Updated September 9, 2026
2023 Dodge Challenger Key Stopped Starting the Car After Water Damage, Pembroke Pines
A 2023 Challenger in Pembroke Pines had a smart key that took on water. The owner had already taken it apart trying to dry it out. It could still wake the dash but would not start the car. I pulled the vehicle data through the port, read the PIN, and programmed a new key in the driveway.
What the call sounded like
The key had gotten wet and now the car would not start. He could still get the dash lights to come on, so he knew the key was not completely dead. It just would not turn the engine over.
What I found
He had already opened the fob himself and tried to dry it out. That is the first thing most people do, and it makes sense, but by the time water reaches the board the damage is done. Drying it removes the water. It does not undo what the water did to the electronics.
The key still had enough life to wake the dash. That is what let me pull the car’s data the easy way.
His workaround had been holding the key right against the start button. That is the fob’s backup: when the signal is too weak to read from the cup holder, most push-to-start cars will still pick up the transponder if you press the key straight to the button. It gets you home. It is not a fix.
What I did
I ran an Autel IM508 to read the PIN off the vehicle and programmed a brand new smart key to the Challenger right there in the driveway. No tow, no dealer, no waiting on a part to ship.
What was on the invoice
I gave him the price on the phone before I drove out, and that is what he paid. Nothing added when I arrived. It was a straightforward job and the price reflected that.
What I told him about the old key
Keep it, but do not count on it. A water-damaged fob does not go from working to dead in one step. It works, then it does not, then it works again for a day, and people take that as a sign it recovered. It did not. The moisture is still on the board. All that is happening is the failure spreading.
Having the new key made while the old one still talked to the car is what kept this simple. If he had waited until it died completely, the same car becomes an all-keys-lost job: more time at the vehicle, more cost.
What a real locksmith knows
Water is one of the few things that genuinely kills a modern key. Down here people assume heat and humidity are the problem, and they are not, at least not for the electronics. It is the actual water. A fob dropped in a pool, left in a pocket through the wash, or caught in a downpour on a keyring.
And the failure is almost never clean. It is intermittent first, which is the part that catches people out, because intermittent reads as fine.
The local angle
Pembroke Pines runs on cars. It is spread out, transit is thin, and Pines Boulevard and I-75 carry everyone. A key that only works half the time is not an inconvenience here, it is a car you cannot rely on.
Key wet, key working only when you press it against the start button, or a fob that comes and goes? Call Around The Lock at (954) 371-5674. I cut and program car keys on-site across Pembroke Pines and Broward County.
