Immobiliser problem - car cut out and won't start

My 400 is currently off the road due to a strange immobiliser problem: you unlock the car with the fob, get in and try to start the engine. When you turn the key to position 2 the central locking operates as if to UNLOCK the doors. This reactives the immobiliser and the engine will turn over but not start.

I managed to get it started on one occasion by lots of messing about with the fob, unlocking/locking doors, opening and closing doors etc.

However today I was driving along a dual carriageway when suddenly the central locking operated causing the engine to immobilise and cut out. No amount of messing about with either fob, or the immobiliser override sequence, would make the engine start again and it hasn't run since.

I had to call the AA out, who couldn't resolve the problem and towed me to the nearest Rover dealer. Going to be expensive I know, but I really need the car to get to work.

Any idea what might be wrong with it?! Is it going to be expensive to fix? The AA guy said the ECU plays a part in the immobilisation. I'm just waiting for Rover to tell me I need a new ECU......

(This is a separate issue to a start motor problem I posted about a few days ago where I thought this was to do with the immobiliser but someone kindly and correctly informed me that it was not)

Reply to
Andrew
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Have you tried disconnecting the battery again for five minutes? Might work, probably won't.

Darren

Reply to
Darren Jarvis

Yes, I did try that. Not 5 minutes, but long enough!

Reply to
Andrew

Well Andrew I am more or less in the same boat has you I have an L reg

416 and more or less since I bought it I have had problems with not starting exactly but starting and stopping . I can turn the key and the engine fires up no problem but within seconds it dies just like I had turned the ignition off in fact and afterwards it will not start by turning the key . Now when this happens if I sit for five minutes and do nothing and then turn the key the engine starts and runs sweet has a nut until the next time it decided to throw a wobblier . Now a couple of weeks ago I was driving along and the engine cut out on me the car has never done this before anyway after calling out the RAC who had a look and messed around with it the bloke said he thought that it was the ECU that had gone faulty !!. He towed me back home where the car has sat ever since but I would like to know for certain if it is the ECU that is at fault or not but I am not prepared to pay a lot of money to find out or buy a new ECU if that is what is needed. I only paid 375 for the car but it looks well leather seats etc and it seems to have been well looked after by its two previous owners . I am told from making enquiries that a new ECU plus fitting andVAT would be costing nearer £ 1000 than £ 100 .
Reply to
dexter

The Honda 1.6 engine (as fitted to L-reg 200 and 400 series) is prone to trouble with the ignition amplifier module on the distributor. Would be worth trying a s/hand one of these before assuming the ECU.

Darren

Reply to
Darren Jarvis

Thanks Darren would you by any chance have a rough idea about how much I can expect to pay for one of these .

Reply to
dexter

No idea as I've never owned a Honda-engined anything, but I remember reading about this problem more than once on newsgroups over the years. Perhaps a Google search of newsgroups would unearth something?

Darren

Reply to
Darren Jarvis

Well Darren I am in a right mess with my problem now having had the RAC out to it again to night this chap says he is 99 % certain it could be the fuel pump playing up , the first guy said it was the ECU so now I just do not know which way forward is and I don't want to spend a load of cash finding out or I might just as well scrap the car .

Reply to
dext_or

Buy a can of freezer spray and next time the problem happens immediately open the bonnet and spray the stuff all over the distributor. If the engine then starts straight away it'll be the ignition amplifier. If not, then slacken the fuel hose to the injector rail - if fuel squirts out under pressure then your pump isn't to blame. ECU failure is not that common, but even if it did turn out to be that in your case, it'd likely be nothing more than a dry solder joint being affected by heat or vibration, in which case aiming a hair dryer at the ECU for long enough with the engine idling would probably make it cut out too.

You really need to find out if it's a fuel or ignition problem (if it splutters then cuts out it'll most likely be fuel, whereas ignition problems are often a clean stop). It could also be something as simple as a blocked tank breather valve in which case the car would run fine without the filler cap on, but would cut out after an amount of driving until the vacuum in the tank had been reduced.

Hopefully you've got some clues there to help you narrow it down, and better still, they're nearly all free to try!

Darren

Reply to
Darren Jarvis

Hi ...just buy a long shot i had a similler problem with car cutting out not starting but then starting ok just to cut out again. & rac said the same about my car having fuel prblem or ecu problem

cut a long story short the problem was the camshaft sensor, it cost me about 5 quid to replace or just get one rom local scrappy

I found out off local garage that its quite common on the rovers

hope this helps...

Badger

Darren Jarvis wrote:

Reply to
Otherstuff

Well having had the RAC out twice to my 416 1st guy said it was the ECU 2nd guy said it was the fuel pump I now declare the RAC useless and I intend to sack them . I decided to have one last shot at sorting out my car before scrapping it and I got the private dealer I bought the car of to have a look ,he came and picked it up with his van on Tuesday night got back to me Wednesday morning I went to a scrap yard got a distributor for 25.00 and the car is now running like nothing had happened . Why couldn't the RAC have checked out the dis with a meter easy enough to do if you know what you are doing I don't unfortunately that is why I am in the RAC but not for much longer now !!!!!!!! .

Reply to
dexter

i have a rover 414i i went to it yesterday unlocked the car on remot

got in as usual turned it over started for a couple of seconds and cu out all as it would do was turn over wouldent fire i locked the car o phob ulocked did the same got aa out they said its the abbobilizer pulled the car to bits and at the bottom of centre consul theres green realys and a black one with a rubber top i removed all three pu the green ones back in removed the black one all together and joine the two wires together and its starting all the time now had a littl messing for a bit taking wires i joined apart and disconecting batter but it seems well now hope this works for u y they do alarms s complicated and dont use of the market ones witch are easy if u hav problems and not as exspensiv

-- wytro

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