'03 Pontiac MOntana Keyless entry

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wildbill7145

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Hello! Just bought a used '03 Montana. The thing's basically in mint condition other than a couple of issues that are driving me crazy.

The remote keyless entry won't lock or unlock the doors with the fob. I know the fobs both work as when you push the 'panic' button, the horn does it's thing. The only thing I can think of that might be connected is that the radio is not working either. Yesterday, the display was flickering and showing the station and the clock, then it went out again and displayed nothing.

Was going to try changing the battery in the fob, but it appears they'd rather you didn't because any attempt to pry the bloody thing open leaves me practically wrecking the thing. Tried every slot screwdriver I own (many), Dad's old pocket knife, butter knife. Almost tried a framing hammer when I was getting a little frustrated.

Then I hit the panic button and the horn went off leaving me thinking the battery isn't a problem.

Any ideas? I tried searching on here but couldn't find anything specifically matching this issue.

Thanks for reading. Love this van. Drives like a dream.
 
Doing a little poking around on the web, I was wondering if it could be fuse #29 under the hood. That doesn't appear to make sense though because that fuse also controls the 'driver information display' and the heater a/c control and both of those appear to be working fine. Either way, I'll test it when it gets a little more light outside.

I swear I'm cursed. The van I just got rid of had exactly the same problem, amongst others.
 
Hey Mel! I was just going to head outside to check all this stuff in the freezing cold! I'm pretty sure the button on the fob for the single sliding power door doesn't work either, but I'll run out now and check it to be sure.

I should have mentioned that the manual buttons to lock/unlock the doors seem to work just fine.

I'll read the sections you mentioned before I head out there regarding the battery and the interior fuse box.

Edit: Yep, I had read both of those. I tried using a coin, thin slot screw driver, everything. Both fobs are hanging on for dear life and don't want to be opened. I might end up wrecking them if I keep trying, but if that happens that's life. I can get new ones. I tried the panic button from about 20' away and it worked, more importantly it worked again to shut the horn off!

Regarding the fuse for the power door locks, they seem to work fine so I was thinking more towards fuse 29, but the heater, etc. works fine.
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Well, the 10 amp fuse 29 is giving me the green light so I'm assuming that's ok. I reconfirmed that the manual power door locks, including the single sliding door opener are working fine.

The keyless fob isn't opening anything including the power sliding door. I checked both fobs. I tried again turning the radio on. The display did light up for a second, audio came on then it died pretty quickly. Not sure if that's connected to the fob issue.

I know the radio worked fine the other day when I picked up the van. The little old lady I bought it from had the radio booming! I even think the fobs worked that day but can't remember for sure.
 
Well, I figured it out. Battery(s) in fob were almost dead. Went out and sat in the van staring at all the buttons wondering if I'd pushed something that disabled the fob.... For some reason I pushed the lock button on one of the fobs and kept it pushed. All of a sudden the doors locked. lol.

I can't figure out why the panic button worked and the doors didn't. Maybe that feature just requires less of a signal?

Came back in the house and retried opening the thing up with a dime and this time it worked! Put in a new cr2032 and all's good in my world again.

Except for the radio, but I really don't care much about that.
 
good to hear you got one problem resolved.
if the radio works, you hear sound, and it's the display only that is not working the problem is probably in the radio itself. There are links you can find concerning replacing leds/bulbs for the display or you can go aftermarket radio.
 
Yeah, the whole thing isn't working. Display, radio, etc. It's intermittent. Display flickers on and off. Same with radio. Thinking it might have something to do with a loose wire or the fuse or something. If it wasn't so bloody cold out there, I'd be fiddling around with it. lol.

One thing I do love about this van is how quickly the thing heats up though! My Caravan I got rid of took forever to warm up, wouldn't even defrost the windshield after running for 10-15 minutes. This thing takes no time!
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It does sound like a loose connection and I notice you are in Canada so if no heated garage available the radio will wait till spring.
 
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