docgonzo

I'm not sure whats going on but the Ford dealership has looked at my car twie and cannot figure out what is wrong. It started 2 months ago when my car battery went dead from an apparent short that slowly drains my car that Ford could not find. A ford body shop fixed my car from an accident and whenever the car would sit for a few days it would be dead but ford said that they could not find a drain anywhere. When my car died teh last time, when I tried to jump it, the anti-thefyy system would stay on and it would crank but not turn over. I finally got it to start...then two weeks ago, I tried to start my car in teh morning and no dice...teh antitheft system satyed on and I drained teh battery in afew seconds trying to start it. Ford found nothing wrong and told me to put a new battery in, couldn't find a short or anything. The new batery worked great until yesterday orning when I tried starting my car and the antitheft system stuck on. I tried cranking it for 20 minutes and it wouldnt start. I had it towed, and Ford said they found nothing wrong and it started for them this morning and they have no clue whats wrong with it. DO you guys have any ideas?

ChalknCover

It may be a PATS issue.

Are you sure it is draining the battery down? as far as you know the interior lights are not on, there is no door ding, all the indicator lights fade out as you crank it. I would take it back to them and have them go over the pats system. What was replaced on the car after the accident? It could also be a bad ground. Sometimes when a part is painted, the paint will interfere with the ground and that could cause a drain.

docgonzo

The car is still at Ford. They called this morning and said that it started right up and they have no idea what is wrong with it but they said its a PATS issue...only they have no clue why it works one minute and not the next. My car was rear ended so they replaced the rear bumper, tail llights, lights, spolier and lights in there, and that rear metal plate that the bumper attaches itself too. When I took it in the first time last week after it went dead...they tested the whole system and said that there was no draw on the system even though AAA said 8 months ago that there was a draw on the system. Really weird how Ford can't figure out whats wrong with it it huh?

ChalknCover

Does it surprise me? No. Just depends on the tech and the dealership.

cwf340

Im a ford tech and worked on a mustang with a pats problem that gave me fits for a couple weeks. it would work one minute. then quit. i would reprogram the keys and it would start working again. I ended up replacing the module just to see and it fixed the car. just a thought, it could be a number of things. most common is the transceiver (the part on the column that picks up the signal from the key). but it will normally set a fault code. also as for the battery draw, unhook the neg battery terminal and hook a digital amp meter inbetween the the neg cable and the batt. terminal. ford spec is .5amps max draw. make sure everything is off and all the doors closed. if you have more than .5amps. start pulling fuses and unplugging connectors until the draw goes away. start with the alternator. I seem to find they cause the most battery draw problems. hope this helps.

docgonzo

Thanks a bunch! I'll give that a whirl..somebody told me that I can bypass the pats system altogether by using a pats bypass that comes with a wireless starter remote system and then just ground out the wire to the chassis that would go to the wireless remote. I also tried unplugging my amps because somebody told me that their amps caused teh system to drian and my amps havent worked since my car was broken into. What kind of amp meter should I buy to check the amperage?

My ford shop seems pretty honest since they wouldn't replace teh transmitter because they didn't want me wasting good money and it wouldn't solve teh problem. I just hope it isnt the pcm...i even reinstalled teh stock oem progrtam ... I have a diablo sport tuner.

cwf340

any multimeter with a 10amp setting will work, as for the pats problem the pats module is separate from the pcm, it is intigrated into the instrument cluster. tell your ford dealer to self test the cluster..