Fix Or Repair Daily ford van problems

[Baloo]

any knowledgeable folk who know about immobilizers on transits and fiestas ?

i have 2 problems to resolve, first i have a 15 plate fiesta diesel tcdi great van a million miles to the gallon nippy etc, several weeks ago the ign key started to become awkward to turn jiggle the steering wheel and it would eventually turn and start, knowing that its common for them to fail i bought another complete with key and sure enough 3 weeks or so ago i went out one morning and the key would not turn at all no way no amount of persuasion would induce the key to turn, how do you get the barrel out well you turn the key to position 2 insert a pin and it slides out easy peasy except that when its broke you cant turn the key so you cant remove it, ford have designed a lock you can only replace if its working so its back to hammer grinder centre punch and remove the security bolts which i did and fitted the replacement lock with key thats not coded to the van, i knew that would need coding so i paid an auto locksmith to come out and recode a couple of new keys, should be easy but no his laptop said there were already 4 keys coded to the van which is the max you can have so they were all deleted so new ones could be added and then the problems start as the van will not accept any new keys, " key not found" comes up on the dash board well after 2 hours he declared he couldent do it, next locksmith pretty much the same 3 hours no progress just another invoice, so im £350 down with nothing to show, im reluctant to get another locksmith in unless its a no fix no fee deal, anyone got any ideas where to go with this next before i get the matches out ?

problem number 2
13 plate transit van ran perfectly, i retired 6 months ago and removed the van from service parked it at the back of the barn and left it for a rainy day, well its a rainy day and im getting no where key fob wont open the doors and the key wont turn the door lock, and good old ford only give you 1 door key lock so i cant try the key in any other door , now the fob hasent been used for 6 months so i assumed the batter had gone flat new battery and jobs a good un ? ha if only it was that easy first the fob is sealed so you have to cut it open, then the battery is soldered in there and its suppose to last the vehicles life, new fob from ford is £300 and then it still needs coding to the van at another £200, now googling it seems to suggest the battery in the fob charges wirelessly when the key is in the ignition hence the life long battery claim, how ever i cant get in the van to put the key in the ignition lol, who knows has this works ? would something like a wireless tooth brush charger put enough charge into the fob battery to open the doors ???
ive given up with them and gone back to my old vw tdi it might be 30 years old but it still starts and drives without grief

 

[voipio]

Problem #1 Swap the transponder chip from the old key to the new one. It looks like a chunk of hard plastic inside the key, and sits in the bottom of the case, near to the blade. Ease it out gently, without snapping it in two. It's held in with something like superglue, so try and break the glue line with a sharp edges scalpel blade, or similar.

Problem #2 Have you tried the key in the driver's door and given it two twists in the unlock direction? If the key won't turn at all, try some Plus Gas or lock lubricant in the keyhole, and try again. After six months, it's likely that the van battery is flat as a pancake, rather than the key fob battery, although they could both be flat!
One thing you could try is an induction based (i.e. contactless) charger such as an electric toothbrush charger. See e.g.:

 

[Baloo]

Problem #1 Swap the transponder chip from the old key to the new one. It looks like a chunk of hard plastic inside the key, and sits in the bottom of the case, near to the blade. Ease it out gently, without snapping it in two. It's held in with something like superglue, so try and break the glue line with a sharp edges scalpel blade, or similar.

Problem #2 Have you tried the key in the driver's door and given it two twists in the unlock direction? If the key won't turn at all, try some Plus Gas or lock lubricant in the keyhole, and try again. After six months, it's likely that the van battery is flat as a pancake, rather than the key fob battery, although they could both be flat!
One thing you could try is an induction based (i.e. contactless) charger such as an electric toothbrush charger. See e.g.:

we tried swapping the transponder chip over but to no avail also tried 5 new chips still no go

on the transit the drivers door lock refuses to budge but the bonnet opens so i could check the battery plenty of life in van battery surprisingly for being parked up for 6 months, did try jump leads as well just to make sure
and the key is on the tooth brush charger as we speak lol

 

[voipio]

If the "locksmith" deleted all of the existing keys, the lack of success with transponder chips is not surprising. There is probably another method, that involves incantations to the gods, and no end of pedal pushing and button pushing.

