Just bought a 2012 focus 2.0 diesel estate. 

Both keys that came with the car won't work the CDL. So firstly replaced batteries and checked contacts in fob. Pressed boot release several times and it worked. But only worked once. Now they won't work again. 

Also half the time it comes up saying key not detected when starting the car but it starts every time. 

Is disconnecting the battery for an hour and retrying an option? Or is there a fault that relates to this? I was thinking is there a switch where you slide the key in maybe sticking? Thinking the key is in the car so won't lock or thinking it's not there so putting that warning on. 

Appreciate any suggestions. 

Thanks. 

Could be cheap, dodgy batteries

42 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

Could be cheap, dodgy batteries

Worth trying a different brand I guess. I'll get some tomorrow try that too. Cheers. 

3 hours ago, 2shy13 said:

Is disconnecting the battery for an hour and retrying an option?

Yes, worth trying - but might be more important to get it fully charged from a mains charger. (If the car detects a low car battery voltage it can disable some electrical features to save the power for starting the car. Key detection is one of the first ones to go, I believe! (along with stop/start).

3 hours ago, 2shy13 said:

Worth trying a different brand I guess. I'll get some tomorrow try that too. Cheers. 

If you have a multimeter, measure the battery voltage, it should be 3.3v. (Anything less than 3v will give issues) Better testing rather than just randomly swapping out batteries no matter what brand...

19 hours ago, alanfp said:

Yes, worth trying - but might be more important to get it fully charged from a mains charger. (If the car detects a low car battery voltage it can disable some electrical features to save the power for starting the car. Key detection is one of the first ones to go, I believe! (along with stop/start).

Thanks. Going to try that next as new fob batteries (duracell) didn't work either. Cheers

19 hours ago, StephenFord said:

If you have a multimeter, measure the battery voltage, it should be 3.3v. (Anything less than 3v will give issues) Better testing rather than just randomly swapping out batteries no matter what 

Just put new duracell batteries in to no joy so I'll check they are giving Iver 3v. Thanks 

Disconnecting the battery may help now, whilst it's disconnected fully charge it in case it's a bit low

28 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

Disconnecting the battery may help now, whilst it's disconnected fully charge it in case it's a bit low

Next thing I'll try. New battery fob is 3.3v and car is 12.13v. CDL works with key fine just alarms when you open until the key goes in its slot. Thanks

12 minutes ago, 2shy13 said:

and car is 12.13v.

That's actually quite low !!

1 hour ago, unofix said:

That's actually quite low !!

Spot on cheers for that. I'll get it charged up this week and hopefully that should sort it. 

Did charging the battery help?

I have a similar issue on my 2015 focus. I've changed the fob batteries, changed the F3 fuse, but no luck.

Going to check my battery next to see if this is the problem.

2 minutes ago, Mschof said:

Going to check my battery next to see if this is the problem.

Checking battery voltage, fob and car 12v is first port of call. A multimeter is cheap, sub £10, and if all you ever use it for is to test batteries, worth it's weight in gold. Fob battery should be 3.3v, any lower than 3v will give issues. Use the 'state of charge' chart posted above to diagnose where you car battery is at...

Thank you for your comments 

On 2/15/2024 at 10:25 PM, Mschof said:

Thank you for your comments 

Sorry for the late reply. Both my fobs weren't giving off a frequency. They were both dead. No signs of why.

So I've got a new genuine one coming and getting coded this week. 

Hopefully that will resolve the issue. I'll pop back on and update it. 

1 hour ago, 2shy13 said:

... Both my fobs weren't giving off a frequency. They were both dead. No signs of why.

The probability of you having 2 x simultaneously faulty fobs is astronomical, though I guess, not impossible.  I'd be interested to see if a new one solves the issue...

1 hour ago, 2shy13 said:

I've got a new genuine one coming and getting coded this week. 

Supplied and coded by a Ford main dealer ? 🤔

9 minutes ago, unofix said:

Supplied and coded by a Ford main dealer ? 🤔

Unfortunately yes. So if the issue should work. 

13 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

The probability of you having 2 x simultaneously faulty fobs is astronomical, though I guess, not impossible.  I'd be interested to see if a new one solves the issue...

Reason why I didn't think was a fob. But both tested and both dead. 

I can only assume one gave up the ghost a while ago and they used the spare now that's gone. Well soon see this week if it sorts it.

Just now, 2shy13 said:

Unfortunately yes...

Good to see the economy revival at work 😀

On 2/15/2024 at 10:17 PM, StephenFord said:

Checking battery voltage, fob and car 12v is first port of call. A multimeter is cheap, sub £10, and if all you ever use it for is to test batteries, worth it's weight in gold. Fob battery should be 3.3v, any lower than 3v will give issues. Use the 'state of charge' chart posted above to diagnose where you car battery is at...

Update.

Car battery is reading 12.10 so I realise this is quite low based on the chart provided. However, I connected my car battery to another car battery giving me in excess of 14v and both fobs still don't work.

Fob battery reading is 3.3v so these seem fine.

Could it be the receiver in the car that is faulty? Open to suggestions.

 

When you bring the car back to Ford to collect your new fob, get them to check if your existing fob has the battery correctly inserted, and is making contact with the appropriate prongs inside it... This YouTube shows the procedure, and unusually for a fob, it appears that the battery in this goes face down whereas most fobs I have experience of, has the +ve side of the battery facing up!

 

So those who have been following.....

I got a lad from ford to come do it after work, I had a new key off amazon for £15 which I was told previously wouldn't work, so I also got a genuine ford key off a friend who had a new one. 

The genuine key would not work at all. New battery and my flipper picked up on a frequency. But would not code to car. 

The cheap amazon key on the other hand worked no problem. Coded in fine and now my CDL works and don't need to put the key in the slot to start it. 

I was told my original fobs were 80bit and the amazon one was 40bit that's why it wouldn't work. 

Anyway don't rule out both fobs have actually packed in. If you can check they're giving a frequency. 

All in all £15 fob, £40 to code off that lad. So I'm pleased with that. 

Thanks all for your help 😊

Link for fob below if anyone needs one. It worked for me.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BJ6D5CX6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share