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Just bought an 03 Mustang from an auction and took it on a trip. The anti-theft system kicked in and I had to disconnect/reconnect the battery to get it working again. That worked a few times and I thought it would continue to work until I got home where I would get it looked at.

Unfortunately it stopped working altogether and I had to tow it to a dealership. I asked them to disable the anti-theft system altogether but they tell me that's not an option and I have to fix it. A call to my regular mechanic who I trust confirmed that they were telling the truth.

However, I've seen webpages talking about 'tunes' and 'tuners' (I have no idea what that is though) you can get to disable it and referencing Mustangs specifically and I'm pretty sure one page was even specifically talking about the '03 Mustang.

So my question is: Is there a way to just disable the anti-theft system? I'm not worried about anyone stealing my car but I definitely don't wanted to get stranded several states way from home ever again so if there's a way to do it I'd sure like to know.

Thanks!

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2 Answers

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If you want to bypass your antitheft, you can attach one of your PATS keys inside your steering collumn by the lock cylinder. This will make the car always 'see' a key with a chip. You caqn then use a regular steel key. This is also a 'cheater' fix when installing remote starts on cars with PATS so you don't need to buy a module.

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Yeah I read about that somewhere and I actually asked the mechanic at the dealership about it, but according to him it has to be able to communicate with the chip directly 'through' the actual key and not just wirelessly. I can't confirm whether that's true but at least it seems to be working now and hopefully shouldn't go out for another decade and it will be someone elses problem by then :) – Brandon Moore Mar 7 '12 at 7:49
Ive done that with my Fords which includes several tauruses and a ranger but havent owned a mustang but can't see why they would have it different on it. – stephi Mar 16 '12 at 17:34
Cool... maybe I'll try it out one day when I'm feeling less lazy :) – Brandon Moore Mar 16 '12 at 18:44
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You would probably have to have someone recode your ECU, as they are usually intertwined with the anti-theft system to ensure the engine will not start. I don't think they can really be disabled easily thought. Cars with systems like this can be triggered by bad keys as well, so check that out. The key can and will go bad, and this could make you think the car is acting up.

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Thanks, turned out to be the tranceiver (or transponder?... I forget). I gotta say I'm not real happy about having a car with anti-theft parts that can go bad and can't be bypassed. I understand that may undermine the anti-theft system, but I didn't exactly care to have it to begin with and I literally got stranded and had to sleep in my car on a freaking cold night in TN. Sigh... but I digress. – Brandon Moore Jan 9 '12 at 5:03

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