How to start CE 04 without the key fob (lost or damaged fob)

[Delray]

SYNOPSIS:

The key fob to my '22 CE 04 was destroyed -- with my wallet and cell phone locked in the glove box. I learned how to power the bike on and ride it without the OEM key fob (you need the small plastic spare/emergency key that came with the bike).

STORY:

I ride my CE 04 to a golf course most mornings to practice. I carry half a dozen clubs in a skinny Sunday bag with a snap on cover. My Schuberth helmet is stored in the top case while I play.

Yesterday, after practicing, I opened the top case to get my helmet and left the keys in the top case lock, with the BMW key fob on the ring. Forgot about the keys while I put on my helmet and golf clubs, started the bike and set sail for home. Didn't need a key because the CE 04 is keyless. When I got home, I couldn't find my keys. Realized the key ring had probably vibrated out of the lock and retraced the route home in my car.

Sure enough, near the golf course, I found my key ring on the road -- obliterated by cars and trucks running over it. It was carnage, tiny bits of black and gray plastic strewn over twenty yards. I found a small circuit board and took it home, hoping it might miraculously open the glove box to free my phone and wallet. No such luck.

SOLUTION:

Without a phone available, I texted BMW Motorcycles of Fort Lauderdale from a desktop computer. Ordered a new key fob for $512 (... ouchie!). It arrives in five business days.

Meanwhile, the owners manual describes how to power the bike on using the small plastic spare/emergency key provided with the bike. It's all plastic and about half the size of your pinkie finger. Simply hold the blade of the key on the flat part of the dash directly under the power button, between the cell phone and charging port compartments. Press the button and you can power up the bike but not start it. That freed my wallet and phone.

The dealer told me the trick to start and ride. After the power is on, put the plastic key on the seat directly behind your butt. There is a transmitter below the seat. Grab the left brake, push the starter button like normal and voila, the bike is ready to ride. There is an immediate warning, "Remote key not in range. Bike cannot be started again." Before I rode it, I turned the bike off and repeated the process to make sure it COULD be started again. Same happy result. Dealer says I can ride as much as I like until the new key fob arrives.

Hope this is helpful for someone. Then again, I hope it's not, because that would mean your key fob met with an ugly fate, or you were as much of a dunderhead as I was yesterday.

 

[Tron]

Did the backup key help to get your phone and wallet out of the glove box?

 

[Delray]

Did the backup key help to get your phone and wallet out of the glove box?

Yes. I went back and edited my original post to include this, thanks.

 

[Tido Felder]

The information about the emergency key etc. is also in the operating instructions. The antenna is installed on the dashboard between the mobile phone compartment and the charging port, as can be seen in the drawing (3).

 

[pedalmike]

Delray- thanks for posting. My dunderhead story is very close to yours. My CE 04 was parking in a parking garage 3 weeks ago. I unlocked my Shad top case to get my jacket out and left the fob dangling from the top case keyway. 1/2 mile after exiting the parking garage I get the dreaded "Key not in range" message. I stopped the scooter to go look for the fob....but as a result I would not be able to restart the scooter without the key. My cell phone was locked in the left side box. Retraced my steps and found the fob in the road. It had been run over, but not as badly as yours. The fob case is damaged, but still starts the scooter just fine. I just went out and tried the emergency key procedure...it works exactly as you described. I'll probably replace the fob eventually, but hoping to delay that a while.

 

[Delray]

My dunderhead story is very close to yours.

Glad you had a happier ending. Interesting that you got a "Key not in range" message. I did not. Maybe I missed it but it's hard to ignore that big popup box that dominates the screen -- and I believe it stays on until you turn the bike off? Can you verify that?

Hopefully I won't need to find out. If there's one thing I'm sure of in life now, it's where my BMW fob is when I fold up the sidestand to roll.

Picked up my new fob this week and it activates the same way as the spare/emergency key: hold it on the flat part of the dash under the power button between the cell phone glove box and the charging glove box and press the Power button. Only have to do that once.

 

[pedalmike]

Delray- you are correct. The out of range screen notice also says the vehicle will not restart once turned off. (Without the emergency key of course) That was the case with my scooter.

 

[Delray]

The out of range screen notice also says the vehicle will not restart once turned off. (Without the emergency key of course) That was the case with my scooter.

Yes, I understand that. My question was, does the out of range screen stay on? It clearly did not on my bike, since it's five miles from golf course to home and there is no way I would have missed it.

 

[pedalmike]

In my case, the key out of range message went on about 200 feet from where the key fob fell. It remained on until I turned the scooter off almost 1/2 mile later.The message has an 'X' on the left margin, so the driver can exit the message by moving the wonder wheel to the left. To recreate the condition, just now I rolled out with the scooter, left my fob in my mailbox, and continued down my street. The out of range message appeared about 200 feet from my mailbox and stayed on as long as I was out of range. Photo below.

 

[Delray]

The out of range message ... stayed on as long as I was out of range.

Thanks. I know what happened ...

I turned the "out of range" message off, since that was part of my new normal using the spare/emergency key. The message always comes on when you start the CE 04 with that key, and I "X" out of it. Who wants to look at that while you ride?

Normally, with a fob, the message would only come on if I dropped it or left it behind, as you did. That message would have been my Scooby Doo clue that, "Ruh-roh, dropped my fob." I'd have stopped immediately and looked for it.

 

[Delray]

"Dunderhead, The Sequel."

You'd think after leaving my key fob in the top case and setting off on a ride, only to have the fob vibrate out of the top case and fall on a busy highway, where it was obliterated beyond recognition, then having to spend $512 at a BMW dealer for a new fob, I'd learn my lesson, right?

Wrong.

On Christmas morning, around 6:00 a.m., I hopped on the bike to hit Starbucks for a Chai tea and an ATM for $20 cash to give my grandson for losing his first tooth. Got about half a mile from home and the dreaded warning appeared: "Remote key not in range."

"No!" I yelled. Not again. I was at an intersection and had to complete a turn, so I turned around and retraced my route. I knew I had just gone over RR tracks so I looked intently in that area. Sure enough, ten feet from the tracks, there were my keys lying in the road.

Luckily, with zero traffic in downtown Boca Raton at 6:00 a.m. on Christmas morning, they were untouched.

Realizing it was probably a matter of time before I did this dunderhead move AGAIN, I took the orange top case key off the key ring immediately, and stored it in the side compartment.

Now, I power on the bike, push the button to open the side compartment, and retrieve the top case key, stuck in an upside-down hair brush I keep there. The BMW fob never comes out of my pocket.

In short, I idiot-proofed the bike from the idiot who's been riding it ;o).

 

[subcyclist]

Thank you very much, Delray and PedalMike, for sharing your experiences and solutions for key fob foul-ups. Thank you, too, Tido Felder, for posting that page from the manual, which shows the 'X-Ray' image of the antenna.

I have had a good strategy for keeping my key fob on me, but I have considered the possibility of it one day just dying. I have had my bike for 1.5 years, and I replaced the key's battery the day I renewed his license plate registration; I plan to do this every year as a preventative measure, but anything else could kill the fob - as demonstrated in this topic. I never knew what to do with the plastic key, thinking it was supposed to be inserted somewhere, but I could never find where. Of course, I did not RTFM! Big thanks to all of you for teaching me/us how to use the plastic emergency key, and for teaching us the importance of reading the manual.

$500 for a new key fob is painful. I am sorry to learn that you had to buy a new one, Delray.