2009 BMW Z4
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

2009 BMW Z4 Remote Head Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

There's a stretch just off the Encanto border in Lemon Grove where the houses sit back from the street with long driveways, and the neighbors actually wave when you pull up in a van. That's where I met the retired engineer who owned a 2009 Z4.

He'd been putting off getting a spare key for two years. Not because he forgot. Because getting to the nearest BMW dealer meant freeway driving he wasn't interested in, a service appointment, probably a multi-day wait for the key blank to arrive, and a bill that felt steep for something he figured he could handle whenever. So he kept handling it "whenever" until whenever became never.

When he called, the first thing I asked was whether he had one working key or zero. He had one. That matters on this car because all-keys-lost on the Z4's immobilizer module is a bench job -- the module has to come out, and the whole thing takes longer. With one working key present, I could do it at the car through the OBD port and be done before lunch.

I set up in his garage. Decoded the blade on his existing key, cut a fresh blade for the new one, programmed the transponder and synced the remote through the port. Tested both keys: start, lock, unlock, trunk release. Everything checked out.

He stood there watching the whole thing. At one point he said he'd been quoted a price by the dealer that gave him pause, and the wait time on top of that was what kept pushing the appointment back. I handed him two working keys before noon.

He said he wished he'd called two years ago. I hear that more than I probably should.

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