Please Help!! 2000 Mustang Theft Light, car won't start issue...

2000Mustangguy · Apr 13, 2023

I have a 2000 Mustang Convertible V6, with 73k miles, I was driving the car and was coming to a stop sign, all of the sudden the car lost power, lights came on dash and car cut off, when trying to restart the car the turns over and will not start, the theft light flashes very quickly and the odometer has no mileage numbers showing, only dashes where mileage should be, towed the car home, have tried to reset (PATS) Passive Anti Theft System, however car is in the same mode. Tried the other key for the car and still the same thing, I live in a very small town where it is very hard to find anyone with knowledge on this issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Is there a way I can bypass this system totally? Any ideas on what I should check? Anyone ever had this issue and had the car die on them while driving down the road? PLEASE HELP... Thanks

08GT500 · Apr 13, 2023

Hi,
there are certainly alternatives ways to remedy around this issue, bypassing it, entirely-
You’ve reset the PATS system, which is commonly pointed out ”the first to blame” for issues such as this. Consider first, start simple and work from there.. A corroded or bad ground wire may cause the issues per described, or worse. Intermittent issues are the MOST complicated.
Get yourself a repair manual for the exact vehicle (Haynes). Money well spent. They also rent these tools at the “common” part stores.
Keep a notebook handy to jot down any findings/repairs made.
Read through the Troubleshooting guide within the manual.
1) Was there any work done prior (over the last several weeks, even months) prior to this issue occurring? I’m unaware of your location or regarding driving habits..Perhaps the first drive of the Spring of after winter storage, things such as this.. Many Mechanical/Electrical issues occur in states of change, when started, and stopped.
2) Anything done under the hood or electrical system, as remote as may appeare, I.e. Stereo, Battery, etc.
2a) How old is the Fuel?
2B) How long did you drive prior to the issue occurring?
3) Do a thorough inspection under hood, use a flashlight, if a connection seems poor; repair it correctly.
4) I’m guessing you have your own Scan-tool, they are invaluable, an OBD-2 tool is a super important tool, a necessity for most 96’ + Fords. Technically, a 5,6Yr old “Dealer only” tool is now surpassed (in many cases) in consumer products, a mere fraction of the cost. Read the Manual, thoroughly. You won’t hurt the car, but it will maximize your understanding of it, and get the most out of it.
I’ll troubleshoot with the most simple/inexpensive, least invasive methods.
If these basics fail to remedy the issue, it rules out a few things, indicating what direction the next step will be. As this occurred with such spontaneous , that may be the case.. If this helps, or not, we can go from there.
If you find anything, I.e, a broken wire, etc.. repair it correctly, jot it down and test fire the car.. help or not? if not- move on..
Hope any/some of this helps.
Try this system reset.

P.S.
Try this.
Insert your key into the driver's door lock.
Turn the key once, not quite enough to unlock the door. Leave in position-for 1 minute. ...
Perform once again, but rotate key in the opposite direction.
Now, remove the key entirely from the door. start the engine.
Keep this post going until the problem is remedied, it may help someone else.
Best!

