Vectra C and Astra H CIM Unit Part 2

Over the last 12 months I have been asked by a number garages, questions about fitting Second hand CIM modules, so I thought I would list some of them here to help some of you out,

Can you fit a S/H CIM to another car,

Yes if it has been reset before it was taken off the donor car, but you should try to get one of the keys and the ignition barrel if possible with the CIM. Or you will have to purchase a new key to program into the replacement CIM,


Can you programme S/H keys to your CIM,

NO but don’t throw them away, when fitting a new CIM and your customer has only one key, you can code one of your S/H keys to his car along with his original and all you need is a new blade cutting, make a small charge for this and you get shut of the old keys and your customer gets a cheap key, this can only be done at the point of first programming of a new CIM.


Can you program the original key for the car into a S/H CIM,

NO once a key has been programmed to a car it can only be programmed into a new CIM, NOTE:- Do not erase the key list from your CIM, unless you are no longer going to use the key on that car, because you will not be able to reprogram any of the keys back into that CIM,

Hope this helps someone

Tom