I got a call from the MIL.
She owns a '99 Ford F150 Lariat, with about 60K on the clock. Looks brand new but, she said it won't start. It tries but, won't start. She put a battery charger on it for three hours, and it still won't start.
She isn't very descriptive, and knows zip about vehicles.
We made the trip to see what she meant by it tries but, won't start.
As soon as I turned the key to the on position, I noticed the THEFT light flashing. The PATS was engaged, so the first thing was to disconnect the battery, in an attempt to reset the ECM. No go, so I asked for the spare key. It showed the same flashing light.
The next step was to turn the ignition to the on and off positions several times. This caused the THEFT light to remain lit. Turned the key to run, and it fired right up. I placed the original key back in, and the THEFT light began flashing again. The on/off procedure failed, so back to spare key, and it worked.
The original key has a bad chip but, the truck starts and runs fine now.
When the THEFT light is flashing, it's caused by the chip and transponder not communicating with the ECM. If the steps above don't work, leaving the key in the on position for a few minutes, will initiate a flashing code. It took less than five minutes to figure it out without initiating the codes.
I apologize for the lengthy post but, I hope it might help someone in the event they have a similar situation. A similar procedure works on all brands of certain years.
This deed has earned me a free dinner in a couple of weeks... photos to follow in the bib thread.:wink:
She owns a '99 Ford F150 Lariat, with about 60K on the clock. Looks brand new but, she said it won't start. It tries but, won't start. She put a battery charger on it for three hours, and it still won't start.
She isn't very descriptive, and knows zip about vehicles.
We made the trip to see what she meant by it tries but, won't start.
As soon as I turned the key to the on position, I noticed the THEFT light flashing. The PATS was engaged, so the first thing was to disconnect the battery, in an attempt to reset the ECM. No go, so I asked for the spare key. It showed the same flashing light.
The next step was to turn the ignition to the on and off positions several times. This caused the THEFT light to remain lit. Turned the key to run, and it fired right up. I placed the original key back in, and the THEFT light began flashing again. The on/off procedure failed, so back to spare key, and it worked.
The original key has a bad chip but, the truck starts and runs fine now.
When the THEFT light is flashing, it's caused by the chip and transponder not communicating with the ECM. If the steps above don't work, leaving the key in the on position for a few minutes, will initiate a flashing code. It took less than five minutes to figure it out without initiating the codes.
I apologize for the lengthy post but, I hope it might help someone in the event they have a similar situation. A similar procedure works on all brands of certain years.
This deed has earned me a free dinner in a couple of weeks... photos to follow in the bib thread.:wink:
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