PATS issues

[juiceweezl]

Who's the PATS expert on here? My car is acting stupid.

It's a 2000 GT heavily modified with custom tune. I have a battery cutoff, and use it when I park the car in the garage since I don't drive it very much (less than 1K miles this year). I turned the battery on, changed the oil, took it for a little spin, and put it back in the driveway while I changed oil in the van. When I went back to crank it and park in the garage, it wouldn't crank. The theft light was rapidly flashing.

I turned the battery off and on several times, locked and unlocked the doors with the remote, etc. I gave up for about 10 minutes, then pulled fuses, etc. I even tried both keys. When I was finally ready to give up, it cranked with another battery on/off cycle. I parked the car and left it over night with the battery off. The next morning I turned it back on, and same thing. I spent 10 minutes trying to get it to crank, but no luck. I turned the battery back off, did something else for 4 hours, turned it back on and it cranked right away.

I don't think it's the keys as they either both work or don't work. Maybe the transmitter in the steering column? Sorry for the long post, but I figured better to share as much info as possible to diagnose. Thanks for any help.

[greenbullitt]

i didnt even read all of it to be up front. The 2 main problems you see with pats are keys and transceivers (on the column)

[juiceweezl]

i didnt even read all of it to be up front. The 2 main problems you see with pats are keys and transceivers (on the column)

Thanks. I'm thinking the transceiver. That's a pretty easy swap isn't it?

[2000 vert]

My 2000 gt did the same thing a few years ago. Wouldnt start, i would would jack around with the pos battery leads and get it to start. finally it quit and I could not get it to start. The seloniod wire at the starter was grounding to the frame and finally blew the fuse under the hood. You can jump the solonoid wire at the battery with the key on and if the car starts you know it is not your pats.

[2000 vert]

Oh ya the theft light was acting crazy on mine too when it would not start. One other thing. Is the starter turning the motor over or not. If its the pats the motor will still turn just not start.

[juiceweezl]

Oh ya the theft light was acting crazy on mine too when it would not start. One other thing. Is the starter turning the motor over or not. If its the pats the motor will still turn just not start.

Motor turns and theft light blinks rapidly. When it starts, the theft light comes on when I turn the key on and then it goes out almost immediately.

[greenbullitt]

Thanks. I'm thinking the transceiver. That's a pretty easy swap isn't it?

the swap part is, but it has to be "programmed"

[Leah]

I totally thought this thread was about my ex-husband. Carry on.

[bigredtruck]

Is your odometer reading when the light is blinking rapidly, or is it just dashes? Could possibly be the eec power , sometimes it wont power up and every thing seems fine exact pats dosent work because the pcm isn't powered.

[jdgregory84]

Your car will still crank if it's a PATS problem. It just won't start. Just out of curiosity I walked out to my car and cranked it with the door key (not the PATS key) and it cranked fine...theft light flashing, but wouldn't start.

In the original post you said it doesn't crank, then later you said it cranks...which is it?

[greenbullitt]

Your car will still crank if it's a PATS problem. It just won't start. Just out of curiosity I walked out to my car and cranked it with the door key (not the PATS key) and it cranked fine...theft light flashing, but wouldn't start.

In the original post you said it doesn't crank, then later you said it cranks...which is it?

there are different ways pats responds depending on year. If the theft light is going crazy, assuming it doesnt have a voltage issue, it has a pats problem.

[juiceweezl]

Your car will still crank if it's a PATS problem. It just won't start. Just out of curiosity I walked out to my car and cranked it with the door key (not the PATS key) and it cranked fine...theft light flashing, but wouldn't start.

In the original post you said it doesn't crank, then later you said it cranks...which is it?

Sorry, it turns over, but won't start/run. It seems to be a PATS issue as the theft light is flashing rapidly. I'll try to check it tonight. I haven't messed with it since the Saturday after T-giving, but I left the battery on the whole time after it last cranked instead of cutting it off.

[juiceweezl]

the swap part is, but it has to be "programmed"

Really? I thought it just relayed the signal from the keys. I know you can program a new key to it -- that process is in the manual.

Is there a way to disable it outright?

BTW, it threw the code P1260 or whatever the one is for theft detected.

[greenbullitt]

Really? I thought it just relayed the signal from the keys. I know you can program a new key to it -- that process is in the manual.

Is there a way to disable it outright?

BTW, it threw the code P1260 or whatever the one is for theft detected.

yes, it does relay, but has to have a learning process performed. Alot of tuners can disable pats. I think wilson helps you, id give him a shout.

[LS1Goat]

You asked for an expert. Here I am.

I have a '00 Mustang GT and the bitch left me stranded because the PATS transceiver in the steering column died. Had to pay to get it towed to my house. I thought it was the fuel pump until I plugged in my XCal2 and ran a OBDII scan. I simply contacted my tuner at SCT and had them email me my same 87/93 performance tunes with PATS disabled. Disconnected the battery for about 15 minutes and hit the brakes a couple of times to force the volatile memory completely discharge. Reconnected battery and installed new PATS disabled tune and it fired right up. The THEFT light will still blink rapidly for a couple of minutes and then slowly blink for another few more minutes, then it will eventually stop.

PATS is a complex system in SN95 Fords. You have a steering column transceiver, data bus link to instrument cluster, then a bus link to the PCM. There are 3 different things that can fail and cause a PATS failure. The most common cause is the column transceiver due to it being tilted and getting used so much over the years. Through the process of attrition this transceiver will eventually die. Sometimes the PCM circuit will simply fail as well, but not often.

It's quite expensive to fix the actual problem. However, it cost me $0.00 to fix my PATS problem because I have free lifetime tunes through American Muscle/SCT. Just a matter of submitting a support ticket and receiving a new tune. Upload it into tuner using Live Load Ford and you're done.

The only downside to this is not someone can take my factory key and spend a buck at the hardware store and steal my car. However, that's not going to happen. I don't hand out my key to anyone other than my wife. And she has been fully debriefed on the situation.