Keyfob has lost a lot of range

Do you have more than one remote, and if so, does it perform the same?

The batteries are very easy to change in them. That should bring your range back up

He said he changed the batteries. But I would check to see if the new batteries are DOA. Maybe he bought a set of PPC batteries, or Post Pandemic Crap batteries made in Indonesia or somewhere....

Put the fob up under your chin. The water in your head amplify the signal from the remote giving you HUGE range gains.

DadBod said:

Put the fob up under your chin. The water in your head amplify the signal from the remote giving you HUGE range gains.

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LOL, we used to call it "urban legends" and "old wive's tales", today we call it "Tic Tok".

Holding the fob up high extends its range. Your chin is higher than your pocket.

(the water in your head is not significantly greater than the water in your torso)
There are lots of great articles debunking the typical reasons why people think it works, summary is that basically holding it up higher extends its range and avoids interference with neighboring cars. Here is one for example:

norm356 said:

LOL, we used to call it "urban legends" and "old wive's tales", today we call it "Tic Tok".

Holding the fob up high extends its range. Your chin is higher than your pocket.

(the water in your head is not significantly greater than the water in your torso)
There are lots of great articles debunking the typical reasons why people think it works, summary is that basically holding it up higher extends its range and avoids interference with neighboring cars. Here is one for example:

https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/5167/will-putting-a-car-remote-under-your-chin-increase-its-range

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Scott Kilmer has a great video on myths and included this one. I almost fell out my chair has he talked about it.

Kaiju said:

He said he changed the batteries. But I would check to see if the new batteries are DOA. Maybe he bought a set of PPC batteries, or Post Pandemic Crap batteries made in Indonesia or somewhere....

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Tacoman99 said:

The keyfob for my 2013 FJ lost a lot of range. At its best it would lock/unlock from 200ft +. Now it needs to be within 10-15 ft of the drivers door. It was not a gradual decline, it seemed to happen all at once. I replaced the fob battery but it didn't help. Not per even a little.

Any ideas? Also, does anyone know where the car side antenna is located? I should start by checking that,.
Thanks
John

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Do you by chance have anything plugged into the OBD harness? I had a widget plugged in that used wifi to connect to my phone. The remote barely worked when that was plugged In. Interference of some sort.

Buy batteries in a place that gets a lot of churn. I've bought batteries that were near dead, and it seems that those coin cells end up weak or bad more than regular AA and AAA's.

Like Home Despot, or Menards. My fob started having separation anxiety, needing to be up-close to work so I swapped fobs and eventually had to swap both batteries. Yeah, it's not hard, and some stores will even do it for you. But go somewhere where you have a better chance to get fresh batteries for sure... HD, Menards, Target probably sell more batteries than anyone. (I wouldn't get batteries from the dealer, they likely don't sell many over a year)

DadBod said:

Do you by chance have anything plugged into the OBD harness? I had a widget plugged in that used wifi to connect to my phone. The remote barely worked when that was plugged In. Interference of some sort.

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That was a really good question. Answer yes I did. It was a bluetooth obdii code reader. I put it in just about the same time (+or-) the remote lost it's range! I removed it. Did that help? No, not even a little. Anyway, I thought that was the solution. Thanks for the idea.

Kaiju said:

He said he changed the batteries. But I would check to see if the new batteries are DOA. Maybe he bought a set of PPC batteries, or Post Pandemic Crap batteries made in Indonesia or somewhere....

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Another good question: These are Energizer with guaranteed fresh date of 2031. I rechecked and both were over 3.1v. Lesson learned: I will check all batteries BEFORE installing.

norm356 said:

LOL, we used to call it "urban legends" and "old wive's tales", today we call it "Tic Tok".

Holding the fob up high extends its range. Your chin is higher than your pocket.

