Hi everyone,

I am new on this forum so please apologize me if I don't know some rule and for my english (I live in Italy),

I have a 1998 MK4 ford fiesta with central locking system and alarm. Both the key fobs stopped working (one some years ago and the other one last week). So now I cannot disable my alarm. I can still open the doors and run the engine but the red light which indicates the alarm is set on is always on. First of all, I think I have an RF key fob type (because when I open it to change the battery I saw a chip with 433Mhz wrote on), is there a way to clone it? Second, I didn't see any trasponder chip, does this mean that my car doesn't have the immobilizer? thank you

Hello Michele, welcome to the Ford Owners Club 😀

It will difficult for us to give you proper advice on your Italian specification Fiesta. The first problem I see is the car key, that is not like the type that were supplied with UK cars.

Your car might, or might not have an immobiliser, again your car may have a different specification to those that we had here. Mostly all UK Fiestas did have immobilisers and with the Keys that were supplied the transponder chip could be seen but on some key types they were molded in to the plastic and were hidden.

Have you replaced the battery in the key with a good quality one ?

If fitting a new battery in the key makes it work, then you should be able to reprogramme the remote locking by using the system of turning the ignition on and off (4 times ??) and then pressing the unlock button on the key.

Do you still have the owners handbook ? It used to explain in the UK book how to reprogramme the key.

13 hours ago, unofix said:

Hello Michele, welcome to the Ford Owners Club 😀

It will difficult for us to give you proper advice on your Italian specification Fiesta. The first problem I see is the car key, that is not like the type that were supplied with UK cars.

Your car might, or might not have an immobiliser, again your car may have a different specification to those that we had here. Mostly all UK Fiestas did have immobilisers and with the Keys that were supplied the transponder chip could be seen but on some key types they were molded in to the plastic and were hidden.

Have you replaced the battery in the key with a good quality one ?

If fitting a new battery in the key makes it work, then you should be able to reprogramme the remote locking by using the system of turning the ignition on and off (4 times ??) and then pressing the unlock button on the key.

Do you still have the owners handbook ? It used to explain in the UK book how to reprogramme the key.

Hi Unofix,

Thank you so much for helping me, I send a picture of the key fob circuit. I'll try to start the engine with only the metal piece of the key (turning it with a plier), if it works it means that my car doesn't have any immobilizer, right? The battery is new, a duracell one, last week suddenly the remote key stopped working, so now I can only open the door manually and luckily I'm able to start the car. I'll try also to do the reprogramming procedure but I don't think it will work since the circuit seems to be dead, also the LED doesn't light up. Anyway can you confirm me that it's an RF key type (on the central circuit I read 433, it might be a 433MHz resonator, right?). 

Hello Michele, yes that is an RF keyfob.

If you have a multimeter measure the battery voltage, it should be at least 12V or slightly more.

Also check that both ends of the battery are making a good connection with the metal contacts on the keyfob. The negative end of the battery may be getting pushed away from the contact by the edge of the battery.

3 button RF remotes were introduced in 1999, a 2 button remote from 1998 will be IR
Try the programming sequence below, the IR receiver is in the interior lamp housing.
The immobiliser chip will be contained within the key body, you will have an immobiliser.

NOTE: Before entering the remote transmitter programming mode, make sure that the vehicle battery is fully charged and that the anti-theft system is not armed or triggered (if equipped).

Turn the ignition switch from position 0 to position I.

Wait until the passive anti-theft system (PATS) LED is continuously ON

Turn the ignition switch to position 0.

Within 5 seconds of the previous step, hold the key in the direction of the infrared receiver then press and hold the unlock button on the remote transmitter.

When the LED in the key starts flashing, press the lock button three times.

Release both buttons and observe that the PATS LED and the key LED flash 5 times.

After each successful remote transmitter programming, another 20 second programming mode is automatically entered, up to a maximum of four times.

To program additional remote transmitters, repeat the procedure from step 4 with each additional remote transmitter.

The system will exit the programming mode if the ignition switch is turned to position II, no new remote transmitter is programmed during the 20 seconds or if four remote transmitters have been programmed.