This maybe worth a try, although it's only for the remote locking programming, not the transponder:

 

[voipio]

Or look here:

How to Program a Transponder Key Without Original? | Rx Mechanic

The instructions are written in this article also show you how to program a Toyota transponder key without original. We are excited to show you how.

rxmechanic.com

 

[mike os]

its an easy fix... dont buy anything from fraud

 

[Baloo]

If the "locksmith" deleted all of the existing keys, the lack of success with transponder chips is not surprising. There is probably another method, that involves incantations to the gods, and no end of pedal pushing and button pushing.

This maybe worth a try, although it's only for the remote locking programming, not the transponder:

the turning the ign on and off only syncs the key with the central locking we could do that before all keys were deleted, it has no connection with the immobilizer part of the key, and the key (s) wernt deleted from the system until after we have tried to programme new keys, even before we used the delete function it would not find the original key even when it was in the ign, you can only have 4 keys programmed to a ford car so to add new key the delete keys function had to be used bit of a one way street really
complexity is the enemy of reliability some one told me the other day

and the tooth brush charger hasent helped with the transit key either i can see me having to pick the lock on that one which if you look on amazon you can buy for £25 ish a device that opens any transit in under 10 seconds why do i even bother to lock it lol

 

[stuvy]

we tried swapping the transponder chip over but to no avail also tried 5 new chips still no go

on the transit the drivers door lock refuses to budge but the bonnet opens so i could check the battery plenty of life in van battery surprisingly for being parked up for 6 months, did try jump leads as well just to make sure
and the key is on the tooth brush charger as we speak lol

Spray decent lube in the key hole it’s lack of use that makes them seize up

 

[stuvy]

As for the key

Change the lock barrel and in future fit a the original key under the dash where the encoder is

Never failed on any of the cars Iv done this to in the past

 

[Baloo]

Spray decent lube in the key hole it’s lack of use that makes them seize up

i will give it another soaking, ive had the van 10 years and dont think ive ever used the door lock its always opened on the key fob. till it dident lol

 

[Baloo]

As for the key

Change the lock barrel and in future fit a the original key under the dash where the encoder is

Never failed on any of the cars Iv done this to in the past

i would but i cant get in to do that lol

 

[stuvy]

i will give it another soaking, ive had the van 10 years and dont think ive ever used the door lock its always opened on the key fob. till it dident lol

Had this loads of times with cars

Even my own disco 1 rear door in the rain sometimes won’t open if I don’t clean it enough

A quick blast with a silicone based spray and it’s great

 

[stuvy]

i would but i cant get in to do that lol

That’s for the fiesta

 

[Baloo]

That’s for the fiesta

ah but that has no keys coded to it so wont start but at least the key works in the door for that one , i can at least sit in it and pretend im driving
i wonder if disconnecting the battery for a few days might help

 

[stuvy]

ah but that has no keys coded to it so wont start but at least the key works in the door for that one , i can at least sit in it and pretend im driving
i wonder if disconnecting the battery for a few days might help

Defo give it a go

My dads 1.4tdci had an intermittent air leak in the fuel rail

There’s a bulb at the side of the engine, give that a squeeze and see if it starts. If so that’s the issue to chase

 

[voipio]

Sorry to hear that the cars are being such mares to get going!!

 

[m_c]

Fiesta could probably have just been fixed with a freshly cut key, and if that didn't work, you could have built a lock to match the key.
However given two locksmiths have both failed to program new keys, it's likely something has been damaged or failed during the ignition lock changing.
Did you refit the original transceiver ring around the ignition barrel?

Transit, just drill the lock out.
It'll be seized due to having been rarely, if ever used, and you need to be able to turn the lock to get the cylinder assembly out the door anyway. It's very rare that lubrication would free them off.
Pop the plastic off. 4 or 5mm drill bit, and drill a ring of holes around the outside of the centre barrel, then abuse the drill and join the holes together as best you can. Then aim to get enough of the top of the centre barrel so you can get the individual tumblers out, then you can spin use a screwdriver to turn the barrel remains and unlock the door.
Once the plastic was off, I used to cover the surrounding area with insulating tape to provide some protection in case the drill bit snapped.

For the older Tibby keys (I think that era of Transit was the last model to use Tibby keys), you can easily read the code provided the key isn't completely worn.
I've not yet mastered the new 10 tumbler flat blades, so I usually build up a new lock kit to fit the key.

