ZSA Motorsport

Immobilizer issue

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definately offtopic, but hoping someone can push me in the right direction. did a bunchof searching but any on-point thread is a bit dated (no recent responses).

anyway, short story, ran into a 'starting' problem with the artic turbo s, the one with <700 miles on it , from Ray @ RPM. sort of experienced it when we were unloading 2 weeks ago with the hauling cmpany. we were turning the key but no spark, no crank., nothing. now, first, i'm pretty familiar with the immobilizer and its functionality. i have the other turbos with same functionality and this problem is not experienced on those cars. and i've read the manual about 5 times to ensure i'm not missing anything.

ok, so here are the facts and things i've done. 1) i've changed the battery on the remotes; i push the immobilizer button and the doors unlock, hop in, and right away put key in ignition, clutch down, try to crank it up. key turns to 3rd position where it should lite up, and nothing. no cranking.
on the clock i see the immobilizer light. when i turn it to position 3 (crank), the light comes on for a few seconds as it should, then goes off.

if i just sit in the car , dont try turning on, and it rearms, then when you go to position 3, immobilizer light comes on but doesnt go off. ok, thats correct functionality.

but i click clicker and now it should be deactived, ready to turn on. i turn key again as noted above to position 3, immob light comes on for 2 secs then off but no ignite.

i tried a few things, a few times. on , off, shut door, open door, etc. open hood, shut hood.... i would say once in every 25 times i get it to turn on and then it runs just fine.

i spoke to ray who was a bit stumped as well but suggested starting with the easiest course of actin....charge for a day or two the battery. maybe it doesnt have a full charge. sawa a post up here that you need a full battery to get it to work right. ...so its charging as we speak.

also, i think something is a bit off because on other turbos which light up fine, the alarm when set flashes fast for a few seconds, then slow and steady, one blick at a time. on the artic with the problem, sometimes it doesnt cme on at all. when it does, its a double blink...double blink....double blink...etc.
wonder if that indicates something.

tommorrow, i'm going to try the other rememote...didnt have it at the warehouse today.

so , i guess my questions are:
1. (pending hopeful fix via charging), what are the steps one should go through in bugging this? how can you isolate the immobilizer is working fine/
2. ray mentioned you could adjust settings of immobilizer (he doesnt recommend)....how can i tell if mine was modified by prior owners?
3. how do i reset to factor defaults the immobilizer, without whacking the car codes as i was never given the car code
4. any other thoughts or ideas...?
feel free to point me towards the right set of threads or tell me to jump in a lake ...heck, tell me whatever you want, but if someone has some ideas, i;d love to learn more about what i think is a disasterous attempt at security. not exactly great stuff even on the cars that work. whatever happened to personal responsibility. you set the alarm, you're protected. yo dont..fine, you deserve to lose your car.

Temple

Another rennlister had a similar sounding problem which was resolved after finding a bad microswitch in the clutch pedal. Just one more item to check . . .

ZSA Motorsport

any recollection who what was? would love to get his take. thx.

jnx

I was having the same problem, and believe it or not, I was not pushing the clutch in far enough. Try pushing it just a bit more when you are cranking the starter. Hope this solves your issue.

Temple

Bokonon is the user. Try the search function.

geolab

Here is the official porsche technical bulletin on the immobilizer.

Please don't touch the car with 700 miles and do trial and errors.
No switch is gone, no relay is gone, the car is brand new and is supposed to last 200000 kilometers with no major problem.

WHAT DO WE CHANGE WHEN A CAR DOES NOT RUN FOR A LONG TIME AND IS NOT STARTING? and it sat in a container

BATTERY

I would bet $100 it is your battery, changing your battery would not imply
touching a switch, relay, etc. the car is brand new.

And please please, if ever you intend to sell any of those, just know that you do have a very serious potential client, call me

ZSA Motorsport

thx dude. appreciate the advise. definately you and i are on same page and share same thoughts. i cringe to think of that thing at any dealership..."hey , tony, take a look at this ting...geez, customer is in the waiting room, lets take it for a loop or two".....battery is charging. hopefully that gets it done...

fyi, excuse my ignorance on batteries, but do you think older batteries charge full no problem, or should they be replaced?


later.

Slow Guy

At the expense of having to go through the CEL Drive Cycle reset I would remove the battery, make sure it's filled (w/ DISTILLED water) fully charged w/ something larger than a 1.5amp trickle charger then tested, doing both the hydrometer test and load test. Hydrometers can be had fairly cheaply but load testers are not a common tool so I would just charge it then take it to an auto parts store as they have both testers.

Of course I would just replace the battery if it was over 4 yrs. old to save possible problems down the road. I consider them to be consumables.

geolab

I totally agree, a battery is a consumable fullstop. I get a new one, 100-150 dollars part number 999 611 070 20

As the original brand new porsche battery comes un-charged, Do not be surprised if the dealer
tells you a new one needs charging.

xrix

BTW, what type of immobiliser is used on this car? I had some very similar problems with my Bloctronic (993 61815900) that turned out to be a sticking relay in the immobiliser itself.

ceboyd

I had issues and replacing the immobilizer itself solved the problem. I happen to have a spare extra one FS if your interested (It even still has about 7 months left of factory warranty for new part on it) I was keeping it for a backup spare just in case but since I'm selling my car now, I won't need to hold onto it obviously.

xrix

What is the model type of the one you're selling?

ceboyd

Since a photo is worth 1000 words.. here you go


I have been told it works in a 95 as well as 96 though 98 993s. My car is a 96.

xrix

Thanks. I think those connectors are quite different from those on my Bosch, though I can't remember. I'll take a look at it later (since I never did screw it back down under the seat). Is yours a DriveBlock car?

ceboyd

I should qualify that that is the lock/unlock control module portion of the immobilizer that is located under the passenger seat and NOT the actual immobilizer box.

In my case, I replaced the lock/unlock module and my immobilizer worked properly again... basicly, the interface for lock/unlock wasn't working (worn out and old I guess) so once the connections were in place for locking/unlocking doors together with immobilizer function, all was well for my car.

I've heard of pre 96 cars using this box to ADD the remote lock/unlock feature as well.