You do need 2 working keys to program the 3rd key, sorry I didn't make the rules Ford did

 

I just swapped the circuit board and the little black PATS block into a sapphire key and it worked without having to do anything else. Easy peasy.

 

How were you to take out the PAD from the old key? It's super tight on there. @@

 

Also interested to know how the PATS was removed to swap to new key

 

I just used an Xacto knife to cut along the edges where it's glued on the sides. Just pry it out and re-glue it into the new fob. With the swapped electronic board, and the swapped RF block, the car can't tell whether you have a plastic or metal/crystal fob.


The goal is to not only relocate this board and battery, but also that little black block glued into the case.

 

I have just bought a spare plastic fob for my '11 Virage as I only have two crystal fobs and am paranoid about dropping one. Both crystal fobs start and unlock the car so I tried the above method to program the PATS block in the plastic fob so it can be used to start the car as well but I couldn't get it to work.

I tried a couple of times but the red PATS light just flashes at me when I insert the plastic one after starting and stopping the engine with the other two. I got the fob from AstonMartinBits.com cheap as it is a new fob but with no code so will eventually swap the circuit board out of one of the crystal keys. I am presuming it was new but should you be able to program a PATS block in an already used key as well?

I could swap the PATS block over from the crystal key but it would be nice to have three fobs that start the car so any thought in what to try next?

 

The only thing I can tell you is that I had to do it a few time as I guess I wasn't quick enough with the start stop with all 3 fobs, you definitely have to do it very quickly for it to work unless the 11 has a different ECU than my 09 Vantage. Maybe someone else in here can answer that

 

Thanks for that. Can you remember how long you had to put the new fob in before the engine started or was it instant.

 

it was just like the first 2, pretty well instantaneous.

 

Yay, I had another go today and the engine fired straight away when I inserted the new fob!

Not sure if I just did it slightly quicker or whether not taking my foot off the brake between fobs helped but I now have a working crystal and plastic fob.

Thanks for your help.

 

No problem anytime, enjoy your summer

 

Thanks. I live in New Zealand so winter starts in 1.5 hours!

We rarely see snow where I live though so I get to drive the car all year round.

 

Ha ha, well here in Canada we can only drive them about 6 months a year as they put so much salt on the road it just eat the car right up.

 

Just did this. Please note you do not need to start the car. Just click the first two keys into ON mode one after the other. On the third key I hit the brakes and the car started on the first try.

-Art

 

Thanks Art, that makes it even easier.