Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Car Won't Start - PATS Code?!?

Heyas,

Quick qeustion.

I have a '98 SVT with 115k on the clock. Over the last couple of days it has started acting up.

After a car wash the other day it refused to start. After a 5 minute break, it ran for about 5 seconds, all the while, the PATS light was blinking at about twice a second. Then the spark cut out, and it died. After another 5 minute break, it started and ran without problems for 2 days. The only caveat being that upon initial startup, I had the PATS system blinking a 1-6 code at me about 5 times before extinguishing itself altogether.

As I am about 800 miles from home (and a Haynes manual) I was wondering if anyone had any idea what this code might be. I have seen ABS codes before, but have not seen PATS codes before. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

bump

any ideas?

hope this helps....seems a faulty link between PATS and EECV...http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/PATS.htm

I thought I would unearth this post in the event that this particular problem happens to someone else in the future. I ran a search, and found nothing specifically like it, so I thought the following information might be of help in the future...

I ended up having to take the car to the dealer for diagnosis and repair. The problem turned out to be that the battery had leaked down underneath the tray and shorted some of the wires in the large harness under there. No parts were involved, just a bit of labor, so the bill wasn't too bad.

I had recently replaced the stereo, and wondered if I had somehow buggered the wiring while messing around in there, since the amp is so close to the PATS module; but it turned out to be a short in a completely different location. I spent many hours under the dash with a multimeter to no avail.

All the documentation I could find (including a couple Ford wiring schematics) led me to believe the circuit never ran up the battery and back, but that is apparently not the case.

Hoping this might help save someone a trip to the dealer if the car is throwing a blinking PATS code. CEG has always been a valuable resource for me, and one of the ways to perpetuate this is for myself and others to post solutions as well as questions. My thanks to the community for all the help.

Thanks for posting a follow-up, it will surely help someone in the future!