Originally Posted by azsixshooter

Wow, I feel like a freakin' moron! The key fob for my 06 Explorer died and I replaced the battery. I checked the owner's manual for reprogramming it and it seemed like a straight-forward process. I inserted the key, turned it to the on position then turned it back and forth 8 times. I misunderstood the directions to mean you only turn the key a total of 8 times ending with it in the on position. So I did this:
(starting at "on") off on off on off on off on
The locks never activated so I thought I was doing something wrong. I read and re-read the instructions and couldn't figure it out. The only thing I saw that remotely looked like something that could be affecting the procedure was where the instructions said to "be sure the vehicle is electronically unlocked" before starting. I thought that maybe my truck was somehow electronically locked even though the doors could lock and unlock just fine. I guess I thought maybe it had something to do with the theft prevention system or something like that. I set the auto-unlock feature and drove the truck around and everything trying to get the truck "electronically unlocked". Nothing seemed to work, I couldn't get the truck to enter programming mode and indicate that by triggering the locks.

After finding this post and reading through it something finally clicked in my head and I thought to try counting 8 "off-on" sets rather than counting each turn of the key. It worked and I now have a working fob! What a relief, life has really sucked the last few months not having a key fob. I love my explorer, but why in God's name Ford only installed one damn mechanical lock on this truck is absolutely beyond me. Anyway, just in case anyone else runs into the same problem I did, here's the procedure as it worked for me:

get in the truck, close the door
press unlock on the door lock rocker switch
insert key
turn key off and on 8 times ending with it in the on position like this:
off-on off-on off-on off-on off-on off-on off-on off-on
do that quickly, within 10 seconds
the doors should lock and unlock indicating the vehicle is in "programming mode" and emitting the programming signal
press any key on the fob you are programming
turn key off and test the fob.
joy!

I feel like a complete ******* for not thinking of this earlier, but I'm so happy the fob is working now! My friend's dad is the manager at a Ford Customer Service center and I was planning to take it down there and have one of his guys check it out thinking that something was wrong with the truck. I'm glad I didn't do that, he'd be busting my ***** till the end of my days.

At least I found this cool Ford truck forum. I'll look forward to enjoying the community here!