(the water in your head is not significantly greater than the water in your torso)
There are lots of great articles debunking the typical reasons why people think it works, summary is that basically holding it up higher extends its range and avoids interference with neighboring cars. Here is one for example:

https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/5167/will-putting-a-car-remote-under-your-chin-increase-its-range

Click to expand...

Yup, I always put it up to my chin. It seems to help. As a scientific experiment I put it up to my chin and over my head when I first heard the theory. I kept walking until it was out of range. The result? Both positions were about the same. I didn't try it with lots of cars in the area.

Tacoman99 said:

Another good question: These are Energizer with guaranteed fresh date of 2031. I rechecked and both were over 3.1v. Lesson learned: I will check all batteries BEFORE installing.

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I think Energizer has quality issues now. I've had several of their AA batteries leak in some device well before the expiration date. Same with Panasonic branded AA batteries. I'm trying Duracell out right now, but I have my suspicions that they have all gone into the toilet quality wise ever since the pandemic.

Turbokidd said:

Do you have more than one remote, and if so, does it perform the same?

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I have a second remote. They both have about the same range. Sounds like it must be something in the vehicle. I just changed out the stereo but didn't notice any problems immediately after. Does anyone know where the antenna for the remote is on the vehicle?

My '08 started doing this. I changed batteries and tried a different remote and nothing worked. Then, all of a sudden, it started working normally again. I have no idea what I did to make it work. Others have reported similar problems.

Kaiju said:

I think Energizer has quality issues now. I've had several of their AA batteries leak in some device well before the expiration date. Same with Panasonic branded AA batteries. I'm trying Duracell out right now, but I have my suspicions that they have all gone into the toilet quality wise ever since the pandemic.

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Where are you buying the batteries? Both Amazon and eBay have a ton of fakes out there and some of them can be really hard to spot. They'll test 3.1 or better but then die under load.

I know you said you installed a new radio but the range decrease didn’t happen till later, but have you add anything else.

I installed several USB adapters to power my iPad for navigation, Garmin GPS and a couple of other things. With everything plugged into the USB’s my remote only works within several feet from FJ. If I unplug everything the the remote works from over 50 yards.

Hope this helps

flyingarmadillo said:

Where are you buying the batteries? Both Amazon and eBay have a ton of fakes out there and some of them can be really hard to spot. They'll test 3.1 or better but then die under load.

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My local grocery or hardware store (not Home Depot). I've had the most problems with Panasonic batteries leaking, but just recently Eveready Energizer Max batteries have done the same. I tried RadioShack years ago and they were the worst. These failures are mostly with the AA and AAA varieties, not the button cell versions. After reading online, Duracell seems to be the worst leak offender, so there's no solace buying that brand either. I'm almost thinking of going to rechargeable lithium, but those have their problems as well. I also dare you to get compensation from any battery manufacturer for damage caused by their leaking batteries. It ain't happening even if you go through all their hoops.

As for button cells, it's either they're built properly or not. If not, they can show a full voltage, but fail under load as you stated. They usually don't leak until well after the manufacturer's sell by date.

Tacoman99 said:

I have a second remote. They both have about the same range. Sounds like it must be something in the vehicle. I just changed out the stereo but didn't notice any problems immediately after. Does anyone know where the antenna for the remote is on the vehicle?

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Was it just the radio, or did you do any sound insulation or deadening at the same time? The foil in some of these products can wreak havoc on keyless entry systems.

VooDoo Blue 57 said:

I know you said you installed a new radio but the range decrease didn’t happen till later, but have you add anything else.

I installed several USB adapters to power my iPad for navigation, Garmin GPS and a couple of other things. With everything plugged into the USB’s my remote only works within several feet from FJ. If I unplug everything the the remote works from over 50 yards.

Hope this helps

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Good ideas. Yeah, I did install a couple of hard wired USB chargers. One on the ignition/acc circuit. The other directly to the battery through a fuse. I will remove the power to them and see I that helps. Just to be sure, I will remove power to the after market radio. I should rule that out once and for all.