2005 S40 - lost keys.. I have a parts car w/ CEM,keys and ECM though?

[crazycat]

Before I go down the route of trying to get a new key made for my car, as a dealer is two hours away, I was wondering if I could swap the CEM, the ECM and use the keys from my parts car? Both cars are 2005. Does anything else need to be swapped like the DIM or the alarm module? I know someone here on this board can program new keys remotely, but the vehicle is currently not in an ideal location for doing that. With no key, the steering wheel is locked and we need to tow it to our house.

[Vova585]

I heard of online places that are able to help you with the key in short term. Some local mobile mechanics offer this service as well(cut the key and program). Dealer would likely be the most straight forward option but likely will charge around 350 per key and not sure if would ask to have car at the dealership to program new key. As for swapping the modules, I would honestly avoid that and rather try to remove the steering shaft at footwear and use it visegrips to "steer" onto the tow truck assuming car has old fashioned shifter unlock option(or one can just manually energize the solenoid or remove it to have access to gears(or ir the cable goes to transmission just remove it at transmission and use pliers to switch to "neutral" for towing purposes.

[RobsS40]

I'm just learning about this myself. I believe you need the key switch (ignition switch) to go with the key. I'm not sure if the CEM or ECM know about the key codes.

Several people selling a key and accompanying switch on ebay, for example.

VDash supposedly can cause the car to accept another key, but again I'm not sure. Maybe do some 'net research, email the vdash guy.

I have one key for my car, bought 2 others on ebay but haven't tried to get them to be functional yet. Still learning this stuff.

Some research I did leads me to think the key can only be programmed one time- there's an OTP (One Time Program) "chip" in the tip. Story I got was new key was like $120 from Volvo, then they program it for like $400 more.

There's also talk about a PIN for the CEM, and all kinds of difficulty getting that.

Again, sorry, I'm not super sure about any of it yet, but VDash would be by far the cheapest. You'll need an interface, which will have very many good uses like diagnostics, VIDA, etc.

On my S40 there's a small flap next to the shifter. You flip it up, poke something long and thin like a small screwdriver down in there and it releases the shifter so you can put it in neutral.