Programming keyless entry

[bheston]

My fiance left her dome light on and it ran the battery dead- after recharging the battery, the keyless entry doesn't work. Dealer said it had to be reprogrammed, but I can't seem to get it to work. Supposed to turn key from On to Off eight or ten times, then the locks will cycle for programming mode. I can't ever get it to do this- what am I missing? This is a 96 taurus. Thanks for the help.

[irish30]

Cycle the key eight times within 10 seconds. Run position, not starting the engine. The locks will cycle locked then unlocked. You then press the lock button and the key FOB is programmed. If you have more than one FOB to programme then unlock the doors with it. Turning the key off ends the programming. If your batt went dead this should not have disabled the Keyless entry. If you can't get it to go into pragramming mode with cycling the key then you may have a Keyless entry module problem.

[bheston]

I have tried going from "off" to "run" eight times and cannot get the locks to cycle. Could draining the battery have caused a problem with the keyless entry module? Thanks.

[irish30]

The keyless entry module has capacitors in it that have a very slow drain rate. The battery would have had to be dead for about two months. If you can't get the locks to cycle you may need to have a scan tool hooked up to the module to run self tests and check for codes.