2001 Lexus GS
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in Ventura County

2001 Lexus GS Remote Head Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

A woman over in Strathearn in Simi Valley called me on a weekday afternoon. She had the car, she had the key, but the housing had cracked along the seam and the blade had snapped off inside her door lock cylinder when she tried to use the manual entry side. She was standing next to her 2001 Lexus GS with a fob body in one hand and nothing else.

That situation sounds worse than it is, but it is not a fast fix either.

First thing was getting the blade fragment out of the lock. I decoded the cylinder while I had it apart, which gave me the cut data I needed without hunting down paperwork. Meanwhile, the transponder inside the broken fob housing was still intact. That mattered. When the chip survives, I can work with it instead of starting a full reset from scratch, and that changes the whole job.

I cut two new key blades to the decoded spec, transferred the chip into a fresh housing, and verified the remote functions on both keys before I packed up. Lock, unlock, and the third button, all tested at the car.

She went from zero functional keys to two working keys in about 45 minutes. The dealer had quoted her a number that made her wince. She paid a fraction of that, in her own parking lot, without a tow.

If your fob housing is cracked or the blade is gone but the key itself still starts the car, do not throw it away. The chip inside may still be good, and that changes what the job costs and how long it takes.

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