2006 Mitsubishi Lancer
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Transponder Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

I got a call from someone parked near Del Mar Village, right off the main strip. She'd had a spare key made at a hardware kiosk and it turned the ignition fine, cut was good, but the car would crank and immediately die. Classic. She assumed the car had a mechanical problem and was already pricing a tow.

I asked her one question: where'd the key get made? That was the whole answer right there.

The 2006 Lancer's ignition cylinder doesn't know or care about key profiles. The immobilizer does. It's reading the chip in the key head every single time you turn that ignition. A hardware store blank looks identical from the outside and turns just like the original. But it either has the wrong chip or an unprogrammed one, and the immobilizer rejects it without a word. The engine just quits.

I pulled up behind her, plugged into the OBD port, programmed the chip in her new key to her specific vehicle, and sent her a test start. Fired and held idle like nothing happened. She'd been sitting there two hours waiting on a tow truck she didn't need.

The dealer would have taken two days and her schedule. This took about twenty minutes in a parking lot off the 101.

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