Ok right I'll try do a guide to Ford car keys:-
The Key Blade :-
The key type that Ford uses on the Puma and Cougar and their older vehicles is of the Tibbe design and refers to the cuts they use on the key. If you look at your key you will see there are 6 cuts on the rib of it at various different depths. Each one of these cuts refers to a number of the key that ford has allocated to your car so for sake of argument (and if you still have it) on the card in the manual for the car (the one with the radio code on) there is a key code and it will be something like for sake of argument - T421322. These numbers refer to the depth of the cut on the key 4 been the deepest cut and 1 been the shallow one. All Ford Tibbe keys have a 4 cut to enable locksmiths to read the key easily, there is no machine that reads these keys well enough on the market to decode the cuts as they wear badly and they give bad readings, ask any Transit van driver that has had their van for a few years to look at their key and it will be almost totally rounded! It take a while to manually read but if you have your card have a go and see if you can suss it then have a go on friends ford key and amaze them :lol:
This is a basic non remote un-cut key with transponder taken out
The Remote Key Fob :-
The Fob is generally the 3 button design although on the Puma I think there are some 2 button ones, this is were some of the confusion between remote and transponder comes in. Firstly the fob has nothing to do with the starting the vehicle it’s just purely there to unlock/lock the doors and arm the immobiliser remotely. Extra fob’s can be programmed by anyone that has access to your vehicle with a cut key this is the way to program an extra fob NOT program the transponder :-
Fiesta 96, Puma (Infrared 2 Button)
Procedure
1. Turn Ignition switch to Position I and back to 0 as soon as the PATS LED in the clock lights (The system is now ready for programming, to a maximum time limit of 30 seconds)
2. Remove Key from Ignition, hold the FOB towards the Interior Light, and press and hold the Single Arrow. Wait until the light on the Key flashes, then press the Double Arrow 3 times, release the Single Button
3. Both LEDs (Key & Clock) should flash to acknowledge programming is successful
4. To exit learn Mode, turn Ignition to II and then 0
5. A Maximum of 4 Remotes are possible
Fiesta 96> Puma & Escort 98> (Radio 3 Button)
Procedure
1. Insert Key and turn to II, then Turn Key from II to I and back to II four times within 3 seconds
2. The PATS LED should light. Turn Key to Position 0.
3. Press the Unlock button and keep it pressed until the PATS LED flashes 4 times.
4. Add additional fobs the same way. Turn to II and back to 0 to end.
Transponder:-
Ok this is the bit that most people want to know about. Ford initially used Texas chips in their vehicle immobiliser systems and has generally stuck with them. They use two types the 4C and the 4D the later had a higher end encryption programmed to it but you will find in Puma’s that the chip will be a 4C, if you take the key blade off your key and open up the remote as if you were changing the battery you will see a padded rubber area with what looks like a glass dome sticking out of the end – this is the glass chipped transponder. Issues encountered with these chips can be anything from someone fiddling with it and smashing the glass to dropping the key causing detachment of fine filament copper in the transponder to come away from the chip rendering it useless (I have had this happen!). Programming extra transponders with the correct equipment is a straight forwards job with modern car key coding equipment and generally takes seconds. Because these chips are ‘not a very good idea’ against the more modern carbon ones, I would always ascertain that you have at least 3 keys for your vehicle even if one of the keys is just a plain non remote key (it’s like the spare one that Ford issues with new vehicles generally it will have a all red head to it). If the transponder fails and you only have one key it will get expensive as the key code has to be extracted from the ECU via the OBD port and most Auto Locksmiths will charge well over £150 for doing this and programming a new transponder and cutting a basic non remote key !
This image shows the modern carbon transponder on the left and the 4C chip on the right
So to sum up I would always advise having extra keys – look after your key as if you drop it you could be well stuck somewhere like ASDA or somewhere else as hideous! Another tip is to program up a transponder and hide it in your car somewhere so if you do lose your main transponder while out and about you will still be able to get into your vehicle get your spare transponder hold it next to your ignition till it starts the vehicle and get home till you can get it fixed !
Hope this helps any other questions IM me or just add to this thread.
