JohnD wrote:By putting the ebay key in a vice I was able to knock the plastic away from the blade. No rivets to drill; it just knocked straight off.
Yes, I could have done that but TBH it's a bit brutal and it didn't take very long to drill the two bits of plastic out and then work the blade out by hand.
JohnD wrote:Next I cut away all the plastic off the high street copy then made both blades the same length. The high street blade pushed into the ebay plip and was held firmly.
Mine was not so firm so I filed the two little cutouts to match the original and the positioning of the holes in the fob.
JohnD wrote:At first he had no success then he replaced the chip in the base of the ebay key.
What exactly do you mean by that? I'm very curious.
JohnD wrote: Finally he left me with the ebay plip which would manually unlock the car and start the engine but wouldn't work the central locking.
This is two separate things. He has synched the car with the transponder in the plastic head which the blade is pushed into but the remote locking transmitter in the swivel part isn't working.
Did he check to see if it was transmitting or not? Have you tried to pair the locking/unlocking bit yourself? It's very simple; put the key in the column lock, turn to the ignition position (not start) and press one of the lock/unlock buttons. Keep the button pressed for several 10s of seconds, then take it out and try the lock button