If the battery dies...

[bbw]

If the battery dies, does the driver's door lock come open? My car is sitting right now. I locked it (PKE) the last time I went in it. I heard it lock and alarm as I was leaving. Went I went back to the car, the batter was dead, so the PKE wasn't working, but the driver's door was unlocked. Does that sound right?

 

[sothpaw]

No, doesn't but it's wierd when the battery dies.

I stopped locking mine as it was in the death throws, so
I don't know for sure.

But when I but the new battery in, the car did not immediately
come back to life. It was weird. The new battery was in, but
the interior lights were still out when I opened the door...

...but then I hit the power lock, and then it came to life!!!

 

[Vettelt193]

I think the battery saver kicks in when the battery gets low... this would automatically cut all the lights off until you do something to trigger them to come back on.

The drivers door shouldn't just un-lock by itself, maybe the system was 'confused' by the low battery.

One thing I am still curious about, but still can't find info on, is the battery drain with PKE on, Vs. PKE off. It seems like it would have to take a decent amount of power to constantly search for the key fob, and PKE should be turned off if the car sits a lot, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Rabbit]

Got this out of the 95 manual for CCM,
asleep & battery at 12.8 volts.

Total standby current CCM asleep. 14.7
milliamps. This is with PKE fob 100 ft. from car.

The CCM will wake-up when a valid PKE transmitter comes in range, or if you open the door,etc.

If the PKE fob is out of range there is no drain from that particular function.

 

[Vettelt193]

it still has to be on to look for the fob though right? I think I may be confused due to a lack of knowledge on how keyless entry works, and PKE works. I just can't understand how it can 'find' the key fob without using any battery power, does that make sense to anyone else?

 

[Rabbit]

The PKE fob is the transmitter which wakes up the CCM thru the PKE module.
For the want of a better explanation I think the FOB finds the CCM.