Bypassing or replacing my SKIM module in 2006 Wrangler unlimited

Austinwalker97

Austinwalker97

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Dec 27, 2017
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Greenville, NC, United States
Hello everyone,

So I bought my 2006 Wrangler unlimited about three years ago and it only came with one key. I went and has copies made but did not realize that the key to the jeep had a chip in it as my previous wranglers did not. I have been meaning to get another chip key made but obviously I put it off too long. My keys were stolen this weekend and while considering my options I was wondering if anyone has any advice on bypassing the SKIM module or possibly replacing the ECM with and older model that doesn’t have SKIM. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
 
Austinwalker97 said:
Hello everyone,

So I bought my 2006 Wrangler unlimited about three years ago and it only came with one key. I went and has copies made but did not realize that the key to the jeep had a chip in it as my previous wranglers did not. I have been meaning to get another chip key made but obviously I put it off too long. My keys were stolen this weekend and while considering my options I was wondering if anyone has any advice on bypassing the SKIM module or possibly replacing the ECM with and older model that doesn’t have SKIM. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Send the PCM to Wranglerfix and he can turn off the SKIM.
 
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I sent mine off to Wranglerfix last week Wednesday (arrived to him Friday), it's already headed back to me and should be at my house this Friday (so a 9 day turnaround on a holiday week without expedited shipping). Pretty good option!

Though longer term I'd think you want to replace the skim keys to protect your rig.

Austinwalker97 said:
Thank you I will look into that. Does he have a website?
Click to expand...

Wranglerfix.com
 
rasband said:
I sent mine off to Wranglerfix last week Wednesday (arrived to him Friday), it's already headed back to me and should be at my house this Friday (so a 9 day turnaround on a holiday week without expedited shipping). Pretty good option!

Though longer term I'd think you want to replace the skim keys to protect your rig.



Wranglerfix.com
Click to expand...

Thank you! This has been extremely helpful!
 
I bought like 8 skim keys from eBay, not even cut yet but I need to get them programmed because I only had 1 key to start with and you need 2 if you want to self program…
 
astjp2 said:
I bought like 8 skim keys from eBay, not even cut yet but I need to get them programmed because I only had 1 key to start with and you need 2 if you want to self program…
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Just to give a cost estimate, I bought two keys from a dealership for $72. They cut and programmed them and I paid a total of $312 (including that $72).

If I knew sooner I would have just had them do 1 key so I could have programmed more from there. But I finally have a little peace of mind since I only had 1 key to start with.
 
Definitely keep the SKIM. It's the best anti-theft protection you can have. It won't stop a rollback from loading up the Jeep, but a thief isn't going to drive off (not more than a few feet) with the Jeep!
 
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Also be aware that the dealers have been selling some bad keys. I bought a couple that couldn't be programmed. If you have them cut and then they don't program, they won't give your money back. I've bought several keys from ebay that worked great and were not expensive.
 
Had only one key with my 05 LJ - Had tried to go to Ace Hardware, who said they could cut/program the key, but after talking with them, they could not (for some reason they say they can do this again now??). The catch was, the key was somewhere on the order or $80 and if miscut or did not work, it was on me.

Got another chipped key from the dealer with programming for ~$150, cheapest of the few dealers around my area. Got the correct key cut and correctly programmed at the dealer and purchased three chipped keys from Car and Truck Remotes.com Chrysler / Dodge / Jeep transponder key blank Y160-PT - Ilco brand

Talked the folks at Ace into cutting the keys for me and I programmed them following the directions from the Resources section here: SKIS (SKIM) Sentry Key Programming Now have 5 total programmed keys in case I lose any and will still have enough (two) to program additional keys unless I really goof up!

Total cost ~$200 and some time, worth it in my opinion to keep the system in place and active.
 
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As the value of TJ's continues to climb, as "decent" examples continue to dwindle (even though they made over 950K of them), the SKIM system is "cheap insurance" to either add to your TJ (as I did) or to insure its operational status remains in place. These things are WAY too easy to steal otherwise! Shit - in this day & age, any yaknowdick can become a fairly proficient vehicle thief just by watching a few "educational videos" on youtube, sadly - it USED to be a relative "art form", back in the day...
 
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Irun said:
Also be aware that the dealers have been selling some bad keys. I bought a couple that couldn't be programmed. If you have them cut and then they don't program, they won't give your money back. I've bought several keys from ebay that worked great and were not expensive.
Click to expand...

IF the letters at the end of the part number are AA; those are the blanks with the good chips inside.
IF the letters at the end of the part number are AB; those are the blanks with the bad chips inside.
Two years ago I went thru the same problem with the bad chips, but my Jeep Tech friend was persistent and found a few of the AAs.
I am not sure IF the bad blanks have been recalled or IF there is a newer blank with the letters AC available.
 
CharlesHS said:
IF the letters at the end of the part number are AA; those are the blanks with the good chips inside.
IF the letters at the end of the part number are AB; those are the blanks with the bad chips inside.
Two years ago I went thru the same problem with the bad chips, but my Jeep Tech friend was persistent and found a few of the AAs.
I am not sure IF the bad blanks have been recalled or IF there is a newer blank with the letters AC available.
Click to expand...

We got a few of the AB versions to program, not many. They are too hit and miss to cut first. Now we have a blank cylinder and we check them first before cutting to see if they will accept programming. I need to check the next ones that come through and see if they have moved to the AC yet.
 
maxtj said:
Thanks. I was specifically wondering that now that these Jeeps are older without much if any dealer support for Skim programming, have people on this forum found a third party alternative or DIY method?
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You might have luck posting up on your local jeep Facebook group asking if anybody has a drb3 or a working emulator. The fsm pretty clearly describes the process for programming new keys.

What the fsm doesn't do is describe how to enable skim on something that didn't have it. For that, my solution was to have Blaine's guy do it. He was a Chrysler tech in the day and used to add skim as a dealer option so he knows the procedure.
 
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