PATS anti theft issue

powerlifter405 · Oct 12, 2013

Long story long;

My 08 has a nice pioneer flip up/ dvd, etc.. plenty of nice add-ons, egr delete, nearly brand new tires and so on.

I'm selling my truck and I'm getting tired of the low-ball offers. Hell at least offer me close to private party book, but anyway....

I took out the pioneer and several days passed before I got the factory radio reinstalled. The truck was driven during that time frame so we know there were no issues.

I reinstalled the factory radio and I immediately got a brake trailer module fault, the flashing anti-theft PATS light and such on the dash. After searching and searching the interweb and trying everything I could find, no luck. I did the TARM reset, PHP reset, CARDONE manual and nothing.

I then tried to use my AE but it refused to connect:wtf:
I then tried to use my CTS to check for codes but it to refused to connect again :wtf:

After banging my head on the wall half the morning, running around in a cloak sacrificing chickens pouring their virgin blood all over the place, standing on one leg in a tinfoil hat, nothing worked.

In a last ditch effort, I turned on the interior lights and head lights and disconnected both batteries. 15 min later I reconnected and viola it's alive.

I know it's a long post but I had to poke some fun at myself for not starting simple. I spent the last 4 wasted hours digging through the internet trying all sorts of crap when I could have tried the battery disconnect 1st. Hell I could have done that while searching for remedies.

Anyway maybe it will help someone w/ a PATS issue.

TD-5 · Oct 12, 2013

Sounds like me!, thanks for the heads up

powerlifter405 · Oct 12, 2013

I know that there will be someone who'll run into this hiccup and be in the same boat so I figured I'd share.
Hope it helps!

rray37375 · Oct 14, 2013

What I can't understand is why Ford put a PATS module in my wife's 2002 Focus, which cost me $15K new, and did NOT put a PATS module in my 2005 F-250 with the Lariat trim option, which cost me $42K out the door. Guess that's why the Ford F series trucks are among the most stolen vehicles in the country.

getstroked27 · Jan 25, 2014

im hoping this works for me. got a customers dually in here now and a similar thing happened, we had the batteries unhooked for a week, and when we hooked them back up, the security light was flashing faster than a limo of drunk girls at mardi gras... i tried everything you did, plus the jumper wire trick. and still nothing. itll crank with the jumper, but not fire up. got seven minutes left until i hook it all back together and pray to gods i didnt even know existed.

getstroked27 · Jan 25, 2014

no go

sootie · Jan 25, 2014

Same exact thing happened to me. Jumper wire and all.

The only way now is to reprogram the pats thru IDS.

What I did on mine was swap in a pcm from another truck.

drunk on diesel · Jan 26, 2014

getstroked27 said:
im hoping this works for me. got a customers dually in here now and a similar thing happened, we had the batteries unhooked for a week, and when we hooked them back up, the security light was flashing faster than a limo of drunk girls at mardi gras... i tried everything you did, plus the jumper wire trick. and still nothing. itll crank with the jumper, but not fire up. got seven minutes left until i hook it all back together and pray to gods i didnt even know existed.

my short bed truck was down with no battery power for 8 months. Ran into the same exact issue. Had to reflash the PATS with the IDS and all was good :ford: