What does the flashing "THEFT" light mean?
 

I recently got my 2002 Ranger and I notice that after I turn the key off I see a flashing red sign saying THEFT" to the bottom right of the speedometer. It flashes on and then off every four or five seconds. To my knowledge there is no alarm system on my truck. The owners manual doesn't mention it. How do I shut it off?

probaly something to do with a alarm system i would just leave it,because it will make people think twice about breaking into your truck

After the truck is shut off, if I lock my driver door via the inside switch, the theft light will flash for thirty seconds then it will become solid lit indicating that the entry alarm is on.

Mine doesn't mean anything anymore, my Autopage system bypasses it.

But even though my truck was broken into, the stock alarm never went off

Stupid thing still blinks though

never had any break into this ranger but i can pop the back window open and it want set my alarm off

It's the factory anti-theft system that is blinking the "theft" light, it is not a typical alarm that goes off when you bump the vehicle or open a door, it's why the keys have transponder chips in them to help prevent the vehicle from being started without that key i.e. The Ford Pats system. My Viper alarm works in conjunction with the factory anti-theft, it does not bypass it except when the autostart function is being used.

^^^ well put.

Yep, it is NOT an ALARM... it just means you have a key with a chip in it... that is all that it means... My friends '04 has it.. my '05 does not, but I bought a real alarm anyway so idk. LoL

PATS (Passive Anti-theft System) ;)

I used to have this in mine till i changed my gauge cluster from a 2000 to a 2003. So far I haven't gotten it working in the new cluster. This is because they changed the pinouts between the years. The 03 has a resistor on the back side of the gauge cluster plus it switches on the neg side where as 2000 switches on the positive(I believe). There is no resistor in the circuit traces for it on the 2000 gauge cluster.

What I'm thinking about doing the next time I have my dash apart is gluing a piece of plastic over the opening for the theft light in the gauge cluster and to install the led into it that way. Then tap directly into the positive and ground indicator wires coming up to the cluster plug for it.

I'd like to know where and what resistor they used on the 2000s so I could swap to a diff color led too :biggrin:
(different color leds use different voltages)

I know if i don't fix the thing at some point PATS is going to come back to bite me in the ass :icon16: When they day comes my truck wont start because it cant read the chipped key properly for some unknown reason. Then I'll probably be trying to replace everything having to do with the ignition/power system but that lol.

I have swapped my red led for a blue one. Cost a few cents and burned the crap out of a finger or two.

Attachment 98950

As you can see my lens is scratch pretty bad. Its the best pic I got though.

wow that looks nice :D

what year is that a 99? You didn't have to wire in an extra resistor did you?

since most RED leds are typically around 2.2-2.5v I would not be surprised if that's the range the original red cluster one is. Side note blues are a little higher around 3-3.5v.

I just desoldered the led from its red socket and swapped it for the blue. Its a polarized socket so make sure it goes in the right way.

Pretty easy minus holding the tiny plastic parts. I suggest a vise, the clip stand deals are a hassle.

How did you do that.??? looks great i have two rangers that i need to do this to

I acquired a 2000 Ranger XLT, after unlocking the door, the Theft light flashes and the "ding" noise sounds until the engine is started. Is the 2000 ignition key chipped? I have no problem starting the engine just the ding noise and the flashing light.

Yes, I think they started using chipped keys (Pats) around 1996, most of them 2000 and later use the e-pats system, which uses an encrypted key, also makes it more difficult to program a new key, because you need to have at least two working keys to program one.

Thank you smcasey88.

No problem, and I see your in Elko,
so welcome aboard fellow Nevadan:welcome[1

Thank you again smcasey88. Did the Maganflow exhaust help the power on your truck? Which exhaust did you buy?
Thank you!

Honestly, no it did not help with the power, I think most people on here would agree with that, I think its just the size of our engines, its just not going to help with the power much,
probably a custom tune would help most with power. But The engine breathes better and it sounds great, and thats the main reason I did it (for the sound) I love it. As far as the part
number of the Magnaflow muffler I bought, it was either the 11216 or 11226, basically the same muffler, slightly different configuration, I just cant remember which one it is sorry about that. What I did was call Magnaflow and talked to customer service and they recommended that muffler, I then went to Summitt Racing and bought the muffler for $80 and took it to a shop to get it welded up with 2.5" pipe from the cat back, that cost me about $210, so all together almost $300 total, very happy with it. and that is usually alot cheaper than buying one of those catback systems that you can purchase too.
'

disregard those part numbers, I found my old post, and the part number I used was the Magnaflow 12226, sorry about that

How can you bypass this to get the car to start?

THEFT light flashes - Car won't turn over
 

2000 Ford Ranger won't start....red THEFT light flashes. Had previous issues with bell ringing while key was in the ignition...even though the door was closed. Also, "door open" light stayed on. Could this all be connected?

the aftermarket alarms dont technically bypass they are sort of programmed to the computer. its almost impossible to bypass since theres part of it in the PCM the older ones had a relay brain in the dash but if you tamper with it it'll kill power to the injectors and starter so best to just leave it alone lol the idea is to not be able to disable it otherwise its useless. The aftermarket will bypass it to allow remote start to work but mine wont allow you to move the truck without the coded keys it will just quit as soon as you touch the break pedal if the correct key is not in the ignition.

I simply removed the driver's door panel and disconnected the connector to the door lock. All works now, so I presume it just needs a new switch.

before you buy a new switch, try spraying some wd-40 in that latch mechanism, I seem to remember something about it sticking and causing the door ajar light to stay on, but wd-40 seemed to fix it . search on it there are a bunch of posts on it.