Hello all,

I was having problems with my smart key being wirelessly recognized by the car, so after talking to a local key programmer and running diagnostics with his software, we deduced that it was a fault in the KVM. We checked the fuses in the fuse box in the front right footwell as well as in the trunk, they're all fine. So I sent mine in to one of the ebay services to get mine cloned. When I got them both back, I installed the new one, and it still didn't recognize the key. I opened up the old one (the new one is still in the car) and found that there is a burn on one of the chips on the PCB. I haven't opened the new one, but I'm guessing it is burned as well, pointing toward a short in the wiring somewhere.

So my question is: does anyone know where to start tracing a short in the wiring loom leading up to the KVM? I know the wiring that leads into the trunk lid is a common failure point, but I can't imagine any KVM wires would run through that loom. I can find schematics of specific systems, but they don't tell you where they are routed in the car. I'm at a bit of a loss, does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
James

 

Check the KVM power and ground pins first. Common short is in the passenger footwell fuse box wiring or where the KVM harness rubs against metal near the module. Also look at the trunk lid loom anyway it carries CAN bus wires that talk to the KVM, and a short there can feed back. Unplug the new KVM and probe for continuity to ground on the 12V feed lines before plugging anything else in.

 

Thank you!!! I'll look closely at those areas.

It also occurred to me that it might help to show what part of the board shorted. If anyone is familiar with the KVM layout, they may be able to point to a particular wire to look for. It's the square chip on the far right side of the PCB int he picture: