Remote Keyless Entry suddenly stops working after 171/174 fix

[jseaward]

Hi,

I did the 171/174 fix today on my 2002 Windstar, following the Leckemby instructions.

That went well and the engine now idles well.

Unfortunately, my keyless entry fobs no longer do anything. They both suddenly stopped working at the same time. I have followed the reprogramming instructions in the manual, switching on and off 8 times until the locks close & open but pressing buttons on the fobs doesn't do anything even at this programming stage. It is unlikely to be the batteries in the fobs as they both stopped working at exactly the same time.

I guess there is a problem with the keyless entry receiver / antenna / module. Do you have any suggestions about whether I could have accidently dislodged an important wire during the 171/174 repair and how to identify where the problem is?

Thanks,

James

[Windstartled]

Please forgive my ignorance but what's the 171/174 fix?

[phil-l]

Powertrain error codes P0171 and P0174 are commonly caused by the infamous isolator bolt problem on '99+ Windstars. The fix is best - and most famously - written up here:

http://leckemby.net/windstar/windstar01.html

jseaward: Sadly, your diagnosis is likely correct - but I don't know of anything immediately obvious that would have been dislodged by work typical of the isolator bolt fix. Anyone else have thoughts?

[jseaward]

Thanks for the info but now I'm really confused.

I changed the batteries in the 2 remote fobs this morning to eliminate that as a possibility and suddenly they both started working again.

I thought that it was just one of those strange coincidences but this afternoon neither works anymore from outside the car.

Inside the car, however, they both work fine but when they are more than about 3ft away from the receiver module, they are out of range. Do you know how the remote entry antenna is wired so I can try to trace it?

Thanks,

James