Ford Focus Central Locking

[#1]

For some time now the remote central locking on my 06 Ford Focus has been intermittent in operation, often requiring me to put the key in the lock to get in.

My neighbour, next door but one has a 13 plate Ford Focus.

Earlier this year his Focus sustained damage and went to a garage for repairs which took 3 weeks including insurance delays.

During this period my central locking was mostly faultless until his Focus came home.

For the past 3 months his Focus has again been absent from outside his house.

For the past 3 months my car's remote locking has worked faultlessly.

Is this pure coincidence or could his key fob and/or remote central locking system be affecting mine.

Also having posted this will I have tempted fate

[#2]

@Strat - sounds like yours and your neighbours systems are interfering with each other. I've seen this happen on two of my aquaintainces cars - one VW and one Peugeot.

[#3]

Any help here Strat http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/2507-central-locking-problems-possible-solution/

so many combinations the chance of being on same frequency is massive

[#4]

I tried all the various 'solutions' found on Google searches like reprogramming the system to the key, disconnecting the battery for 1 hour and removing and cleaning the relevant fuse amongst others.

The 'solutions' tend to be for when the remote system has failed completely rather than intermittent failure.

As I say, at the moment it is working fine.

@rongtw The frequency is around 433.92Mhz as I've used a scanner before to check that the key fob was working but I know what you mean.

[#5]

I seem to recall that some systems will roll over to the next set of codes if they get an invalid code - which if your neighbours car is on the same frequency (and it could happen although the odds are high) then that may explain things. What it wouldn't explain is how it miraculously works the moment your neighbours car vanishes - it won't rollback the codes.

I wonder if his car has some two way setup going on that checks to see if he's within range for automatic unlocking?

A few years ago by some odd phenomenom I was working on the renault and when I hit the keyfob, not only did the renault unlock but so did the neighbours nice new land rover - and locked itself again when i re-pressed the fob again. Worryingly when i did it a 3rd time it unlocked once more and after that it refused to do anything so i was powerless to lock it again for them. I didn't bother saying anything as they often used to come out and open it without unlocking it so they weren't too worried about it but i was a bit shocked.

One other thing, some cars have the receiver up in the roof panel. If you have any damp in the car this will often get trapped on the roof as condensation which can then drip back down over the electronics - as it was with the renault. The renault convinced me it was haunted several times when I heard it lock and unlock itself and even watched the buttons on the back doors go up and down. I tracked it down to the roof panel and water dripping into one of the connectors. When I masked that off with electrical tape it stopped happening.

[#6]

Does this 13 plate Focus your neighbor has have remote locking OR does it have Fords woeful insecure keyless entry system?

If its the keyless system then it could be interfering with other Ford cars nearby.

As for Renaults with the rain water leak via the roof aerial killing the remote locking system, this was mainly the older infra red locking set up as the ideal place for coverage for the infra red receiver was just in front of the rear view mirror.

[#7]

@7up I believe the receiver electronics are on a vertical side panel in the boot.

@PowerLee He used a remote key fob.

[#8]

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@PowerLee wrote:

As for Renaults with the rain water leak via the roof aerial killing the remote locking system, this was mainly the older infra red locking set up as the ideal place for coverage for the infra red receiver was just in front of the rear view mirror.

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You're making assumptions. I never said anything about rain or an aerial. The car in question does not have a leak through the aerial and the electronics are not below it. As I said... damp... rises... trapped as condensation... I eventually found three leaks around the drivers footwell that I fixed. One was in the drivers door - water was leaking through the speaker grill into the footwell, another in the top of the bulkhead under the scuttle - rubber thing holding the alarm cable had twisted itself free and then another wiring loom behind the drivers wheel that had a plastic pipe full of rubber that had cracked... right below a scuttle drain. Fixed those and no more damp or condesation inside the car.

It also isn't an infra red car but RF. We did have two IR models and the central locking on those was rock solid for reliability.. assuming you could hit the receiver with the IR beam in the first place which wasn't always possible..

[#9]

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@Strat wrote:

@7up I believe the receiver electronics are on a vertical side panel in the boot.

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You might do well to investigate it anyway strat just to be sure you don't have moisture around it.