Gen 4 remote locking fob- how to synchronise?

Background anecdote: With an hour before the Jimny was due to be collected for its service I took all my personal effects out, put the service book on the seat, removed the disklok and shut the door.
Pressed the button to lock the car- and nothing happened!!!!!!!

No problem, I have the spare key. Except that wont work either, I assume after 3 years in the safe it is out of sync with the car.

How do I get it working? I have a vague recollection of holding down one of the buttons on the Nissan until it got the idea, but there is nothing in the handbook about it.


I changed the battery in the original fob, there was a spare 1616 in the drawer- I must have thought ahead.
The battery in the spare fob reads 3.3V so it isn't a dead battery.

There is some hellish procedure on t'interweb to program a suzuki with a new remote, which seems to differ by car, but I'm fairly sure it worked when I first had it 3 years ago, and it is just out of sync.

Replying to my own post.


Turns out those CR1616 batteries really are useless, The battery measures 3.3V allright when it isn't connected to anything, but even a tiny load brings it down to 1.5V.
Another new battery got it working no need for any synchronisation.

Why they couldn't just have used a 2032 with 4 times the capacity I don't know.


Looks like the battery depletes in storage. Maybe I ought to dismantle the spare fob and keep the battery out of circuit, it will only take an hour and 5 minutes to put it back together if I need it. (5 minutes to put it back together and an hour to find a screwdriver that fits)