Key fob issues

hey everyone, new guy here. I have a 2016 ram 3500 Cummins SLT. I searched to see if anyone else has this issue, but I haven’t found much. With that being said, here’s my issue with the key fob.

It worked fine for almost 18 months. The fob would work with my truck in the garage, and me in the house over 100 feet away. Suddenly it didn’t work. Wouldn’t remotely start the truck. Wouldn’t unlock or lock it unless I was RIGHT NEXT to the truck.

Next day it works fine, some days it won’t. I go to the dealership, they can’t find anything. Works fine there. I head home with the same issues.

About a month ago, I get fed up and head back to the dealership. They can’t find anything, and can’t replicate it. The tech “reflashed” the computer, and it worked fine for almost a month, until it didn’t. In this time I never had the truck in the garage and tried to start it.

Today I’m back in the dealership, they can’t find anything and they have no idea why it is having issues.

I have already replaced the batteries. I checked the buttons. I cleaned the contacts.
It doesn’t matter where the truck is parked, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Sometimes it will work from over a football field away. Other times I have to be standing next to the truck.

Does anyone have any ideas? I’m getting fed up with this issue!!!



I’m heading into snow season, so it’s nice to start the truck from the house when I get the wake up call to start plowing. Not to mention, you would expect everything to work on a $60,000 truck!!!

Update: dealer is ordering 2 new fob’s for me, let’s see how this goes after they’re programmed

Misfitmike63 said:

Update: dealer is ordering 2 new fob’s for me, let’s see how this goes after they’re programmed

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Did this fix your problem with your key fobs?

Brian Millett said:

Did this fix your problem with your key fobs?

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Waiting for the keys to come in, I’ll let you know after they arrive.

My wife picked up her new (to her) 2016 Jeep Cherokee yesterday. This afternoon her remote start didn’t work

What made them think your fobs was bad? Surely there’d be a way to test the transmission of your key fobs to a test receiver to rule out whether or not they were the problem. But hey, if it’s still under the 3 year warranty let em buy ya two new fobs. Lol. Maybe that was your problem.

But is there anything in your truck that might be causing interference with the signal? I know this is probably irrelevant and probably way off base since my problem was on a 10-year old truck but the reason I ask it is because I had a Diablo Sport Trinity tuner on that truck that I had found out would cause ungodly interference with both the key fobs and the signal from the tire pressure sensors to the TPMS receiver, causing my TPMS light to stay on, whenever I left the tuner plugged into the port under the dash like it was meant to be.

If I kept it unplugged and only used the tuner when I wanted to change something or flash the stock program back on to update the tuner, I no longer had that problem. TPMS went back to working fine and I got my key fob range back. Before, I’d have to be standing right next to the truck before it’d respond to the fob. Supposedly it was the cable that was emitting the interference but even after attaching five or six of those ferrite insulator things from radio shack to the cable, it helped some but still interfered with the tire pressure sensors.

Finally just ended up selling the nice gauge pod A-pillar cover I had bought and the gauge pod mount for the tuner when I had it permanently installed.


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I have no tunes on it, I even took my iPod and worksite radio Al. I’ve shut off the Wi-Fi at my house unplugged my scanner, and am running out of options. After this I’m not sure what the dealership will do.

Also, this doesn’t just happen at my house. It will not work at random places, nothing consistently. I notice it the most at my house, because I always start it from the house a few minutes before I leave. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it doesn’t. We’re all baffled.

Misfitmike63 said:

I have no tunes on it, I even took my iPod and worksite radio Al. I’ve shut off the Wi-Fi at my house unplugged my scanner, and am running out of options. After this I’m not sure what the dealership will do.

Also, this doesn’t just happen at my house. It will not work at random places, nothing consistently. I notice it the most at my house, because I always start it from the house a few minutes before I leave. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it doesn’t. We’re all baffled.

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I wasn’t saying whether or not you had a tuner, I was just using my experience as an example of interference from something in the vehicle.


