Keyless entry gone wild!

[pingflood]

I hope y'all don't mind a Sport Trac owner posting here... just pretend it's a regular Explorer with a funny tail. ;-)

Nobody on the S/T forum had heard of this, so since there's a much larger audience here I thought I'd throw it out. Yesterday, my keyless entry started acting up. Would only lock/unlock after pressing the buttons several times. Figuring it was the battery I grabbed the spare. Same deal. Seemed to work more reliably if I was sitting in the truck, but step outside and nothing works.. (Well, maybe one out of ten tries got it.) So, followed the steps in the manual to reprogram the keyless remotes. Everything seemed to work there, but it's still acting up. Disconnected the negative battery cable for a while. No change.

So, start her up to go to the dealer (hey, this is what warranties are for!), and the 'LOW FUEL' warning comes on. Gas gauge is on empty. This is somewhat intriguing as I had filled up the day before and should have at least 3/4 tank left. As I'm driving to the dealer the gas gauge slooooowly works its way up towards where it should be.

Get a call from the dealer this morning. Everything's working fine. I go there, and sure enough the keyless entry system is working like a champ. Figuring it might've been a fluke, I come home and the damn thing quits working again Gas gauge is fine though.

I have an appointment for next week, but I fear that when I bring it in it'll be working fine again. Anyone have this happen before?

 

[spindlecone]

Ping
We are wellcome here, unlike some sites, there are some real experts that will be happy to help out, good luck

 

[99explorer5.0]

Have you tried it anywhere other than your driveway? You could have a neighbor with a satalite dish or antenna trying to speak to mars screwing up radio frequencies. Especially with the fact that it worked at the dealer.

A guy who lives a few streets down from me was ordered by the city to take down his antenna cause he was messing up TVs and phones.

 

[pingflood]

Have you tried it anywhere other than your driveway? You could have a neighbor with a satalite dish or antenna trying to speak to mars screwing up radio frequencies. Especially with the fact that it worked at the dealer.

A guy who lives a few streets down from me was ordered by the city to take down his antenna cause he was messing up TVs and phones.

That is a really good idea. I was just pondering the same, especially since it seems like proximity is an issue -- if I sit inside the truck, it works a lot better than standing outside the door.

I'll try it out elsewhere when I go driving around later and report back on my findings. If your theory holds, wonder how the heck I'll figure out what's interferring.

I did check to see if parking on an incline affects it (my driveway is on a hill) but same result when I park on the street next to the house.

Any idea what frequencies these things operate on? Might help narrow down the potential culprits.

 

[spindlecone]

My wife had a similar problem with her beemer car, was the garage door opener gizzie, changed the code and the problem went away

 

[pingflood]

My wife had a similar problem with her beemer car, was the garage door opener gizzie, changed the code and the problem went away

Hmm.. I installed a new Chamberlain Whisperdrive opener a week ago. But it shouldn't be causing any interference unless you're using it, right?

 

[spindlecone]

Not a clue ping, maybe remove the batt from the garage remote, or shut down the system and see if it makes any diff

 

[pingflood]

Well, I didn't have time to mess around with the garage door opener last night. Today the damn keyless entry works fine again. Go figure.

Sunspots?

Government spy equipment?

Aliens?

 

[spindlecone]

Sunspots without question, hope the problem is resolved, when ya get back to the MYST site, tell my old Buds, Mr Bill sends his love LOL