Hey yall

I’m looking for some help bypassing anti-theft system. Me and my dad were doing an ignition tune-up and we had to access some cylinders by taking off the doghouse. It’s hot in NC so we needed to work with the doors open. Driver side door will ding until it’s shut so we cut those wires.

Tune up is done and my dad can start the vehicle. We go to start it again and it it turns over but that’s it. We try several more times. I checked all the fuses with multimeter. Battery is charged.

Working on it with some help from my dad by phone. He told me to try bypassing the safety system. I took off the cover under steering wheel to access the anti-theft module box ( or whatever it’s called) and bypass it by connecting the correct wires with a paper clip. I cannot find the box. Maybe it’s smaller than I anticipated, but I do not see it.
I can’t find a diagram for this model online or photos of the module box for this vehicle. I’m not sure how to move forward

edit: I understand that disconnecting the battery would have saved me this hassle. Looking for a solution.

 

First of all check my signature below.
Since I don't know the exact year, when you said you cut those wires, how and which wires exactly? If you plied the door jamb switch, say 3 wires on the driver side, the green/yellow (don't know your year) is always hot (even without key in ignition switch) be careful when cutting, black/light blue goes to dome light, red/pink goes to the warning chime, so the red/pink is the one you need to disconnect to disable the buzzer. Since you already removed the knee panel (under the steering column) and if you dislike the ding or ANY warning chime just disconnect the entire module permanently, rather than disconnecting the anti-theft system. The warning chime module should be located near your cigar plug is on the inner side of the dash. So no cutting is needed in the first place. Anyhow that circuit has nothing to do with your starting issue, you still should reconnect the 3 wires (one is always hot).

 

Van is a 1999 ford e150 5.4 V8
Yes, plied the driver’s side door metal button to access the 3 wires and cut them.
Thanks for the information on the wiring and the “ hot” wire. I will look for the chime module today to disconnect. Should I be looking for a black box with 6-8 wires?

The vehicle has started a few times and ran for a few minutes but 99 percent of the time it will either turn over or start up briefly and then conk out.
I thought that this was possibly tied to the anti theft system if cutting the door chime affected or alerted that system in some way affecting systems needed to start vehicle.

Also thinking maybe fuel is not getting where it needs to go.
Headlights work, radio works, electric windows work. Locks do not work since cutting door wires
Thanks
.

 

Look at mine 98 e150 4.2L, you can see from underneath it has 2 circles, mine is a super loud buzzer. If yours is black with only ding, you still should see the 2 circles from underneath.
Now let's look at the diagram on 99 5.4L below:

I mentioned previously for the 3 wires at your door jamb switch that green/yellow is always hot, the black/light blue is also required for your dome/cargo lamp and RKE to work. Only the red/pink or red/black is useless, that circuit number is 159 and as shown above RD/BK, but the diagram below shows RD/PK:


So you know which wire to disconnect, or perhaps making a inline switch to disable that when your van is servicing when driver door is open. The ding sound as you know is to remind you that your driver door is not fully closed, such reminder is absolutely redundant. Look at the electrical diagram on the buzzer, you can see pin 5 is ground and which is required for the buzzer module to work, all the input are 12v feed. So that circuit 159 passes the 12v feed from your door jamb switch (the green/yellow) when the driver is open, to the buzzer module (C214). If you think some other dings are annoying, you can also add inline switch to turn off temporarily, try NOT to just cut the wire because that wire gets 12V (just like circuit 159), or just use quick disconnect terminals, don't just cut it and use electrical tape to cover it. You can short something when that circuit 159 (with 12v) touches the metal and short to ground. As mentioned above, pin 5 is ground and it's required for buzzer to work, if the ground is cut off, the entire buzzer module will not work. So it might be EASIER if you add an inline switch to disconnect just the pin 5 ground circuit when your van is servicing. Dealing with ground circuit is much safer as well, this way you also don't need to disable the 12v input one by one.

As far as engine stalling while driving, that could be a sign of bad MAF. Look at C1029 or C155 on the diagram below.
Disconnect battery ground, then discount the MAF electrical connector, wait 10 minutes, reconnect battery ground, start the van and drive for 10 minutes or so. Don't worry about getting CEL, and when your van is placed in LIMP (failsafe) mode, your top speed can be limited, it can be lack of power, A/C may not work, your goal is to find out if MAF is at fault for diagnostic purpose. If you see major improvement than before and no longer see engine stalling while driving, then it's time to replace the MAF.
Here's the MAF locaiton:

 

Thank you for this information and for your specificity in how to
troubleshoot this. The diagrams are very helpful to me. I might post some photos as I go to get your input if you don’t mind. I’ll likely get that started tonight or tomorrow. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions and offer possible solutions to the issues I’m having with my vehicle.

 

After rereading your original post I found that you have crank no start issue, so MAF is not relevant to that. I also don't see your van has factory anti-theft system, so it's probably something to do with the tune up.

 

Yeah I just tried to test the MAF but couldn’t finish that because the vehicle won’t start. It has started and ran in the driveway a few times but got the most part it turns over and then dies. I saw that the air filter cover was not flush and I addressed that. I believe it was running a little lean when it did run before the tune up but I don’t know if that’s relevant. I put a code reader in and it says it’s coil 5 but doesn’t specify if it’s the computer or electric. Could it be a loose wire?
I’m going to check the plug and coil on 5. Replaced the plug with new plug but put the old coil back on that one due to finances. 6 & 8 got new coils.

Bear with me on this, I’m a mechanical novice.

 

 

I ended up disconnecting the MAF sensor and the vehicle runs and drives with it disconnected
I’m going to clean the sensor and look more closely at the wiring
Hopefully it’s just dirty

 

When you clean the MAF you clean the electrical connector with contact/electric cleaner, and use wire brush if needed. The sensing element of the MAF is what makes MAF goes bad easily all the time and it requires routine cleaning to keep it in top notch. CRC makes MAF cleaner and it works pretty good for routine cleaning, not for fixing MAF issue, in fact there is no such thing as MAF cleaner that can rescue a bad MAF. Test more and see, if you really see it starts with MAF unplugged and no start when it's plug, then you know it's MAF's fault. Everytime you disconnect you should wait 10 minutes or so.