Random Breakdown Possibly Immoboliser?

[aust250378]

Hi all,

Had a scary moment this morning (probably my fault ) but let me explain:-

I bought my 1996 1.9td June last year from a dealer, since I have owned the car I have never had to enter a code into the immoboliser to start the car, Just used the fob to open the door and the key to start the car. I changed a fuse for the cigarette lighter last year so I know the immoboliser must be connected as there was a red light flashing on it. I have also had a cambelt change last year.

Anyway fast forward to this morning, I had be noticing a kind of relay clicking sound coming from near the drivers footwell for the last week, so in my infinite wisdom I thought (as I was driving along) I would flip down the immoboliser keypad to hear if it got any louder behind the panel The keypad had red and green lights on at that point, then after a minute the keypad wasn't showing any lights at all. About two minutes later the car suddenly lost all power (as if someone was turning the fuel off, I coasted to the side of the road and tried restarting again. It fired up perfectly and drove the last five minutes to work. So the questions really are:-

1. Could the clicking sound have any relation to the immoboliser?
2. Is there a reason I have never had to enter a code since I bought the car?
3. Most importantly, does flipping down the panel while driving activate the keypad and cause the car to stop if the code isn't entered in a given time?

I am quite happy to never touce that panel again!

Thanks

Austin

[Welly]

There's a way of keying-in a code to bypass the immoby don't quote me but it's something like C-1-C try a search here?

The wiring to the keypad has been known to break through for some reason so I suspect your moving it about actually cut the power to the fuel-cut solenoid for a while.

Best bet it to bypass it and not touch it again.

[aust250378]

Hi Welly,

I have searched and it looks like you need to key in your own keycode first followed by "C1C". The problem is I don't actually know the code, nor did the dealer at the time. Although I assumed wrongly that I wouldn't have to worry as the key with the fob seemed to work.

Austin

[Welly]

I'm not sure you have to know your own code first? this is my limit of knowledge of D8 moby's - anyone??

[steve_earwig]

I don't know, neither of mine had one, but I think an idea is to take a tamperproof cover off the top of the fuel pump and give it a switched live, I seem to remember it was something like that on the threads where people were swapping EPICs for Bosch on 2.1 tds. That way the immobiliser is an elephant.

[mjb]

3. Most importantly, does flipping down the panel while driving activate the keypad and cause the car to stop if the code isn't entered in a given time?

The keypad is always active and should never show red+green lights unless something's up. My guess is a loose connection in the cable connecting it. The usual "fix" is to unplug the keypad while the car's running, but my understanding is this completely kills the immobiliser.

I don't know if replacing the keypad with one from another car would leave you with an unstartable car or not given you don't know the code

[aust250378]

@ MJB

For now though I will try using the car but not go anywhere near the immobiliser.

I May have to to disconnect when the engines running, I have paranoia of the same thing happening on the motorway at 70mph

As a backup I have notified an autoelectrician that was recommended to me that he may be getting a call in the near future, maybe he would be able to bypass the immobiliser cutting off the fuel rather than jsut ripping it out.

Thanks

Austin