2003 Ford Taurus
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in Ventura County

2003 Ford Taurus Transponder Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

Got a call from a woman near Bart's Books in Ojai. Her 2003 Taurus was sitting in a small lot just off the main drag, and the only key she had left was refusing to start the car. Engine cranked strong, then killed itself after about a second. The little key-shaped theft indicator in the instrument cluster was flashing steady.

She had already tried it probably thirty times by the time she called. Each attempt was the same: crank, catch, die.

I pulled up and connected my IM608 through the OBD-II port under the dash. Read the PATS module and found a stored DTC B1600, which is the generic PATS key code not received signal. Her transponder chip was just done. The 4C glass capsule inside the key head had failed, which happens on these after twenty years of being banged around on a keyring.

Cut a new H75 blade to her ignition and coded a fresh 4C transponder to the PATS module. The 2003 Taurus allows a two-key self-learn procedure if you already have two working programmed keys, but with only one dead key, it needed the diagnostic route. Whole thing took about twenty-five minutes.

She stood there watching, kind of half-reading a book she had just grabbed from a shelf at Bart's. When the engine turned over and stayed running, she just quietly closed the book and nodded.

Drove off without having to tow anything anywhere.

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