[HazelGrace]

Some years ago I bought (3rd hand) a Spider 916. The car came with 1 brown key which looks original, and one more, red if I recall correctly which did not look original. Neither of these keys had a button for operating remote locks, so until very recently I was under the impression that the car has no remote central locking. The red key mentioned before, got lost at some point in time and I had a copy made from the brown one. The key was programmed as so it does not give the "Key Code" error / yellow light. It works. I was looking to replace that key (see picture) with something that looks nicer and more original and while looking into that i realized that the car most probably has a remote central locking feature - receiver which should be the one you see in the other picture. Would it be possible for somebody knowledgeable to confirm that ?? Further more are there any optional of bringing that system back to life ? Of course i do not have any 4 - digit codes or anything like that. Please note that i am only interested at the remote locking feature. The car alarm, which i don't know if it is still one that car, is not a concern at the moment.

 

[Alfa_maniac]

Hi,
I think your pictures did not upload - anyway, I believe the keys are different dependent on the year - some came with keys that had the remote in the key body. But, from what you describe I suspect you have similar keys to my 2001 Spider V6. See photo below.

So from left to right it came with: Meta remote (likely it came with 2 but I only have 1), 1 x brown master key, 2x standard key (I only have one and its missing a little clear alfa logo in the body), 1 x valet key.
The valet key can open and start the car but not open the storage compartment locks so that you can hand the key for parking or service to someone but lock your belongings away in the car with the standard key - nice feature

The brown master is important - it allows a garage to program new keys into the system so is meant to be kept at home and not used every day as you might have to replace the immobiliser system if you loose that one.

On mine the Meta alarm system was replaced with an aftermarket quality system (Clifford 650 which is has a higher level immobiliser than the original and this controls my locking system). For some reason the installer left the Meta system in the car and I ripped it out as it was rubbish compared to the Clifford - the Meta frequently went off without a reason and it would play up massively when the battery was low. The Clifford system is way way better and has a back up battery build in, motion detectors, proximity radar that beeps if people lean on the car, plus it has a radar detector that sets off the alarm if someone leans into the car when its parked up with the roof down.

Personally, I would therefore recommend you go to an auto electrician / auto alarm specialist and have a quality system installed. Alternatively, they might be able to figure out how to program a transmitter to talk to the original system or just add a new receiver that can control the locking. I suspect that if you go to Alfa without a code card they will just offer you to replace the whole system (if parts still exist) at mega $$$$.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[Nellytheroc]

Two kinds of alarm came with cars in the UK. There was the ‘UK’ standard alarm which was made by Meta a small mentioned in the previous post, available as the M99 T1 or T2. There was also the ‘continental ‘ alarm fitted to RHD cars bought in Europe. Surprisingly large numbers were imported after tax free purchase by members of British Forces Germany. The alarm/remote opening is totally separate to the immobiliser.

If you have the Meta with separate fobs regardless of which one, swapping the ECU and obtaining new fobs is easy. The other type is much more difficult to sort. Fitting a complete new alarm is probably easier.