Going Rogue.

April 23, 2016

I finally got around to ordering and switching to a Nissan Rogue key. for those of you who may not know what the Rogue key looks like, here’s mine as it arrived in the mail, still uncut:

OEM Nissan Rogue key, not the aftermarket copy version.

Note that the keyless entry controls are part of the key head much like modern vehicles – meaning no more separate key and remote control fob. The whole job took me a total of 30 minutes – this included the 5 mile round trip drive to my local hardware store for the key cutting. This is an easy “mod”, but understand that I chose to use the existing transponder inside my valet key instead of going to the dealership to have them reprogram the new transponder in the Rogue key.

Before I started the swap, I took the Rogue key to get it cut to match my OEM master key. That way I could test if the actual mechanical portion of the key worked before doing any electronic stuff (transponder swap, programming). After the Rogue key was cut, I held my master key next to the ignition cylinder and then used the Rogue key to try to start the truck. It worked (tried with the key in both directions too) so the mechanical portion was finished.

Now on to the valet key. Using a small knife, I removed the transponder tray out of the valet key. The tray sits pretty flush inside the valet key head, so you have to just use the knife tip and slowly pry at the edge of the transponder tray until it pops out. It’s not glued or anything, it’s just a friction fit.

Here’s the transponder tray being removed from the OEM valet key.
A better look at how the transponder goes into the valet key.

Now to the Rogue key. I used a small Phillips screwdriver to remove the single screw, then I gently pried the two halves of the Rogue key head apart to reveal the insides. Take a look at the battery half of the key, and you’ll easily see the transponder location (as well as an aftermarket transponder already installed).

Rogue key opened up, there’s the transponder near the battery.

Since I was going to use my valet key transponder, I pried out the aftermarket transponder from the Rogue key, then inserted my valet key transponder in its place.

Swapping transponders in the Rogue key.

With my transponder in place, it was time to reassemble the Rogue key.

Don’t forget to reinstall the small Phillips screw.

At this point I tested if the key would start the truck, and this time it did it on its own; I no longer had to hold the master key next to the ignition cylinder since the Rogue key now had its own matched transponder. The only thing left was to program the remote buttons to communicate with my truck. Some people go to the dealer for this, but I was specifically avoiding having to go to the dealership since I knew that I could find instructions online to program the remote myself. Let me tell you – it’s really, really easy to do! There’s more in-depth (over-complicated) instructions online on how to do this, but here’s how I programmed the remote buttons on my new Rogue key in seconds.