Focus mk3 remote stop working

[StephenFord]

1 hour ago, sva86 said:

Please don't spam the thread!...

Hi Emil, I fear you may have no idea how the internet works. I'm afraid you have absolutely no control of what anyone posts on here, or anywhere (just ask Elon Musk!). This forum generally has a wide range of well meaning Ford enthusiasts, sometimes we have the answer, sometimes we don't. If you wish for someone you have control of, you'd perhaps be better off seeking out a local garage where your payment will give you some say in the result you seek.

Otherwise, a post on here is merely dropping a rock in a pond, and watching where the ripples take you...

[sva86]

8 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Hi Emil, I fear you may have no idea how the internet works. I'm afraid you have absolutely no control of what anyone posts on here, or anywhere (just ask Elon Musk!). This forum generally has a wide range of well meaning Ford enthusiasts, sometimes we have the answer, sometimes we don't. If you wish for someone you have control of, you'd perhaps be better off seeking out a local garage where your payment will give you some say in the result you seek.

Otherwise, a post on here is merely dropping a rock in a pond, and watching where the ripples take you...

OK.

Maybe I didn't express my self correctly.I wanted to say that the subject of the topic is not whether or not it is possible for the battery to be on that voltage reading or if the person (me) is able of using multimeter.Anyone with a little knowledge can do their math.

From now on I will stop posting/answering and only read.

[alexp999]

Not really sure what else we can suggest. The mechanical key is the backup to get in the car. So if it’s broken you don’t have a backup. I don’t even know if opening the bonnet from underneath would help. You might need to get an auto locksmith out to get in to the car passed the broken lock. Then first port of call is to get it fixed and having a working mechanical backup. 

[rd457]

1 hour ago, unofix said:

....and just as an aside to your rant, I never asked how you measured the voltage without opening the bonnet.

I think that bit was in response to @mjt asking.

31 minutes ago, sva86 said:

I do not feel like outranking anyone.Yes the Voltage was not 12.5V it was 12.35V but I don't think this will make any difference.If you do not believe it is your choice to do that.If I was wanting to make a point of wat was my education I would start with that.

The difference between 12.5V and 12.35V is something like 90% vs 60/70% charge (going off of images of tables found via google). The stated claim, seemingly just a typo?, that after two months of no use your battery had retained so much charge defied belief and unfortunately managed to derail things. Don't be discouraged. Perhaps with the mis-stated fact corrected, focus can be restored. (Err no pun intended... 😄)

I have no personal experience with MK3s or keyless tech, but my MK2 has sat unused for long periods on many occasions. On some such occasions I've gone back to it, pressed the unlock button on my keyfob, and nothing has happened, forcing me to stick the key in the door to unlock it. I only ever manually unlock in such situations and it's always just worked. I've managed to set off the alarm plenty of times, though I can't remember the specifics of how exactly I triggered it. In all cases the keyfob buttons started working again after just spending a few moments in a lock. I don't recall whether just being in the door lock was enough, as if I'm stopping the alarm in such a situation I'm rushing to get the key into the ignition and turning it on to get the alarm to stop, but certainly the few moments it's spend in the ignition in such a situation is always enough for the keyfob buttons to work again.

[TomsFocus]

Is the car deadlocked?  You have to turn the key further than you think to open the deadlock without remote power. 

[unofix]

1 hour ago, sva86 said:

Yes the Voltage was not 12.5V it was 12.35V but I don't think this will make any difference.

Well now that makes total sense, and yes it would make a difference to the conversation.

[mjt]

3 hours ago, rd457 said:

my MK2 has sat unused for long periods on many occasions. On some such occasions I've gone back to it, pressed the unlock button on my keyfob, and nothing has happened, forcing me to stick the key in the door to unlock it

Lyndon, I don't know if the Mk2/2.5 behaves the same as a Mk3. I've never noticed that with our Mk2.5, perhaps it's never been unused long enough, but when our Mk3 stood unused for more than maybe 3 weeks it would go to sleep and not respond to the remote. Unlocking mechanically would set off the alarm which was cancelled after starting the engine (or at least turning on the ignition). Once this had been done to wake up the car the remote would work normally again. This sounds very similar to your experience. On consulting the User Manual I found this was normal for the Mk3.

From the OP's first post I would say his car has definitely gone to sleep and just needs the procedure above to wake it up but that, of course, means getting the mechanical lock to work.

Also, to answer his question, the car going to sleep does not disable keyless start and does not require the fob to be placed in the emergency start location on the steering column. I can verify that as our Mk3 was keyless start.

[unofix]

1 hour ago, mjt said:

I've never noticed that with our Mk2.5, perhaps it's never been unused long enough, but when our Mk3 stood unused for more than maybe 3 weeks it would go to sleep and not respond to the remote. Unlocking mechanically would set off the alarm which was cancelled after starting the engine (or at least turning on the ignition)

I don't know if the Mk2.5 does go in to a deep sleep like the Mk3 but it is very possible that it does.

Doing something to the car that would set the alarm off (not putting a brick through the window !) would cause the car to wake up, and then possibly it would respond to the keyfob.

