Yes it used to work without being in the keyport. Sometimes it still does, which is very confusing

 

Something in your pocket shielding the signal?
The coil in the receiver breaking down?
Main car battery needing charged?
I’m guessing now…

 

Car battery checked out okay.
No interference with anything in the pockets.
I've changed the batteries and also messed with the prongs on the inside of the key fob.

 

Either the fobs are not broadcasting a radio signal, or the modules and cluster are not picking it up, or even looking for it. Unlikely both fobs suddenly quitting at the same time so it could be just the car being senile. This would be funny if the dealers didn't play dumb and default to telling people to fork over 5k to fix it.

If you have SDD, you can try running some security service functions. Read this whole thread.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...3/#post2069153

 

I don't even attempt to swap the transponder over from the old key. I have always got a new transponder with a new key FOB and programmed them as new keys using SDD.

I think Bigv is correct and there is still some confusion about the FOB .vs. the transponder? As Bigv said the buttons on the FOB have nothing to do with starting the car. The FOB is really 2 separate items combined into one. A small battery powered transmitter to lock/unlock the car and a passive transponder chip waiting to be signaled by the car start sequence.

Yes the transponder should really never wear out as it's just a passive device but it's easier to buy a complete unit.
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