joshan72

H Guys, I just bought my first mustang and loving the car very much. But after a couple of weeks driving the car, I have sensed that the RKE range has significantly dropped. I remember finding my car 100 ft away at a mall parking lot and now I can't even get it to unlock 40 to 50 ft away. I took to the car dealer and they discovered water intrusion so they replaced the damaged the SJB. Still, no improvement on the range of RKE. Although, the manual states the normal operating range for RKE is 33ft, it used to work more than 100ft away when I took delivery a month ago. it really frustrates me. I have been to two dealerships and they can't find what is wrong with the car.

I have three key fobs (the dealer made an extra to see if both of the original ones were bad) and they all work only within 33 ft or less.

is there a RKE antenna or sensor that I can replace? any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

mph07alloy

Hold the remote against your head, your body acts as an antenna (I saw this on Top Gear and tried it and it actually worked) But seriously it should easily work from 100 ft away. My remote works up to about 130-140 ft (200+ ft using the head trick). As much as a pain in the *** as it is I'd take it to a 3rd dealer and see what they say.

wingless

+1

This is my S.O.P. for long-distance operation.

It helps to think good thoughts about the Mustang when the fob is near the head to increase the range too...

157dB

Depending on the local interference, (i.e. open parking lot, no interference)
the range will greatly differ from one location to another.
Your home (and all the others on the block) are great sources of interference.
Get a wide band receiver with a scope output and do a survey
of your neighborhood (or where ever the range is diminished) and
see if the interference levels are notably higher than in locations
where 100+ foot range is observed. You will then understand why
and quit with the unneeded dealership visits.
Its stated on the RKE that "this device must accept
outside interference" according to the FCCs rules.
And it does. And range is decreased because of this.

The near the thing head is a by-product of moving the RKE to
a higher location farther from the ground plane of the
terra-firma you are standing on thus increasing the RF power
output by limiting the ground plane absorption.
Not the close proximity to the head which would actually
ABSORB some of the RF energy.

Same hoax as holding the RFK to a phone miles away
while locked out wifey holds hers up to the door lock
and you unlock it for here saving the day. Yah-right