I have an 01 F150 work truck that is giving me a PATS problem. Intermittently the truck would not start (theft light flashing, odometer all dashes, cranking strong and not starting. textbook PATS issue)

I found one day when I was stuck by removing my lower column cover and wiggling the single black wire with pink tracer that goes to the side of where the ignition switch is, the odometer would come back...theft light would shut off and it would start right up.

Recently it started getting worse. This morning I went to wiggle the wire and it fell off in my hand. Tried putting it back in place..no go.

What is the part called that the wire goes into? I have to order one and the auto parts store doesn't understand what I am talking about.

Immobilizer receiver?

Anyone have a part number?

Thanks in advance

Pete

 

I just took off the immobilizer "ring" which seems to be intact. The black/pink wire goes into the cylinder the receives the ignition lock assembly. Does anyone know what the wire does? It has a metal electrical connector that seems to touch the ignition switch assembly when its in the run position

 

The BK/PK wire is for the key-in-ignition switch which is there to nag you to take the keys out of the ignition. It has nothing to do with PATS.

Your symptoms are of a loss of communication between the cluster and the PCM, often caused by a failing PCM Power relay or some other component that supplies power to either/or the PCM and cluster.

Does the MIL come on when the ignition switch its turned from OFF to RUN?

 

Actually, that wire is also called the "ignition lock cylinder tamper circuit" - it's supposed to indicate if a thief uses a screw & slide hammer to rip the cylinder out of the column. So that's probably what your EEC (or PATS module, or RKE module, or whatever your truck has) thinks has happened, triggering immobilization. This is for older trucks, but it MIGHT apply to yours:



If the broken wire turns out to be for the actual PATS pickup coil that reads the PATS pill in the key, then you need a new/JY coil. They're fairly common in any Ford/L/M vehicle with that (~'90-up) column and any key-pill anti-theft system. The coil itself is just an antenna - it's not coded or programmed to the vehicle, so it swaps without a trip to the dealership.

 

The BK/PK wire is for the function I already described. Please look it up in the correct model year service documentation. That would be the 2001 EVTM, Cell 66-1 for the F150.

FWIW, I usually clip that wire anyway so as to silence the key-in-ignition chime, it has zero effect on the PATS system.