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Dear all,

Today I went to my local garage and got my battery replaced after the last couple of days where I've had to push start it (the battery was nine years old though). Anyway the battery was replaced and things went downhill from there. When we tried starting it afterwards, there was no success. Everything normal but without actual ignition. The mechanics assisting me were very helpful and spent a while debating and checking what the problem could be, and in the end decided that it had to be the immobiliser kicking in. Spark plugs were tested as well as the distributor and there was no current passing through. At this point it was closing time for the garage and so I have left my car there overnight. The question I am trying to get at is does this seem like an immobiliser problem caused by the change of battery and has anyone had this problem before? Plus if this is the case, how is the immobiliser reset? I feel like my car is in safe hands as they are going to call out a guy who deals with electrics and so on, but I would like to know the ins and outs of the immobiliser system anyhow. I guess I', just a bit anxious that it's something else worse going on and I know nothing much about the workings of my car, or any in fact. Any help would be great, thank you.

Okay, lets get this straight.

You had a working immobilizer, and you replaced the battery, now the immobilizer isn't letting your car start?

an immobilizer interrupts the whole ignition circuit. If the car cranks, the immobilizer is working fine. You need to look elsewhere


The WORST thing you can do is tell a mechanic that they have free reins to figure it out. You may wind up with a pretty skimpy wallet.

The actual garage it is at now does not deal with this kind of work and are mainly an MOT, general service kind of establishment. I will phone tomorrow and speak to the guy who will deal with determining if it is an electrical fault. The reason they prob suggested the immobiliser was the issue I guess is that they didn't really know. In general I am confused about how my car went to simply get the battery changed which I witnessed fully and then won't start properly, or at all. Any ideas if not the immobiliser?

Ryan wrote:Okay, lets get this straight.

You had a working immobilizer, and you replaced the battery, now the immobilizer isn't letting your car start?

an immobilizer interrupts the whole ignition circuit. If the car cranks, the immobilizer is working fine. You need to look elsewhere


The WORST thing you can do is tell a mechanic that they have free reins to figure it out. You may wind up with a pretty skimpy wallet.

Depends where his car's from. I've heard talk of some newer european mx3's having factory immobilizers. Many factory immobilizers will let the engine crank, just not turn over, or shut off once started.

However, I can't see a factory transponder immobilizer circuit losing programming because of a dead battery.

Most aftermarket immobilizer installs, as Ryan said, won't let the car even crank.

Hi guys

I have a similar problem - And the car has been with the mechanics for nearly 6 months - they just can't fix it
It's a 1994 Eunos 800M
I parked my car one day and then went back to it and it just would not 'stay' started
I say 'stay' started as it would crank and it would start - for maybe half of one second but would not stay started
I don't know of all the thngs they tried but the supposed 'experts' consulted have all said all avenues have been exhausted
It too sounds like the immobiliser is 'stuck' on or some sort of engine cut off is constantly activated
I am desperate - I love my car and apparently now it's just scrap
It's in wonderful condition and I don't want to truck it to a wrecker
Leading up to this was I had the Air Con re-gassed about a week earler
About 2 weks earlier my daughter was sitting in the car with her friend and they set off the alarm.
Had to disconnect the battery to shut off the alarm. Car was running after each incident and gave no warning that it would not start

Any suggestions?

wire out the immobilizer.

get a new shop. Don't pay your old one for doing nothing.

Hi Ryan

thanks for the reply - I have no clue how to do this - But I'll see what can be done