Remote Key Fob not working Well!

I had the same problem also on a '99 UK Focus. I tried resetting the fob to the car using the "ignition on/off" method with no success. (Google in this group for details). As a dealer sourced and programmed key was about 100UKP I decided to manage without.

Some time later I needed a CR2032 battery whilst fixing a friend's door bell so I used the one from my fob. About a month later I was scrapping a computer motherboard when I realised it used the same battery, so I removed it and put it in my fob. To my complete suprise my fob then worked! In fact it seemed to work better than when the car was new. That was about two months ago and it is still working.

I can't offer any explanation for this, or suggest how long it would be necessary to leave the battery out for, but maybe it is worth a try?

Of course I may have tempted fate by posting this and it will never work again!

Chris also

I've noticed the same thing with mine. After taking the battery out and giving the connections a quick clean and sticking the battery on a battery tester, it's been back to normal. Battery been out for no more then ten mins.

Can't offer an explanation either. Though I have noticed with alkaline cells used in low drain situations, that sticking them on a tester or *briefly* short circuiting them restores them to health when they appear to be dead but you know they aren't because they're relatively new. Though of course you wanna be careful short circuiting batteries...

Gary.

Well, yes but the OP mentioned that he had replaced the battery with a new one. I had tried two new ones in mine from different sources. Oh, and the Focus key fob battery is definitely *not* an alkaline cell!

Chris

Thanks everyone for the advice. I've tried removing the battery, cleaning the contacts, and even breifly shorting the battery termials, but it makes no difference. The battery still has plenty of charge, so that's not the problem.

I'd like to try resetting the key fequency with the 'ignition on off method' that is mentioned by an earlier poster. Does anyone know how to do this? I've had no luck finding instructions on google.

Thanks Chris

This only works for certain remotes - there are at least two types. Mine is a Siemens one, although I don't know if that is relevant.

Get in car and close all doors Turn the ignition key from fully off to fully on 4 times within 6 seconds. Stop at fully off position. The door open/lights on alarm will "bong" once. Press the open button on the fob. The alarm will sound once more. The procedure is complete.

Not that although I tried this half a dozen times or more, it made no difference to my fob. When the fob finally stopped working altogether I didn't get the second alarm bong.

If you do get it working by this means, or by my other suggestion of leaving the battery out for an extended period, please post back and let us know.

Chris

Indeed. Perhaps I could have phrased my last post better. The battery is of course a Lithium one. I was offering the observation that I've seen problems with alkaline batteries before and it might be something to try, as it's one of the things I did and *may* have contributed to the solution. Though of course in essence I will never know! Lol. I've had the OP's problem with brand new batteries too, and have never found any concrete explaination as to the behaviour.

G.

Worth a try I suppose, but isn't that only telling the car to recognise the key? I could well be wrong, but I can't imagine it actually makes any changes to the operation of the key.

Oh I've just remembered that one of the other things I've tried with mine was to bend the terminals up slightly so they make better contact with the battery. Being careful not to snap them off of course. As mentioned earlier, this is only a suggestion based on my own observations!

G.

Thanks for this, it seems to work!

Hav>

Let us know in a month :-)

Chris

Sounds interesting, got used to the 2m max, a new battery improved things (shortly). If it wouldn't only allow me to close all 4 windows remotely but although open them, longer distance (10-20m) would be great.;)

In message , Michael Heiming wrote

As the Top Gear TV program in the UK once demonstrated - walk away from the car until the remote stops working - walk a tiny bit further - now hold the remote to your head with your mouth open, facing the car. You will find that the remote now works over a much longer distance :)

Hi

thanks from some else it worked for me to.

And me! The second suggestion about holding the keyfob to my head works as well! Lol.

G.

Same thing happened to me too...the remote got progresivelly weaker and one day it stoped. took it to a auto alarm shop. they re-programmed the remote (it was out of its operating frequency range) for free..

Ahmet

Turkey

In alt.autos.ford.focus dragon :

Belief it or not, but mine has improved dramatically with just reading this thread, without applying any of the more or less humorous advices in this thread, 5-8m are no problem right now.;)