Plip Keys, Removing them

Hi All

Up till now I have been drilling out one end of the pin on which the plip key rotates to remove and exchange keys and cases. I did it this way because that is how my local Citroen Garage did it when I made them supply a new set for the XM I bought from them.
Today I discovered that if you work a stanley knife blade in under the head of the pin you can lever the slack on the pin all to one end. There is then just enough space to work the thin flat blade of a small electrical screw driver under the pin head and lever it apart from the other end. There is less damage to the plip case by this method and the pin bits can be reused when reassembling with another key.

Regards

XMexc

On my 96 exclusive, if I had to I could just change the internal circuit board so that the new board is in the old key fob if I needed to. That way no exchange of key via pin removal is necessary. Unless of course the case is damaged and you are changing the case.

Hi Craig and All

Plips seem to suffer from two separate problems. Electronic failure and case damage particularly the rubber cover to the buttons. This is not helped by Citroen who will not sell anything less than a complete Plip. Most people just need either a new printed circuit board to suit their receiver or a new case to put their working pcb in.

Regards

XMexc

Hi all Maybe iam being a bit of a dope here but did you all realise its possible to get duplicate keys cut
Perhaps i have got the wrong end of the stick here ,but i use my duplicate key in the ignition and keep my plipper just for opening doors .It also avoids me switching off the engine with my knee.
Best regards bob

Hi Bob

Making up Plip sets from the existing spare bits is the cheapest option hence the wish to reuse the existing keys. In practice round my way very few Citroen dealers hold/sell the key blanks or cut them and those that don't are not keen on telling their customers to use another adjacent dealer who does.

Regards

XMexc

We have a couple of duplicate non plip keys for our XM. I have the (non working) plip key on my key set and my wife has a normal key on her key set. I am 191cm tall and Deb is 149cm, so the seat distance is great, which leads to the next challenge.

We recently had a long night trip to see her family. I drove about half way and Deb drove the rest - with my keys in the ignition. This is never a prob for me as I prefer the folding key in the ignition so that the fob folds downwards. However, this night it was just in the right spot that if Deb moved her right leg a bit it would just nudge the ignition contacts a bit and the engine would start to die. Not a great confidence booster in an XM. We soon worked out the problem and she stopped the car, and removed and replaced the keys so the fob did not hang down. One of the easy XM problems to solve.

We initially thought that the relatively new ignition control module had suddenly decided to fritz itself

Hi all,

XMexc, your self help got hijacked a bit. I'd like to move this topic to the electrical section where it now belongs. Could you cut and paste your self help post again and re-post in the self help section.

We try to keep the Self-Help section clear of discussion and just containing the self help files or tips themselves. That way you don't have to wade through endless discussions trying to find the things which most affect the XM.

Thanks for your understanding.

Cheers

noz