky rice all up inside a key or phone otherwise! Bwaahaha

[tacoman]

Originally Posted by ILSMKU

The solution is to put it in a ZIPLOCK back of UNCOOKED white rice. The rice will absorb the moisture and the bag helps keep the humidity high enough for the rice to absorb the moisture. That's worked for me on cell phones a couple times.

+1

Rice has magical properties...

[the_road_less_traveled]

Originally Posted by Dashman

Let it dry out for a few days, my sister washed hers and it worked after a few days.
Don't you have a spare? lol

Surprisingly, after nearly 2 weeks it started working again. I cannot believe it. I jumped in it this morning and had full functionality back. I cant believe after 1 week it was dead, but 2 weeks is the length of time it took to totally dry out. Amazed the hell out of me. I've resurrected the dead!

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by xfirer1guy

Surprisingly, after nearly 2 weeks it started working again. I cannot believe it. I jumped in it this morning and had full functionality back. I cant believe after 1 week it was dead, but 2 weeks is the length of time it took to totally dry out. Amazed the hell out of me. I've resurrected the dead!

[the_road_less_traveled]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

HAAAA.. Yeah I totally felt like this kid! Haaaa. I was almost to the point of buying a jar of KY Jelly prior to my stealership visit.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by xfirer1guy

HAAAA.. Yeah I totally felt like this kid! Haaaa. I was almost to the point of buying a jar of KY Jelly prior to my stealership visit.

Serious now..Glad to hear this, and sounds a lot better than all these blown S65 engines on this forum

[jdamore]

Guys.. You gotta stop with the damn bag of rice to dry out small electronics lol.

Here's the deal.. In most cases, when there's water damage, its due to corrosion (wet or dry) that shorts out the pins on the IC`s. CURRENT going in the wrong pins can cause damage to the IC, that's why you hear that you should remove the battery ASAP. Corrosion can also short and kill your battery.

If you know about how silicon chips are mounted on a printed circuit board, you know that if they are opened from their packaging for a period of time, they need to be BAKED to get the moisture out. Moisture on the chips will cause them to crack from the high temps to melt the solder. Different chips have different heat curves depending how fragile it is but they can take the heat! Keep in mind, some thing's can't take the heat like batteries.

No more bag of rice, seriously. You could use a hair drier but it takes a LONG time to dry out. Use your oven and bake it. Most ovens start at 170-180 degrees F and thats a bit too warm. I like and feel safe to bake most things at about 130F. I'll preheat my oven to 180, turn it off, leave the door open for a few moments so it drops in temp, and bake it for and hour or more! When the oven drops in temp, just kick it on for a few moments to warm it up. You should disassemble the device as much as possible to let the moisture vent. Remember not to bake the battery! Soft plastics and rubbers are more likely to be damaged from high heat.

I have saved several phones, and even a cybershot digital camera (unfortunately contaminates got on the inside of the lenses so there was halos around bright lights in the picture but that's not the point).

With the key fob, I would remove the key and bake for at least an hour and a half to a couple hours at like 110-120F (because there's a battery in there).

Never tried it but I was reading about completely submerging your device in high % rubbing alcohol to clean it out if you drop it in something like salt water. Might want to Google that one.

Edit - glad your key is working!