Immobiliser Active And Engine Malfuntion

[Adam1]

After some help please guys for my parents who have a 59 plate 1.8Tdci.

 

They are getting the above warning messages on the dash and the car wont start after its sat for two weeks on there holiday. They drove it to Somerset fine then it wouldnt start when they was due to return. The ignition comes on but wont turn over.

 

They called out the AA who could not fix it and ended up recovering them home yesterday.

 

Does anyone have any ideas what the problem may be or anything I can try?

 

Thanks

 

Adam

[davetech]

I am delighted to be able to say that this exact same thing happened to me last week.

I was dragged off camping and the wife left a cool box plugged into the 12V socket in the boot.

Battery went flat and when attempted to jump start, got the message Immobiliser Active and Engine Malfunction.

At this point, I was stuck out in the sticks on a huge campsite.

AA sent a third party garage out to sort the problem out.

The mechanic said he had come across this before and we would have to be recovered to a Ford garage (with 3 kids and a dog).

When I stated this had happened before and the AA mechanic rectified it, the poor chap felt obliged to ring around and see if anybody could solve the problem.

Eventually, a helpline which is run by the AA for their mechanics, gave him the solution; which I shall now never forget:

 

1. Ensure the battery is charged enough to start the car (or fit a new battery).

2. Make sure you have left the driver's car window open (or door if the window doesn't work like mine didn't).

3. Disconnect the battery positive terminal.

4. Wait 3 minutes.

5. Turn ignition to position II.

6. Reconnect the battery.

7. Turn the key the rest of the way to start the engine.

 

You will then need to enter your radio keycode, and the 1 touch windows might need resetting.

 

[Adam1]

Thanks very much. Shall give that a try later today.

[Adam1]

Just tried that and unfortunately no joy.

[davetech]

That is a surprise.

The mechanic tried everything, including checking for fault codes with his handheld computer.

He was about to give up when we skeptically tried this solution and fortunately for us it worked.

I must admit, the 3 minute wait before refitting the battery seemed a bit longer than 3 minutes.

Also, he might have turned the key to position II before the 3 minutes started.

The important point was to have the key at position II while reconnecting the battery.

 

Another thought is that mine is a 58 plate 2.2 TDCi, but I would have thought the immobiliser system would have been the same on all Mk III TDCis.

[gregers]

alarm module can throw up all sorts of problems,so im lead to believe,iirc its found under the wheel arch passenger side.

clutching at straws really,but worth a look.

[Adam1]

I'm gonna give it another try the weekend and check the battery voltage first to make sure it ain't low as I didn't have a multimeter with me today.

 

I also read about the alarm module. Got the liner out but couldn't manage to remove the plug?

[Adam1]

Unfortunately this turned out to be a problem with the ECU!

 

A 3yr 6 month old car with only 22k on the clock needed a new ECU is not good!

[gregers]

i agree,thanks for the update.

[throbbinggristle]

Well done DAVETECH  :46: it worked for me....