2001 Pontiac Montana
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

2001 Pontiac Montana Transponder Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

I was out near Moonlight Beach on a Tuesday, the kind of morning where the marine layer hasn't burned off yet and everything smells like salt water. The call was a 2001 Pontiac Montana sitting in a parking area off the main drag. Owner had a key, said it used to work fine, then one day the van just stopped starting.

She'd already tried the spare. Same result. Engine would crank, catch for a second, then cut out. She figured it was fuel or maybe the battery. Someone at a shop told her it might be the starter. Nobody mentioned the key until she called me.

I got there and the first thing I did was look at both keys. One was clearly a replacement, the kind cut at a hardware store. No chip in the head at all, just plastic. That one had probably never started the van. The original had a chip, but it had been on a packed keyring for years and the head was cracked all the way through. Still turning the ignition, but the antenna ring wasn't reading the chip reliably anymore.

Programmed a new key on site, right there in the parking lot with the ocean about two blocks away. Van started on the first try. She had been hauling her family around thinking she had a mechanical problem for weeks.

The dealer quote she'd gotten the day before was for a diagnostic appointment plus the key. Would have taken days and cost her a lot more than she paid me. I was done in about forty minutes.

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