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Cannot remember which one, but there are antenna's built in there for receiving signals. Maybe the connection loose? Just thinking out my backside here........

if the Fobs are good, battery in truck good, then Either a loose connection or antenna/receiving issue, but this is all IMHO.......Ie., I have a metal roof on my house and there are places my Phone works, some places it does not, BUT this is only an example,

turkeybird56 said:

Cannot remember which one, but there are antenna's built in there for receiving signals. Maybe the connection loose? Just thinking out my backside here........

if the Fobs are good, battery in truck good, then Either a loose connection or antenna/receiving issue, but this is all IMHO.......Ie., I have a metal roof on my house and there are places my Phone works, some places it does not, BUT this is only an example,

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Sounds good to me. I can’t believe they just assumed both fobs were bad.


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I had similar issues when I got my truck, they rebooted the RF Hub and everything has been fine since. That was back in April.

corneileous said:

I wasn’t saying whether or not you had a tuner, I was just using my experience as an example of interference from something in the vehicle.


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I was just saying I didn’t, Incase people are trying to help brainstorm on why it’s acting up

WTM75 said:

I had similar issues when I got my truck, they rebooted the RF Hub and everything has been fine since. That was back in April.

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They rebooted it last time, worked fine for a month then it started acting up again

Came in at 8:30 for my 2 new keys and reprogramming. 2 hrs after I get here I’m told their WiFi/linkup whatever the **** system is down and they’re still trying to fix it. Not like I didn’t have work and **** to do today... Hopefully this fixes the issue!!

Misfitmike63 said:

Came in at 8:30 for my 2 new keys and reprogramming. 2 hrs after I get here I’m told their WiFi/linkup whatever the **** system is down and they’re still trying to fix it. Not like I didn’t have work and **** to do today... Hopefully this fixes the issue!!

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Dammit man.


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Almost 3 hrs, but I got my 2 new fobs and no issues yet... but I was only like 10 ft away. I’ll report back tomorrow

Howdy, OP. Has dealer bothered to consider the Wireless Ignition Node (WIN) module? The proximity issue you reference with Fobs with or without new batteries, etc. lead me to believe the WIN module is the culprit. If under warranty, get dealer to look there. If out of warranty, I have a thread on the WIN module here and a link to a site that will sell 2 or more keys, a programmed WIN module and you'd never have to step foot in the dealership to resolve. it's a 5 minute installation. Only a mobile locksmith would be needed to grind the keys. Ez pz. Let us know and good luck!

S0CAL said:

Howdy, OP. Has dealer bothered to consider the Wireless Ignition Node (WIN) module? The proximity issue you reference with Fobs with or without new batteries, etc. lead me to believe the WIN module is the culprit. If under warranty, get dealer to look there. If out of warranty, I have a thread on the WIN module here and a link to a site that will sell 2 or more keys, a programmed WIN module and you'd never have to step foot in the dealership to resolve. it's a 5 minute installation. Only a mobile locksmith would be needed to grind the keys. Ez pz. Let us know and good luck!

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So, it’s thankfully still under warranty. Still having issues, mostly at my house, and some random locations. I recently went to my sisters house in Greenville NC and it worked from about 200+ feet away, perfectly... every time. I’ll see what the dealership says about the WIN. Hopefully that’s the cause.

Also, Semper Fi!

Today it wouldn’t work until I was about 10’ away at home. My wife’s new Jeep wouldn’t work until I was about 30’. When I was leaving the hospital this morning, it worked from about 300’. Went shopping, and leaving the store I had to be about 20’ away... I’m getting fed up with this!

Just renewed my UConnect subscription, and my keys worked from the farthest part of my house where I could see my truck, first try. Wtf!

Also, it starts from my phone as well.

Called the dealership and they said it shouldn’t matter. The keys should work fine without the uconnect. They’re going to look into it and get back to me next week

Misfitmike63 said:

Just renewed my UConnect subscription, and my keys worked from the farthest part of my house where I could see my truck, first try. Wtf!

Also, it starts from my phone as well.

Called the dealership and they said it shouldn’t matter. The keys should work fine without the uconnect. They’re going to look into it and get back to me next week

Click to expand...

I never gave my Uconnect subscription a chance to expire but that shouldn’t have anything to do with it.


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Aaaaaaand the keys didn’t work this morning, but the uconnect worked