Fix Or Repair Daily ford van problems

[m_c]

Only way to test a transceiver ring is fully working is to see if any fault codes are generated in the relevant module (will be either PCM - Engine, or BCM - Body on a Fiesta I think, or they possibly had a central timer module like a Focus... I just do a full system scan for faults, and that tells me what module it's connected to!).

Provided you get in the transit, and the vehicle gets 12V power, the key will still work to start the vehicle even if the key battery is completely dead. Although the remote and immobiliser use the same chip within the key, the transponder section still works even if the battery is completely dead.
It should take around 5 minutes with the engine running to put enough charge back in the fob battery for the remote to work, so you can't easily put the key in another transit.
If you were really keen, you could split the key and gently put some charge in the battery, but if the key is in good non-damaged condition, you're breaking it's sealing and risking also damaging the key. And at the end of the day, you've still got no back up to get into the van if the remote locking fails again, and to replace the door lock, you're still going to have to drill it out.

 

[Nomad]

Problem #2 - I had something similar with spare coded BMW key (it charges wireless;y when the car is running - being the spare it wasn't used very often so went flat), I got told to use a toothbrush charger to put some life back into the fob.
It worked enough to get the car started, after that I alternated the fobs so they both got charged regularly.

 

[Wildatlanticwelder]

The fiesta may need a steering column if a new genuine lock failed inside 3 weeks would raise questions.

Your vw also needs the key at pos.2 and a pin inserted to remove the barrel. Its a security thing otherwise i could just bring my barrel and key and swap into your van to steal it if it was that easy

To get into the transit what i would suggest is replacement windows arent dear or hard to get , easy to replace too, people often forget this and do more damage trying other methods, if you cover with sticky tape before you break it you will have a lot less mess. Go for the small one next to the mirror! If its the last of the old type transit it possible to remove this window to gain entry.

 

[Alan Reynolds]

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.

Oddly enough, I I park under the massive pylon at the track, my Iveco aftermarket immobiliser doesn’t always work.
I have to open the door with the key and go through a reset sequence of locking and setting the alarm.

 

[m_c]

To get into the transit what i would suggest is replacement windows arent dear or hard to get , easy to replace too, people often forget this and do more damage trying other methods, if you cover with sticky tape before you break it you will have a lot less mess. Go for the small one next to the mirror! If its the last of the old type transit it possible to remove this window to gain entry.

For any other vehicle, that is generally what I'd suggest, but in the case of a Transit, you need to be able to turn the key in the door in order to remove the lock, so you may as well just drill the lock out.

 

[Wedg1e]

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.

Absolutely true: on one of our bike trips we spent one night in a hotel (possible in the Ardennes as I recall it was adjacent to a roundabout with a WW2 artillery piece on it). Came out the next morning and all the bikes started apart from mine: the only one with an alarm/immobiliser on it. I had the spare fob with me, we took it in turns to press buttons and swear but to no avail. As we'd already checked out one of the guys went to point Percy behind a bush and came back to report that there was a mobile phone mast 50 yards away. Pushed the bike across the roundabout (with the siren going and lights flashing) and the alarm disarmed first press.

 

[Wildatlanticwelder]

For any other vehicle, that is generally what I'd suggest, but in the case of a Transit, you need to be able to turn the key in the door in order to remove the lock, so you may as well just drill the lock out.

But if the key charges off the van once in, he can continue without changing the lock as the remote will work again hopefully.
The remote only stopped working as the van went into a deep sleep, if inactive for over a few weeks the remote wont work as the module that scans for it goes dormant. You have to unlock manually and possibly start the car , then the key remote works again.

If its possible that double locking was set id drill the barrel too. Im sure you still have to double click the lock button like on the mk7s to set them.

 

[Baloo]

right progress on both vehicles, it turns out my memory is failing as the door lock on the transit is not the same profile as the ignition key and as i have had the van from new it must have been me that changed one or the other, or i never used the door lock and relied on opening the door with the remote fob and the door lock was different from new, who knows, the van battery was fine even after 6 or 7 months of not being used it was the battery in the fob that had gone flat or at least fallen asleep, l bought a tibbe key pick from good old amazon

15 seconds later and im in the door so the door lock hadenet sized it was me using the wrong key, the lock pick decodes the lock so you just take the number down to timpsons who cut you a new one as easy as that, once in the door i put the original ign key in the ignition and hey presto the key wakes up and the central locking works as it used to, van starts and runs just fine except i have a check engine light i dident have before, it could have broke while it was parked up or i could be mice but either way i will investigate that next.... but the van runs im a happy bunny just have one key for the door and one for the ign i can live with that

 

[Baloo]

on the fiesta i had a guy come out on a no fix no fee basis, he was good much better that the last company took him 15 mins, it turns out only one key was coded to the car and ford require 2 as some sort of security measure, he just cut another key in his mobile workshop/van programmed it to my fiesta and whoosh it all worked, i should ask for my money back off the previous guy really.
but every thing is working again so its back onto one of my half dozen projects now

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I alternated the fobs so they both got charged regularly.

I do that with the keys for the e60, just in case.....