I've got a 2012 Lariat with 52K miles on it. Have owned it since April 2015.
Some day, it will become winter here in MN, so I decided to get familiar with my (factory) remote start.

It seems like I can perform the door lock operation from quite aways away - lights up ( did not measure but probably at least 150 feet) , but need to be much closer to get the remote start to work (more like 50 feet).

Is this normal ? Would a new battery in the remote potentially help ?

What is a reasonable range to expect on huge, flat parking lot at work ?


Thanks

 

I can get about 200ft away and activate both lock and 2 press for remote start with the antenna in the dash. I did run the wire from the tpms to antenna up as high as it could to try getting better reception. This kinda helped. It works great about 500ft away when I am on 2nd floor of building at work when I start it when really cold at work.

I do replace my battery yearly just to make sure they are working at peak output.

2012 f150 XLT W/ 100 series remote start

 

New battery isn't a bad investment.
Is your remote start the ford factory one, or aftermarket? Either way, seems funny that you'd be getting different ranges.

 

Yes, as I stated earlier " so I decided to get familiar with my (factory) remote start."


Factory remote start and factory remote. Listed on the build sheet, to be precise.


I think I'll try my other factory remote - see if its any better, in terms of range. I work on the 2nd floor and would love to start the truck as I walk past the window of the stairway on the way out to the truck.

 

You don't expect me to read your entire post do you? Who has time for that?

 

Your experience mirrors mine, owned a 2012 with factory remote start, from new the locks would work from almost 1000 foot, remote start function from maybe 200 foot, the range on the factory remote is notoriously short, the ford sourced aftermarket remote seems to have almost twice the range. New batteries on your remotes would help some, particularly considering they are possibly 4 years old.

 

I know on the 13, Ford buried the remote start antenna in the dash where it doesn't work worth a darn. It can be so bad that you can't get the fool thing to work 20 feet away. My 13 had this problem.


I'm not sure if we're supposed to post from other sites, but this link provided info that helped resolve the problem with mine. Granted it lists this as a 13-14 fix, so I don't know if it will help you, but worth doing some digging.


2013-14 OEM Remote start poor range fix - Ford F150 Forum - Community of Ford Truck Fans

 

Update

Using advice received here, I put a new battery in the remote and am happy to report that on my very first try from the 2nd floor of the building that I work in, I was able to start my truck - gotta be at least 100 yards. I know, its just one time .............. will try every day for awhile to confirm.

Thinking back to my original post, where I could get the remote to lock the doors from long away, but not start the truck..... I wonder if the battery had just enough power for one 'use' at that distance, which then drew the battery down enough to NOT be able to perform any more functions (ie start). Just a theory.

 

A borderline battery might have acted like that.

I chose to order that 'module" or extension cable because I would like a little more distance. For anyone else who wants to know the Ford part number for the antenna extension cable (that is listed as a module) is:

FL3Z-15K602-A