Hello,
I hope you guys can offer me some advice and guidance. I have a f150 2002 5.4L. It was originally a bi fuel truck. When I bought it a few years ago the propane system did not work. I got a new system put in. ( the alt fuel place that put it in is now out of business). I have been having trouble with an O2 sensor which I could not figure out. I brought it to a Fletchers around the corner to have them take a look at it. They really screwed it up. It was undrivable in the gas mode it drove when using propane. I checked the wires and cleaned them up and bought a PCM from Checker/O'Rielly and installed it. I now get the theft light flashing and it does not start although it cranks. I'm guessing it is due to the PATS system. Does anyone know how I can get the system to recognize the keys? or am I screwed and have to bring it to a dealer?

Thank for any advice.

Matt

 

Tow it to a dealer.

 

Try a GOOD locksmith some have the equipment to reprogram . Also O'Rielly may have the ability to reflash your PCM alot of parts stores have this service available .
Only go to the dealer as a very last resort .

 

You need a parameter reset done and as far as I know the dealer is the only place that can do it. You also need as-built data loaded into the PCM. The pats keys are stored in the cluster and the PCM and cluster have to be programmed to each other.

 

Anytime you replace the PCM, the instrument cluster, or the keys, you will have to remarry these pieces back together using Ford IDS software, which is generally used by Ford dealers, locksmiths, and some high tech garages that work on a lot of Fords. It's a subscription based software that not everybody has, and works with a laptop and a Ford VCM 1, 2, or 3 programming device.

When you switched out the pcm, you should perform a Programmable Module Installation using IDS. That procedure will "inhale" all the vehicle specific data from your old pcm, if it can still talk, and will exhale it into the new pcm. Things like gear ratio, tire size, VIN#, and pats key codes are stored in the PCM's Vehicle ID block, and gets transferred over to the new or used replacement PCM.

If you don't do it this way, you have to program the new pcm without the old one, and manually enter that data into the new pcm one line at a time, which means knowing which gears, tires, vin#, etc to use. Then you have to program all the PATS keys to the truck. All keys must be present so the pcm can learn them. If the pcm doesn't know what your pats key codes are, it will reject that key as invalid, and you will get the theft light blinking and a no start.

The usual fix would be to call a locksmith to come out, or tow it to the dealer. Either way, you're in for a few hundred bucks. Or put the old pcm back in, if it is any good. It will still have your pats keys stored in it.

An alternate solution would be to have me delete PATS entirely, by reprogramming your pcm to shut pats off. This would allow the pcm to bypass the pats system entirely and the truck will start up regardless of whether you have programmed keys, and even if you're missing the other pats components, like the transceiver or the instrument cluster (the pats module is built into the instrument cluster on this truck). The down side is you no longer have pats key theft protection. The up side is you will never be stranded again by pats, and you will never have to pay for key programming again. And you can swap instrument clusters without any key programming required. Since the PATS transceivers (key reader in the steering column) in these 96-04 Fords are now going bad often due to old age, and Ford has discontinued most of them including 99-03 trucks, deleting pats for around a hundred bucks is a really good alternative to fixing or programming PATS. We do a lot of these trucks because of bad transceivers.

As a side bonus, we also have Ford IDS software, and can properly program your VIN, gears, tires size, etc. Often when you buy a used or reman pcm, these things are not programmed in correctly unless they asked you for all that info. We can straighten that back out and get your odometer, speedometer, auto shift points, etc working correctly again for your gears and tire size, regardless of what gears and tires you are running. 5.13 gears and 38" tall tires? Not a problem for us, but Fords software only offers factory gear and tire size options.

Regards,
Steve H.
Drag Radial Performance
pontisteve@earthlink.net