Hi all i'm new to this forum but have found it very useful when diagnosing faults in Toyotas.
I recently bought a Cheap 05 Camry and i'm tidying it up to make it a bit more pleasant.
The clock above the Stereo had a burnt out LCD display so i replaced it with one from the wreckers so now i have a clock and trip computer. As it had no keyless remote a week later i also bought a new aftermarket 2 button Remote entry key fob. Then the saga began.
I could not get the car to recognize the new remote, it would go into programming mode and "PRO" would appear on the clock display but press the remote and nothing. I was doing everything correctly but it simply wouldn't recognize the remote. I spoke to the locksmith i got the remote from and he couldn't see why it wouldn't work, he had sold 100's of them and not one had come back. So then i hit the forums (including this one) to see if it was a known problem. Thanks to this forum i learnt that in acv36/mcv36 camrys the remote receiver is inside the clock display above the stereo....The same part i had replaced with a used one a week earlier. (in US built Camrys the receiver is in the LH rear pillar)
I still had the old display unit with a burnt out LCD display so i swapped them over, put the car in programming mode and pressed on the remote, straight away it recognized the new remote. i then plugged in the "good" display and the remote still worked, i thought i had fixed it. So i stepped away from the car and tried to lock the car with the remote. It wouldn't lock unless the remote was held right next to a front window or you were inside the car. I plugged the old broken clock back in and tried again this time the remote worked normally at a distance.
So if your having problems with a new remote that the car wont recognize or the remote wont work at a distance and the remote/battery are ok suspect the remote receiver in the clock/display unit.