Hello Roy - Thanks for your reply to my brief post. I'm very sorry I've taken time to reply back!
Well, it was a couple of years ago now. One failed first, then the other one about 6-12 months later...
Ah so they didn't both fail at exactly the same time, which changes my diagnosis.
The symptom was in both cases the same: The signal level dropped and couldn't be measured, like it was running on a very worn-out battery. Replacement didn't help. After both had failed, I sent the pcbs for repair to a German shop that claimed they could fix them - unfortunately they couldn't and I didn't get them back.
Odd and incorrect not sending them back - playing devil's advocate here, maybe they did repair them and kept them, but just claimed they couldn't repair them!
(The imobilizer coil with its chip is still in the key.)
Thank goodness you only sent the PCB away!
My garage used a measurement tool they had to determine that the signal level from the keys was too low for the key to function, so no...
I actually didn't know that there was a method for resynchronizing keys.
That has been on my website in the FAQ section for years and explains not only how but the difference between programming and re-synchronisation, which is important.
Will it be possible to buy new remotes and connect them? My garage found it was very expensive.
You used to be able to buy new remotes specific to the VIN, but as these vehicles have been out of manufacture over 15 years now, I don't know the latest situation.
If you did get new Plips as Renault call them, that is when you have to use the Renault Clip to program the new ones into the computer before they would work. This is partly what adds to the cost. The other is that if they were too cheap to buy, it would circumvent the security aspect by allowing anyone to buy some to steal the cars.
But as I explain on my website, re-synchronising Plips you can do yourself. With the rolling code if you only ever used one key/plip, the other Plip can get so far out of sequence it needs to be re-synchronised.
However, this is all academic now as you don't have the PCBs. The low output I would have said was low battery and then with new batteries you would have just needed to re-synchronise them, to get it working again. That was probably why they didn't initially work after new batteries were inserted.
Roy