Help please!

[G_whizz]

Hiya fellas...buddy of mine called me to see if I could post this question here to see if anyone knows.

He has an 02 Pathfinder, when the keys are in the ignition and the truck is idling (to warm it up) if he goes in the house and comes back out, more often then not, the truck has locked him out??

Any ideas?

Thanks for the help.

[01silvapathy]

My parents had the same problem back in Chicago, the problem was me sitting inside with the other remote

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Does it happen when he manually unlocks the driver door instead of using the keyfob to unlock the doors (before starting the vehicle)?

[G_whizz]

My parents had the same problem back in Chicago, the problem was me sitting inside with the other remote

Does it happen when he manually unlocks the driver door instead of using the keyfob to unlock the doors (before starting the vehicle)?

I'll ask him, but I'm going to be 90% sure he uses the fob to open the door. Who uses a key when you have a fob?

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Of course, I never use the key. I'm just tryin to troubleshoot the problem and see if it's the SECU that's causing the issue.

[G_whizz]

Does it happen when he manually unlocks the driver door instead of using the keyfob to unlock the doors (before starting the vehicle)?

I owe you an apology. I can't believe I didn't heed my own advice that I spew out daily to people..and that is to NEVER ASSUME!!!

Ok, so, the FOB hasn't been working for a year. So they have been using the key. He also says that sometimes when he unlocks the door, he has to turn the key and at the same time pull the door handle right away or it locks again in a split second.
I asked him if the FOB is still attached to the keys he said yes. I told him to remove the battery so we can at least determine if the FOB is part of the equation.

In the meantime...still open for suggestions and diagnoses!

[Pwnin O'Brien]

When they say the keyfob isn't working, do they mean it was exhibiting the same kind of behavior that the key is now having? Ask them to try and unlock all of the doors using the key cylinder on the back door hatch to see if the issue still exists. I'm not sure of which way to turn the key (I haven't used that key cylinder in forever) but one direction will lock the doors and open the glass window while the other direction will unlock all of the doors.

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Also, this may sound a little crazy but ask them to get in the car and lock the doors using the lock button on the interior driver switch pack. A few seconds after the doors lock have them unlock the doors using the same button and see if the doors re-lock after a few seconds. Do the same on the passenger door switch pack. If the problem returns when trying it on the interior switches ask them to try it again, but this time hold the unlock button and see if the doors re-lock while holding the unlock button. If they don't re-lock when holding the unlock button then I would suggest re-greasing the contacts for the lock/unlock button or replacing the entire switch pack if they are uncomfortable with opening up the switch pack.

If this doesn't make sense let me know.

[G_whizz]

Kewl...Thanks PB...I'll mention this to them.