Well I know that you cannot just get rid of the pats system. Yes it will cause your truck not to start. And mine did go out. BUT my 03 was left in a ditch full of water for over 48 hours. I had to get one from my local dealer. It only cost me like $60 for a new "chip". The hardest thing to do was to remove the ignition switch to install it. I think all in all it took me like 2 hours to replace and that included driving over to Ford to pick up the part. And we all know how they just Jump to their feet to help someone at the window. True working time I think it was a little over an hour job.