98 Ford Explorer 4X4Trouble shooting anti-theft

[rageATM]

Question : Help Needed

Hi My name is Rachel, I just recently purchased a 98Ford Explorer 4x4. My question is about the anti theft system.

1. How can I reset the system ? Problem is the " THEFT " light on the vehicle keeps blinking on and sometimes faster? However the battery keeps draining so fast and I believe it is from the anti-theft system. When I lock the doors from the lock button all the doors and backhatch lock except the passenger door side. Sometimes the theft triggers opening the passenger side door and the horn starts going off. Just twice though. I keep having to jump to start it after the battery is even charged for hours. I will turn truck off and start it back up and it does, however , i will drive approximately 2 - 5 minutes away and shut truck off, go inside say a convenience store, come out and battery is tottaly dead.

2. Can this be causing the problem, the anti-theft ? Or , is it something totally different ? Like do I have to go to the Ford Dealership to get the key re-chipped just to shut off system, or overriding the syst4em?

Thank you for your time.



Sincerely,

Rachel ...

 

[1998Exp]

First, your dead battery is not related to the 'THEFT' light blinking. You probably just have a dead battery; perhaps, but less likely, also a bad alternator. A decent auto parts store should be able to diagnose those.
Second, if your key starts the engine at all, I don't believe that there is a need to 'rechip' or 'reset' anything. Actually, there is no 'reset' for the PATS system - it can only be reprogrammed. The first thing to check if the theft light is blinking are the relevant fuses, probably #25 in the box at the left end of the control panel, but there may be more - I am not sure without checking the schematic book.
Does your passenger door lock by pressing the 'lock' button in the car and just refuses to lock from the remote, or does not lock at all?

Question : Help Needed
...My question is about the anti theft system.
1. How can I reset the system ? Problem is the " THEFT " light on the vehicle keeps blinking on and sometimes faster? However the battery keeps draining so fast and I believe it is from the anti-theft system. When I lock the doors from the lock button all the doors and backhatch lock except the passenger door side. Sometimes the theft triggers opening the passenger side door and the horn starts going off. Just twice though. I keep having to jump to start it after the battery is even charged for hours. I will turn truck off and start it back up and it does, however , i will drive approximately 2 - 5 minutes away and shut truck off, go inside say a convenience store, come out and battery is tottaly dead.
2. Can this be causing the problem, the anti-theft ? Or , is it something totally different ? Like do I have to go to the Ford Dealership to get the key re-chipped just to shut off system, or overriding the syst4em?
Rachel ...

 

[XLTrunner]

As stated, this problem is not related to the Anti-Theft system. The "Theft" light is supposed to blink when the truck is turned off and locked...probably every second or so. And, it's not all that uncommon to have a sticky door lock. But, that won't drain a battery.

I agree in that you need to first confirm that the battery isn't the problem. Any idea how old it is? Even if the tag indicates it's only a couple yrs old, the persistent heat in your part of the country is extremely hard on batteries. Am curious, when you have it on the charger, does the meter show a gradual movement towards a full charge after a couple hours? I've had mixed results taking a battery to an auto store for testing...but, how it takes a charge on my charger will reveal a bad battery every time. Consider buying yourself a cheap multimeter and check the voltage on the battery with truck not running and then check with it running. Non-running, a fully charged battery should read somewhere in the neighborhood of around 12.7 Volts. Running it should be upwards of around 14.0 Volts (give or take)...which would indicate the alternator is functioning as it should.

Have you checked/cleaned your battery cables?