We get lock kits (and some keys) from the dealer (the individual locks come as kits which you have to build up to match the key/code yourself), but we generally get keys from KLCK ( https://www.klck-ltd.com/ ) who are very helpful. We also get some locks from them, as they will supply them ready built to a picture next day (usually anything non-Ford, as Ford are the only ones where you can buy generic kits. Most other manufacturers only supply random new locks, or factory ordered to a key number)

 

[stuvy]

Fiesta could probably have just been fixed with a freshly cut key, and if that didn't work, you could have built a lock to match the key.
However given two locksmiths have both failed to program new keys, it's likely something has been damaged or failed during the ignition lock changing.
Did you refit the original transceiver ring around the ignition barrel?

Transit, just drill the lock out.
It'll be seized due to having been rarely, if ever used, and you need to be able to turn the lock to get the cylinder assembly out the door anyway. It's very rare that lubrication would free them off.
Pop the plastic off. 4 or 5mm drill bit, and drill a ring of holes around the outside of the centre barrel, then abuse the drill and join the holes together as best you can. Then aim to get enough of the top of the centre barrel so you can get the individual tumblers out, then you can spin use a screwdriver to turn the barrel remains and unlock the door.
Once the plastic was off, I used to cover the surrounding area with insulating tape to provide some protection in case the drill bit snapped.

For the older Tibby keys (I think that era of Transit was the last model to use Tibby keys), you can easily read the code provided the key isn't completely worn.
I've not yet mastered the new 10 tumbler flat blades, so I usually build up a new lock kit to fit the key.

We get lock kits (and some keys) from the dealer (the individual locks come as kits which you have to build up to match the key/code yourself), but we generally get keys from KLCK ( https://www.klck-ltd.com/ ) who are very helpful. We also get some locks from them, as they will supply them ready built to a picture next day (usually anything non-Ford, as Ford are the only ones where you can buy generic kits. Most other manufacturers only supply random new locks, or factory ordered to a key number)

I completely forgot about building locks to match keys

Been years since I did that

 

[dobbslc]

I heard a few stories where a new mobile phone mast or HV cables has caused problems with central locking and immobilisers, get the tin foil out and cover the key and ignition barrel to shield it from those pesky waves and give it a try.

 

[Baloo]

Fiesta could probably have just been fixed with a freshly cut key, and if that didn't work, you could have built a lock to match the key.
However given two locksmiths have both failed to program new keys, it's likely something has been damaged or failed during the ignition lock changing.
Did you refit the original transceiver ring around the ignition barrel?

Transit, just drill the lock out.
It'll be seized due to having been rarely, if ever used, and you need to be able to turn the lock to get the cylinder assembly out the door anyway. It's very rare that lubrication would free them off.
Pop the plastic off. 4 or 5mm drill bit, and drill a ring of holes around the outside of the centre barrel, then abuse the drill and join the holes together as best you can. Then aim to get enough of the top of the centre barrel so you can get the individual tumblers out, then you can spin use a screwdriver to turn the barrel remains and unlock the door.
Once the plastic was off, I used to cover the surrounding area with insulating tape to provide some protection in case the drill bit snapped.

For the older Tibby keys (I think that era of Transit was the last model to use Tibby keys), you can easily read the code provided the key isn't completely worn.
I've not yet mastered the new 10 tumbler flat blades, so I usually build up a new lock kit to fit the key.

We get lock kits (and some keys) from the dealer (the individual locks come as kits which you have to build up to match the key/code yourself), but we generally get keys from KLCK ( https://www.klck-ltd.com/ ) who are very helpful. We also get some locks from them, as they will supply them ready built to a picture next day (usually anything non-Ford, as Ford are the only ones where you can buy generic kits. Most other manufacturers only supply random new locks, or factory ordered to a key number)

hi
he tried the new transceiver ring and refitted the old one neither would recognize the key but both checked out as working on his tester thingy
ive been talking to another auto electrician who thinks he can do it on a no fix no fee basis on monday , thank you to Robostar5 for the contact number on that one
back to the transit if i can gain access will the keyfob charge back up once its in the ignition ? because if it wont the engine wont start anyway will it ? in which case i may as well be still outside it lol, and if it will charge back up then can i just find someone with a simalar age transit and stick my key in their ignition to charge which will then allow it to open my door ?