Ok, so I didn't get much sleep last night, went out and bought a car half asleep. It drives well, cost me only £200 (S reg 1.8 TD LX Mondeo). A couple of dints and scratches on the body but nothing too bad. Underneath and wheel arches look pretty rust free. 4 months road tax and MOT and even passed all the HPI/Insurance write off checks I put it through .... BUT

The alarm keyfob is missing.

I don't know if these cars come with an immobilizer but if they do the one on this car has been disabled (which I am ok about). The car starts with the non-remote control keys I have. So, no problem there.

In my befuddled state I believed the owner what he told me about the implications of this. He said that that the alarm and immobilier can be disabled by disconnecting the wires that connect it to the car electrics and waiting for it's internal battery supply to run down.

The hazard warning lights blink on and off very rapidly at the moment - again put down to the alarm being permanently active. If it's not the case and an electrical fault the parts should be cheap enough on eBay so that's not the biggest concern.

The problem is that I can lock the doors at the moment but once they are locked they stay locked. This is what I didn't realise about the thing. Essentially the alarm is permanently triggered so the locks are in 'lockdown' mode.

At the moment the fuse to the central locking has been removed - this is because, according to the previous owner at least, it is the same fuse that sounds the horn on the alarm.

According to him, once the power to the alarm has been run down I can reinsert the fuse and will then be able to open and close the doors via non-central locking. Is this the case?

I only paid £200 for the thing so the loss of central locking is no big deal and when I told them, the insurance company didn't bat an eye lid at the fact the alarm/immobilizer had been disabled. BUT if it is not get roundable I'm sunk.

Thanks in advance for any help offered even if the news is bad!

EDIT: It's an S Reg.

EDIT: I've just seen this on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-ALARM-FOB-REMOT...0111115001r7299

Is that all I need as a worse case scenario (assuming it is the immobilizer)?

if you reconnect the alarm and immobilizer then use the orig key to program the new set you shoudl have no problems i know in the fiesta im selling i baught a slave key and programmed it usuing the master it was pretty easy

if you reconnect the alarm and immobilizer then use the orig key to program the new set you shoudl have no problems i know in the fiesta im selling i baught a slave key and programmed it usuing the master it was pretty easy

Unfortunately I don't have the master key.

you may still be able to reprogram with a slave but if you get the key off ebay you need to get it cut first