I have a 2018 f150 - the remote start on my key fob (on my spare one too) quit working - any ideas why?

 

Battery? probably 2017 batteries, going on 4 years old? I thought I read once, remote start uses the most battery juice, maybe built in design? But, I'd start with batteries, no big loss if wrong.

 

Hood switch is triggered/faulty or hood is open.
You have a check engine light on


Those are two things I can think that disables remote start capability.

I think the owners manual indicates why remote start will fail. You can check there if either of my two options are untrue....the book may offer additional suggestions that I can't remember.

 

Does it beep when you try or does it do nothing? If nothing I would start with battery.

 

it makes no noise at all, so ill check the battery - thanks!

 

Have you been messing with the menu and maybe accidentally turned off the remote start?

 

Are we talking vehicle battery or FOB battery?

If vehicle battery, OP can make sure to use auto stop/start and witness if it functions properly. If engine will not shut off at a traffic light and the conditions are met to do so, the vehicle alerts the owners as to why it will not shut down at a traffic light, correct? Helping rule out the battery.

FOB batteries will alert owner when FOB batteries are low. Chances of having 2 FOB's with low/dead batteries are unlikely. I suppose the spare could have been bad for who knows how long and owner never used it to know. Or if it hasn't been used, then batteries are still good.

I like the thought above about having disabled it in the menus.
I can't find in the manual where remote start will not work -can't remember where I read it then.

I have had my used 2016 for about 14 months now. I owned it a few weeks before the fob batteries went dead. Assuming that near the end of 2019, the original fob batteries were finally dying. I just now used the spare FOB and it works fine, I've not touched it for months and haven't used it probably since I got the truck in November 2019.
The fob is in fantastic shape, assuming it was rarely used. The fob I routinely use has plenty of wear indicators that one would expect from 5 years of use.

 

I've seen this one happen to a few people - system gets disabled in the menu. Easy to check and ensure the system is enabled.