An alternative that 'might' wake the car up would be a sudden change in the vehicles voltage. Using the OP's method of getting under the car and accessing the main live feed to the starter motor, and being extremely careful, a cable that could carry say 10 Amps or more could be clipped on to the live terminal. Then connect another cable to some metal earth point on the vehicle. Now with the two cables connected they could then be connected to a fully charged spare battery, kind of like if you were attempting to jump start the car. Connecting and disconnecting the spare battery a few times maybe enough to 'wake the car up' or perhaps also trigger the alarm ?

 

[alanfp]

5 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

You have to turn the key further than you think to open the deadlock without remote power. 

Possibly.

Thanks to the existence of this thread, I've just been out to check that my cylinder isn't stuck/seized up as it hasn't been used in the 7 years that I've owned the car (and possibly never). Amazingly the key went straight in and turned easily.  On mine, it unlocks and locks by turning the key 45 degrees from the vertical, even when the car is deadlocked.

[rd457]

2 hours ago, mjt said:

Lyndon, I don't know if the Mk2/2.5 behaves the same as a Mk3. I've never noticed that with our Mk2.5, perhaps it's never been unused long enough, but when our Mk3 stood unused for more than maybe 3 weeks it would go to sleep and not respond to the remote. Unlocking mechanically would set off the alarm which was cancelled after starting the engine (or at least turning on the ignition). Once this had been done to wake up the car the remote would work normally again. This sounds very similar to your experience. On consulting the User Manual I found this was normal for the Mk3.

From the OP's first post I would say his car has definitely gone to sleep and just needs the procedure above to wake it up but that, of course, means getting the mechanical lock to work.

Yeah that sounds like exactly what I've experienced. There's been times it's sat unused for something like a few weeks and the keyfob has worked just fine, and then there have been longer periods after which it hasn't, so yeah I expect you've just not left your MK2/2.5 untouched for long enough. 🙂

Indeed, I concur.

[sva86]

3 hours ago, mjt said:

Lyndon, I don't know if the Mk2/2.5 behaves the same as a Mk3. I've never noticed that with our Mk2.5, perhaps it's never been unused long enough, but when our Mk3 stood unused for more than maybe 3 weeks it would go to sleep and not respond to the remote. Unlocking mechanically would set off the alarm which was cancelled after starting the engine (or at least turning on the ignition). Once this had been done to wake up the car the remote would work normally again. This sounds very similar to your experience. On consulting the User Manual I found this was normal for the Mk3.

From the OP's first post I would say his car has definitely gone to sleep and just needs the procedure above to wake it up but that, of course, means getting the mechanical lock to work.

Also, to answer his question, the car going to sleep does not disable keyless start and does not require the fob to be placed in the emergency start location on the steering column. I can verify that as our Mk3 was keyless start.

OK 

That was the answer I was looking for.

Thank you mjt                                              Hope that this info can help some one in the future.I made a mistake knowing that the barrel does not work,and not repairing it.But I would never have thought that a car will stop responding to the remote just sitting.Now this will be a lesson learned.

Guess I would have to find a way to open the door. Unfortunately I do not have a factory alarm,so can't think of anything that can wake up the car.

Thanks 🙏 to everyone that responded to my issue.

Cheers 🥂

 

[StephenFord]

2 minutes ago, sva86 said:

...so can't think of anything that can wake up the car...

I can send my mum round if you want, I often use to get a glass of water thrown over me as a teenager to wake me up! 

[alanfp]

16 minutes ago, sva86 said:

I do not have a factory alarm

I think you probably do, but I don't know that that helps you..... unless you can think of a way???

I think a factory alarm was standard on your model.

[sva86]

3 minutes ago, alanfp said:

I think you probably do, but I don't know that that helps you..... unless you can think of a way???

I think a factory alarm was standard on your model.

Ok that's cool.

But if it does not have a sensor for vibration the only thing that can trigger it is opening a door.

[alanfp]

17 minutes ago, sva86 said:

But if it does not have a sensor for vibration the only thing that can trigger it is opening a door.

I THINK that it MIGHT have a tilt sensor.  Whether setting the alarm off would wake up the remote sensing function, I don't know.  But I guess you're running out of options! 

[sva86]

6 minutes ago, alanfp said:

I THINK that it MIGHT have a tilt sensor.  Whether setting the alarm off would wake up the remote sensing function, I don't know.  But I guess you're running out of options! 

I think that it would,so you can be able to stop it from sounding.But who knows?!

Checking the manual,I did found this!

[rd457]

The wording of that text suggests that getting the vehicle to wake up is unfortunately not going to re-enable the keyfob/remote.

In that case, with your door lock being broken, it seems to me that they only way you're going to get back in is to break in. The most simple way would of course be to smash a window. Alternatively you could prise the top corner of the door such that you can slip a long wire inside, catch ahold of the door lever such that you can pull it and open the door. However that's not going to work if you've double locked it.

[unofix]

If, and it is a big 'IF' there was a way to open the bonnet, maybe using the method for when the cable has snapped and hooking the outer of  bowden cable from below and just pulling hard enough to unlatch the bonnet. Then the car battery could be disconnected, for approx 20 minutes. When it is reconnected the modules in the car would fully reset and wake-up. The remote keyfob would be come active by default.