Did you check all the fuses?

 

I didn't personally check the fuses, but a few more experienced family members of mine did take a look in the fuse box but we didn't have a multi-meter or anything like that.

 

The problem remains the same. With this new, fully charged battery (I verified this), the terminals are connected tightly; my key remote still does not lock/unlock the doors, no inside lights come on, there are no sounds, it seems there is no power to the car whatsoever. Literally nothing happens when I put the key in (position 1), turn on the the battery (pos 2), or try to start it (pos 3, 4).

I'm sure that the vehicle has the passive SecuriLock system, and the system may have locked me out for some reason, but if so, I think I should still be able to see some lights in the dash when I turn the key on.

OK, there are several things you should check.

1) You must have a negative and a positive to have voltage. I would start by checking the main negative cable. Follow it down to the engine/trans, and makes sure that it is bolted to the engine. Do not over tighten the bolt, but the bolt should be tightened to about 30 ft-lbs.

2) You should also check the smaller negative wires that connect to the stud terminal on top of the battery terminal. These are held down by a nut. Make sure the ring terminals on those wires are solid (mine was cracked but you couldn't see the crack until you removed it) and well connected.

3) With the negative battery terminal disconnected, open the fuse box under the hood and check the bolted connections at one end. You should see a couple of nuts, that's the positive connection to and from the fuse box.

4) Look in your owner's manual and locate all the main fuses for the car. You must check these fuses. These will be high amp fuses, like 50a. There is also an ECU fuse to check- but that wouldn't cause the symptoms you have.

FYI: All Focis have PATS (passive anti-theft system) which is an RFID chip in the key. This sends a signal to the computer to tell the computer that you have the right key in the car. When the PATS is activated, you can unlock the car, get in, all the lights, bells and whistles work. When you turn the key, you'll see a flashing lock on the instrument cluster, and nothing else will happen. The key fob will still work, as with everything else, but the car won't start. The same goes for Securilock, but the alarm will go off. As far as I know, Securilock adds a horn, but there's no additional ignition kill. Your dealer can tell you by the VIN over the phone if you have a factory installed security system.

 

Okay, now I don't think I have the Securilock, just the PATS.

I will hopefully get to try all these things today and I will report back.

Does the PATS system activate if the disc battery in the remote dies?

 

No it doesn't. The key fob will stop working, but that doesn't keep you from unlocking the door with a key or starting the car with a key. You can use a key without a chip in it to unlock the doors if you're one of those people who likes to hide a spare key.

 

EMBARRASSING FIX

I hooked up the goddamn battery wrong.

There's a cable that connects the battery to all the electronics and it clamps directly on to the positive connection. There's also a grounding cable that comes off of the neutral connection. I put both of those extra cables on the ground because once I finally got the new battery in (all of the nuts have messed up threads), I forgot where I disconnected it from.

It seems really obvious now because, if the PATS had activated, there still should have been working headlights, and something in the dash hinting at the PATS system, am I wrong?

 

It seems really obvious now because, if the PATS had activated, there still should have been working headlights, and something in the dash hinting at the PATS system, am I wrong?

Yes, a flashing lock on the dash. I think it generally flashes when you put the key in until you turn the key to start. Otherwise use the electronic odometer trick to light up all your dash lights for kicks. Key off, hold odo reset button, turn key on, continue to hold reset until odo reads [test], now each time you press and release the odo reset button you'll scroll through one of 30 test functions. The dash lights is the second one. When you turn the key off, then it exits test mode.