Unable to reprogram keyless enty remotes

I cant seem to get the remotes to reprogram on my 2003 Avalanche. I have replaced the batteries on both fobs. This was prompted by the discovery by my wife that her fob was not working. I attempted the reprogram sequence at least six different times. The fob just stopped working out of the blue. I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions short of going to the dealer. It isn't that I don't want to take it to a dealer it is I cant afford the dealer at this time. Again, thanks for any help solving my situation, it is appreciated.

Unfortunately you may have a bad solder joint in your fob, like my 03 was, you can try to fix it if your handy with a soldering iron, this was all to common on the china made remotes from 03 and early 04 if I remember right.  Hopefully you can stil read the numbers on the back of either remote, you can get replacements on E-bay pretty cheap, then you might be able to reprogram it, or (my 03 you could not do this) take it to dealer, seems like it was twenty five bucks shop time for as many remotes as I wanted programmed (wifes HHR).  Hope this helps

Didit

Luckily for us first gen truck owners, the replacement remotes on eBay are pretty cheap.

When I first bought my 2004, it only had one remote and it was a little flakey.

I went to the dealer and the remote I had proved to be on it's way out, so I bought two and paid to have them programmed at that time.

Within a year, both "new" dealer supplied remotes crapped out.

I bought two off of eBay and programmed them myself.

Over two years later, both are working just fine.

The one I got with my used truck worked sometimes, other times it would not work at all.

The two I got from the dealer each quit and never worked after the first failure.

Thanks for the suggestions to all that responded. I hesitate to purchase fobs as I find it weird that both fobs appeared to quit at the same time. Of course, changing the batteries and reprogramming is just too simple a fix!! It seems that I may need to try replacing the fobs. I know a friend who has the same vintage Chevy and may see if I can try programming his fob to work on my truck. I figure it will give me a definitive answer to the question " is it the fobs or the receiver in the truck"? Again, thanks for responding.

Good plan!

Stop by any Auto Zone store if you have one in your area, they have a Fob tester senser gizmo to tell you wether your fob is working or not!  If no AZ then try one of the other auto stores in your area to see if they have one.

Didit

Thanks for the information regarding Auto Zone. I do have two in my immediate area. I will call them to see if they have a tester.

When I was dealing with my first bad remote, the service writer at the dealer had one of those gizmos at his station.

That's where we found the original remote was transmitting hit or miss.

If the parts store doesn't have a tester, maybe you could stroll into the dealer service area and get a quick, free test.

The dealer didn't charge me to test, but I opted to buy new remotes and get them programmed while I was there.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Who knew the remotes I was buying at the dealership would soon die.

What it is is the solder joint that holds the battery clip in place, after so many pushes it just gives out, and its heck to resolder that small stuff, ugh.

Didit

Undoubtedly the movement to lead-free solder use around the world for environmental concerns is making these increasingly susceptible to failure of the solder joints.