1998 Ford F-150
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in Ventura County

1998 Ford F-150 Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

Got a call early one morning from a guy near the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. His '98 F-150 XLT, the regular cab long bed, would not start. He turned the key, the engine cranked strong for about a second, then died. Theft light on the dash was blinking steady. He thought it was the fuel pump.

I told him over the phone what that pattern usually means on a tenth-gen F-150 with PATS. Crank-and-die after one second is the immobilizer killing fuel delivery because the transponder signal is not reaching the transceiver ring around the ignition cylinder.

Drove out to him in about 25 minutes. Pulled his key out and checked the bow. It was a copy, no transponder chip at all. He said he had it cut at a hardware store a couple years back when his original got lost, and it had been working fine. Turns out the original was the one doing the PATS handshake and he had been using it all along. When that key finally disappeared for good, he grabbed the copy and hit the wall.

I cut a new H75 blade to code and programmed a 4C transponder chip through the PATS module using the diagnostic port. Took about 30 minutes. Cut him a spare too so he would not end up back in the same spot.

He kept saying he thought the truck was dying on him. It was just the security system doing its job.

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CA Bureau of Security & Investigative Services

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