2000Mustangguy · Apr 13, 2023

08GT500 said:
Hi,
there are certainly alternatives ways to remedy around this issue, bypassing it, entirely-
You’ve reset the PATS system, which is commonly pointed out ”the first to blame” for issues such as this. Consider first, start simple and work from there.. A corroded or bad ground wire may cause the issues per described, or worse. Intermittent issues are the MOST complicated.
Get yourself a repair manual for the exact vehicle (Haynes). Money well spent. They also rent these tools at the “common” part stores.
Keep a notebook handy to jot down any findings/repairs made.
Read through the Troubleshooting guide within the manual.
1) Was there any work done prior (over the last several weeks, even months) prior to this issue occurring? I’m unaware of your location or regarding driving habits..Perhaps the first drive of the Spring of after winter storage, things such as this.. Many Mechanical/Electrical issues occur in states of change, when started, and stopped.
2) Anything done under the hood or electrical system, as remote as may appeare, I.e. Stereo, Battery, etc.
2a) How old is the Fuel?
2B) How long did you drive prior to the issue occurring?
3) Do a thorough inspection under hood, use a flashlight, if a connection seems poor; repair it correctly.
4) I’m guessing you have your own Scan-tool, they are invaluable, an OBD-2 tool is a super important tool, a necessity for most 96’ + Fords. Technically, a 5,6Yr old “Dealer only” tool is now surpassed (in many cases) in consumer products, a mere fraction of the cost. Read the Manual, thoroughly. You won’t hurt the car, but it will maximize your understanding of it, and get the most out of it.
I’ll troubleshoot with the most simple/inexpensive, least invasive methods.
If these basics fail to remedy the issue, it rules out a few things, indicating what direction the next step will be. As this occurred with such spontaneous , that may be the case.. If this helps, or not, we can go from there.
If you find anything, I.e, a broken wire, etc.. repair it correctly, jot it down and test fire the car.. help or not? if not- move on..
Hope any/some of this helps.
Try this system reset.

P.S.
Try this.
Insert your key into the driver's door lock.
Turn the key once, not quite enough to unlock the door. Leave in position-for 1 minute. ...
Perform once again, but rotate key in the opposite direction.
Now, remove the key entirely from the door. start the engine.
Keep this post going until the problem is remedied, it may help someone else.
Best!

Thanks for your help and advice, car has not had any work done to it recently and has been driven pretty regular lately, I tried the key in the door already, I had seen that online, all fuses are good as well, seems from what I can find this is definitely electrical and pats system related, locksmith said the transponder that reads the key in the ignition may have gone bad, so I ordered one, he then installed it on the car and said his computer would not read the ecm to program the transponder, he then said it needed a new ecm, I purchased one online he installed it as well then stated his computer would not read it still, I feel like it's something simple but very hard to narrow down, it is very strange that it just cut off while going down the road, then these issues have been ongoing every since. Car turns over great, theft light flashes very fast which is not normal and the dashes where the mileage numbers should be are strange as well. Thanks for your reply, if anyone else may have any suggestions please post. Thanks in advance.

Jerome 65448 · Apr 15, 2023

2000Mustangguy said:
Thanks for your help and advice, car has not had any work done to it recently and has been driven pretty regular lately, I tried the key in the door already, I had seen that online, all fuses are good as well, seems from what I can find this is definitely electrical and pats system related, locksmith said the transponder that reads the key in the ignition may have gone bad, so I ordered one, he then installed it on the car and said his computer would not read the ecm to program the transponder, he then said it needed a new ecm, I purchased one online he installed it as well then stated his computer would not read it still, I feel like it's something simple but very hard to narrow down, it is very strange that it just cut off while going down the road, then these issues have been ongoing every since. Car turns over great, theft light flashes very fast which is not normal and the dashes where the mileage numbers should be are strange as well. Thanks for your reply, if anyone else may have any suggestions please post. Thanks in advance.

I went to all of that and ended up replacing the batteery which fixed I reset fob door locks it started been running

2000Mustangguy · Apr 15, 2023

Jerome 65448 said:
I went to all of that and ended up replacing the batteery which fixed I reset fob door locks it started been running

Thanks, I'll test that with a new battery and see if that helps anything, it's just strange that this happened to the car while driving down the road, once it cut off, it hasn't started since. So strange.

Squaretundra · Nov 8, 2023

2000Mustangguy said:
Thanks, I'll test that with a new battery and see if that helps anything, it's just strange that this happened to the car while driving down the road, once it cut off, it hasn't started since. So strange.

did you end up solving this issue im having the same problem

Please Help!! 2000 Mustang Theft Light, car won't start issue...

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Please Help!! 2000 Mustang Theft Light, car won't start issue...

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