Lincoln/Mercury Repair: Mercury villager 1995 anti-theft device, mercury villager, starter solenoid


Question
Hello Dinger,

Thanks for your quick answer.

Followed your instruction, I found a small black box under the panel, and I re-connected the wires they spliced into.

There are several wires connected to the box. I identified the thickest pair be the igition wires and connected them.

But I still could NOT start the engine. The situation was the same as before when I switch on ignition with the key- silent, "low oil" light appearing...

Maybe I was wrong? The problem was not caused by the anti-theft system?

Or I have any other steps to go, such as disconnecting other thin wires connected to the box, reset the car comuter system...?

There is a sticker on the box "Technicenter plus".


Maybe I have to take the car to a garage finally. :(

Thank you so much.
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Followup To

Question -
Hi,

I appreciate your answer.

However, after doing what you suggested me, the starter still kept silent :(

I hereby provide some more details so that you may figure out what's the problem to the point.

I bought this used mercury villager-95 in May 2006. I first got to know that the anti-theft device caused non-ignition problem when I sent it to a garage to change power steering.

The mechanic told me that when he was working on the car, he suddenly found he could not start the engine. He did almost every test and found no problems on battery, fuses, circuits, starter solenoid, etc.

After a whole day work, he finally found out that it was because of the anti-theft device, which somehow locked the starter. Unfortunately, he did not tell me how he solved the problem.

The second time the problem happened one month ago when I tried to start the car just a few seconds after parking the car in order to move it to another place. I spent several hours to find out what was wrong. Again, every other thing looked good: battery, fuse, circuit, starter solenoid, etc. So I supposed that it was the same problem that mechanic met before. Someone told me I could find a switch for the anti-theft device and just turned it off then i could start the engine. I found the switch and turned it OFF but it did not bring any change.
When I almost gave up and called the towing company to take my car to a garage, I started the engine by a last try.

After that, the car had been working well until last friday(Sept.01). This time the symptom is almost the same: It came suddenly, battery is good(light,horn,sreen wiper works), fuses looked good. So I supposed it was still the trouble of anti-theft device, and I asked you the previous question.

Since I did everything that you told me but the starter still did not work and I could not contat the mechanic in the garage because of the holiday, I come and ask a follow up question.

Normally, when I start the engine, I first press the "Defogger" button the switch on. If I did not press the "defogger", there would be no ignition (not any sound) and a "low oil" light flash on the panel. This time, even I press the "defogger" there is no ignition either and other symptons are the same as if I did not press the "Defogger" button--no sound, "low oil" light flash.

Any further suggestion? Thanks a lot.


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Followup To

Question -
Could not start engine because of the anti-theft device problem, even after switched OFF the anti-theft system.

Could you give me any idea to reset this anti-theft device?



Answer -
HI Robert,

Disconnect the battery both sides and hold the two battery ternimal wires together for 10 seconds. This will reset the computer and everything else.

Answer -
Well Robert,

It would have been helpful to know it's an AFTERMARKET alarm. I only picked up on that in your sentence about pressing the defogger button. Resetting the computer only would have worked on a factory alarm, which this car has also. You have a "lojac" style alarm that you should removed from the car at your earliest convenience. It has a small box that is spliced into the ignition wires that acts as a kill switch. Remove the box and re-connect the wires they spliced into. I like wire nuts in this situation. Then drive away happily ever after... You can go to Ford or Nissan and get a regular factory alarm key fob for about $35. I will go over the steps with you to set it to your vehicle if you want keyless entry.

Answer
Hi Robert,

Well, you came this far, please remove the rest of the alarm and resplice any of the wires. Those things are intrusive wastes of time and money. So let's start at point "A". The vehicle doesn't start. Ok, what is the battery voltage say on your VOM? Can you jump it to make it start or is it just dead. If it's just dead, meaning lights are on on the dash but it won't crank, then why don't we look at the starter?