Thanks for the reply and for helping me. 

I found out that this key was given with the original alarm optional that was installed by Ford when my granpa bought the car in 1998. 

You are right saying that the 2 button key fob was IR type, but probabily you were referring to this one

This was the standard key fob that Ford provided with no alarm equipment.

My key fob instead is clearly RF type (otherwise what is the purpose of the big 433Mhz resonator in the center of the PCB?), and also I don't see any IR led.

Now the problem is that both the key fobs seem dead, so I think they cannot emit any signal, this is why the reprogramming procedure doesn't work. Is there a way to get the code sent by the key so that I can program an universal RF trasmitter to open and close the car? Maybe with an oscilloscope If  I try to read the output of the EEPROM.... is a good option?

 

Thanks 

Hello Michele,

The good news is you don't need the code from the old keys.

I am going to have to make some assumptions because as I have said previously your Italian specification 1998 Fiesta may not be exactly the same as the UK specification.

If we first assume that your original keys do not have a transponder chip, then that will mean that your car does not have a Ford PATS immobiliser. If this is true then we do not need to be concerned about having to code that part of the key in to the car.

Now we have the problem of the RF remote for the locking and unlocking of the doors. Fiesta's of the year 1998 - 1999 could have up to a maximum of 4 remote keys programmed in to the car. So if you can buy a key which is compatible for a Ford vechicle of a similar age then you will be able to follow the normal teaching method and the car will then learn the code of the new key.

It is possibly worth also getting the software FORSCan which is a diagnostic programme. I am not sure how well it will work with your car because of it being 1998, but you can get the standard version for free so it will be worth trying. If does work with your car then you can get an 'extended licence' which allows for easy programming of keys in to the cars memory.

Download FORScan : https://forscan.org/download.html

ELM327 connection lead : https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/USB_Modified_with_switch_ELM327/p4541936_17045457.aspx

Hello unofix,

I agree with your assumptions. Also for me my car doesn't have the PATS system (though it's a bit strange since other ford of that period instead have the immobilizer), so hopefully I don't need to program it using Forscan. 

So the only problem is the RF remote. Now the big problem is that I can't find a key which is similar to the one I have, I've been looking for it for a week but unfortunately online sellers (especially Aliexpress ones) only have this type 

As you can see it as 3 buttons, instead mine has only 2 (one for opening/closing and the other one is to set the alarm).

So I'm a bit stuck, I don't know what to do...

Hi, yes I have also searched all old Ford keys from all around the world and have not found another key like yours. It seems that it was very rare, perhaps only for the Italian market ?

You have 2 car keys ?

What about sending one of the keys to a company that repair old remote keys. There are a few in the UK and I would expect that there are some in your country.

I will keep looking for you. I even tried looking on the Italian eBay site but still did not find anything like yours.

Hi, thank you for the reply, This is the alarm manual that I have in the car. As you can see the key is original by Ford but it seems that I'm the only person that has it 😅.

Also for me the only solution would be to fix in some way the original remote.... I will try to find someone that can repair it.

I think that this might have been a genuine Ford after market kit dealer fit option.

https://www.allcarpartsfast.co.uk/ford/ford-1057550-kit-anti-theft-car-alarm/

Hi,

I'm keep writing on the topic because it might contain some useful infos for other people with my problem.

After inspecting the PCB I noticed that the main LED was borken, and It's in series with the rest of the circuit, so the circuit was always off. I was able to solder a new SMD led and now the remote control works 😁.

Now I want to make a copy (in case of necessity). with a little RF receiver (ASK demodulator) connected to the input MIC line of the PC and with a audio acquisition software I was able to retrieve the baseband signal.... The problem now is that every time I press the same button the code change... I assume it might be a rolling code signal type, so it's not sufficient to simply have the signal and trasmit it, I also need the algorithm to generate the next code. I'm trying to solve this issue if it's possible, I will keep you updated on my attempts.

 

 

 

Very good news that you have been able to fix the remote 👍