Immobiliser Led Flashes

[mike634949]

The drivers door immobiliser red led warning light has started signalling a fault 2:3 The car otherwise behaves normally. Can anyone tell me what the fault means ? Thanks in anticipation,

Mike

[mike634949]

Help still required for this problem please

 

Car seems to crank a little longer whenever this fault code appears on the PATs/immobiliser LED. It doesn't always appear.

 

I replaced the car battery to no avail. I have found very little on the net re PATS faultcodes - but one did suggest that 23 = "the response between pump control unit and powertrain"

 

Could this point towards a sticking/failing relay 27 ? Does TIS have anything on PAT faultcodes ?

 

cheers

 

MS

[Mirez]

TIS has very little on the PATs side of things, where abouts are you located? See if you can find somone near by with VAG.com to read the codes however the fuel pump is one of the circuits that PATS controls so poor comms could obviously be a cause of an error. When it signals the fault can you hear the pump priming or not?

[mike634949]

Thanks for the reply

 

Not sure what noise to listen for re primimg fuel pump ?

 

Yesterday car cranked for about 6 - 7 seconds before I released key. I got no sense it was about to fire. Released key. Usual manic flashing from led. Two audible bleeps heard one long, one short - never heard before. Turned key again, engine started for 1 second and promptly cut, two bleeps again. Third try - started normally - no bleeps - no flashing - ran normally.

 

The problem is definitely getting worse.

[mikej]

I know its not much use to you but had the same thing a few years back mk2 2.3 , firstly nothing when turning key , this happened a few times over a few months then cranking but non starting but for some reason it just went and car has been fine since . When i put the key in the ignition if the led was flashing then you would not hear the fuel pump in the rear prime ( electrical buzzing ) and the car would not start , if no flashing from led then the pump could be heard for a few seconds and the car would start normally . Basically when the fault occured i just had to keep reinserting the key into ignition and wriggling it prior to turning . As i said doesn't really help you any :rolleyes:

[Mirez]

What car/engine are we dealing with by the way?

 

The fuel pump will be heard as a low down humm/buzz from the rear of the car, its slightly more evident on a petrol then a diesel but you should still be able to hear it clearly if the radio and fans are all switched off. It should run/prime every time the ignition is turned from off to position 2 (the one before start) and will run for about 3 seconds before stopping (it then starts running again once the engine is started but you won't hear it over the noise then as its pretty quiet).

 

Try turning the ignition on and listening, once you know what you are listening for try turning it off and on a number of times - it should prime every time.

[mike634949]

Thanks,

 

The fuel pump arrears to prime each time . The car is a 2.3 Manual Dec98

 

Two days ago the battery voltage was 12.84 just after stopping the engine

 

Today 12.2 v prior to attempting to restart - which it was reluctant to do

14.4 v whilst idling, and 12.84v after just turning off the ignition

 

Two attempted starts today .... long cranking time - no start - release key - three long audible bleeps from the dash - what do these mean ? No PATS led fault indication !!

 

Third time started - no bleeps, no PATS fault led

 

The falling battery voltage persuaded me to change the battery for new in the first place.... now do I suspect something else ??

[mike634949]

I have noticed that the PATS seems happy with a battery voltage of about 12.5v+ . I think the battery is draining more than it should. I measured a constant drain of 90mA. Is there reason to suspect an alternator diode fault ?

[Lloyd]

I have noticed that the PATS seems happy with a battery voltage of about 12.5v+ . I think the battery is draining more than it should. I measured a constant drain of 90mA. Is there reason to suspect an alternator diode fault ?

 

Did you try a difrent key to start ... it seems like a problem that the car don

[Smilge]

I have noticed that the PATS seems happy with a battery voltage of about 12.5v+ . I think the battery is draining more than it should. I measured a constant drain of 90mA. Is there reason to suspect an alternator diode fault ?

 

90mA is fine ....... anything more than 150mA (depending on what other accessories are connected via a permanent 12V) then I would start to worry. A diode fault would be indicated by an alternator workshop light. How old is the battery by the way?

[seatkid]

12.2v is an almost flat battery, 12.6 - 12.8v is the normal range of a healthy reasonably charged battery (all values taken when battery rested for 5-10 mins)

 

90mA drain on a 90Ah battery is 1000hrs (at least 5 weeks). My drain is under 50mA. But still it shouldnt make a difference over 2 - 3 days

 

14.4v is the correct charging voltage. Are you sure they didnt sell you a duff (old stock) battery? Has been known (try search). Where did you get it from?

Edited February 6, 2009 by seatkid

[mike634949]

Thanks to seatkid, Bleeno, mikej and others,

 

The following is a list of faults noticed since January. Combine any combination.

 

reluctance to start

rapid led flashing no other sympoms

immobiliser red led warning light led signalling a fault 2:3

Two audible bleeps heard one long, one short

long cranking time - no start

three long audible bleeps from the dash

 

noted that PATS seemed happy with a battery voltage of about 12.5v+ - always started with a booster battery attached

 

here's the remedy: fit new relay 27 ... all symptoms gone instantly

 

my theory: either poorly seated relay, or internally failing (sticking?) relay became increasing sensitive to battery voltage

Edited March 22, 2009 by mike634949

[galaxygeeza]

I have a 2.3 (2002) and I had a problem with the car not starting some time back. When I got in the car and put the key in the ignition it did everything it should do except for the starter motor kicking in!! Whenever this happened the red LED would flash repeatedly and as long as it flashed the car wouldn't start. This fault wouldn't occur all the time, just when you least wanted it to. I had it fault tested and the key transponder appeared to show a fault. This is the round black plastic unit that sits around the ignition barrel, it picks up the code/signal from your key and sends it to the immobiliser so that the car starts. I bought a new transponder and everything was o.k for a while until about 2-3 months later when it started playing up again.!! This time I actually figured it all out. The transponder has a short lead which in turn plugs into the immobiliser loom, it is the connector at the end of the transponder lead which comes adrift through vibration. When this happens, the signal can't get through correctly and the immobiliser won't disable, stopping the car from starting. It seems as though somehow, whether I have kicked the area inadvertantly or caused enough vibration as to allow the signal to get through, it eventually starts.

To be fair, if I hadn't fitted the initial transponder in the first place I would never have guessed that this was the cause as I wouldn't have been aware of the connection. When it next happened all I did was reach under the steering column above the pedals and make sure it was pushed home properly, as soon as I did that it started with no problem. I fixed the connector in place more permanently and have never had a recurrence since.