Xsara immobilizer problems

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whiz_bit
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Xsara immobilizer problems

Post by whiz_bit »

I have a 98 reg Citroën xsara 1.8 16v which has done 160k miles. I am now getting a problem with the immobilizer, a couple of days ago when I was starting the car a got a beep and the key light flashed on the dash, taking the key out and putting it back appeared the resolve the problem. Now it has happened again and taking the key out and putting it back will not clear the fault. I have tried unhooking the battery and reconnecting it but that had no effect.

This exact problem happened about 3 weeks ago and the car was stranded at work for 3 days and then started working again.

It is just a chipped key there is no remote central locking, I an confident the key is transmitting because if I hold it up to the ignition with the door open I get the warning beeps for the key being in the ignition.

Any suggestions on where I go from here will be greatly appreciated.

Wayne
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Post by wheeler »

I take it you dont have a spare key to try ?
Im not 100% on this but i believe any chipped key even if its not yours will trigger the key left in warning so may still be a key fault, if you know another xsara or xantia 2 owner you could try their key & see if it still triggers the warning.
First thing i would try is to remove & clean the gearbox & body earth connections. Other things that can cause this problem are the double injection relay & the inertia (fuel cut off) switch so they could be worth a look.
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Post by whiz_bit »

Hi,

Thanks for the reply I will do the earth connections first as I will probably need a bit more guidance on the other two.

I did take a quick look at the earth terminal on the battery and traced back the engine earth terminal after this happened the first time, any ideas where the body earth points are?
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Post by DickieG »

wheeler wrote:I take it you dont have a spare key to try ?
Im not 100% on this but i believe any chipped key even if its not yours will trigger the key left in warning so may still be a key fault, if you know another xsara or xantia 2 owner you could try their key & see if it still triggers the warning.
I've just tested this using the key from my HDi in the V6 ignition and the alarm only went off when the correct (V6) key was used.
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Post by whiz_bit »

Thanks Dickieg I can worrying about the key, I am going to take a walk to the car shortly.

I will post back what progress I make.
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Post by myglaren »

A guy I work with has a Xsara Picasso, had only one key and something cleared the RFID on the key so his immobiliser prevented him starting the car.

He had to go to the dealer and get a new one, that they had to take to his car with a Lexia and reset the alarm/immobiliser system and code in the new key(s).

Cost him £160. Took them a week to get the new key from France.
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Post by whiz_bit »

Yesterday I walked over to where the car was with my tools and the bloody thing started, so at least I was able to get it home. I have cleaned both battery terminals and checked the earth point on the gearbox btoh seamed perfectly fine. I have only visually checked the body earth point but it looked fine to me.

Since then it has had the immobilizer problem again yesterday afternoon but worked when it was tried and today the engine died on me when I was waiting in traffic, so there is still something not right. Thinking about it about a week before I had the immobilizer problem for the first time the engine post power whilst I was driving at around 40 for a couple of seconds and ignition fault light came on whilst that happened. So I am wondering if it could be the double injection relay as suggested by wheeler. Can anyone advise where I find the relay and how I check it.

Thanks
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Post by Paul-R »

I'm not convinced it's an immobiliser problem as such as the immobiliser circuit is switched off once the engine is rumnning for safety reasons. This would mean that the cutting out is either a different problem or the same one causing problems with the immobiliser at start up.
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Post by wheeler »

totaly agree with paul-r here, the imobiliser wil not cause cutting out, only a non start issue. sounds to me like the injection ECU is losing a feed or earth which would also cause the imob light to come on as the ECU & CPH loose comunication with each other just the same as the red & green light senario on the old keypad systems.
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xsara immobiliser problems

Post by avin44 »

I am sure I read in a hand book that this problem with the light flashing on the dashboard means the battery in the fob needs changing.
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Post by whiz_bit »

I am right back to the car not starting with the immobilzer light flashing again, started the car fine this morning left it running for 10 minutes to warm up whilst I scraped the ice off of it, turned it off for 2 minutes whilst I used my keys to lock the door and now it won't start.

Got the AA out to take a look but the guy was prett clueless and the car is still broken down.

Can any explain how I go about checking the feed to the injection ECU?
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Post by wheeler »

You will first need a wiring diagram for the injection system & a multimeter. You will need to use the diagram to find out what pins on the ECU have the power & earth wires One of the main causes of loss of feed to the ECU is the double injection relay which from memory should be bolted to the back of the ECU casing.
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Post by whiz_bit »

I had my mechanic guy out today he has checked the battery all the earths from the battery, the power and earth feeds to the dual injection relay and bench tested the relay. Tested all the supply and earths to and from the ecu and still is not working. Does anyone have any other ideas?
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Post by wheeler »

I take it he was there quite a while checking all this ?
I dont think the keys have lost their code as the fault wouldnt be intermittant.
It seems like the aerial & key are seeing each other because of the key alarm.
Now assuming that the cutting out & the non starting fault are the same thing & not 2 seperate faults I cant see the CPH unit causing cutting out.
If you are 100% that the ECU & double relay wiring + the double relay itself is fine then that only really leaves the injection ECU which i would say is not a common failure unless there is water in there.
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Post by whiz_bit »

He was working on the car for just over an hour, I saw him using a multimeter on the earth and supply pins for the ECU and the relay. He took the relay off and put voltage on it from the from the car and the all the outputs and apparently they are all correct.

He has given me the number for another guy who specalizes in keys and ECU realted stuff, I spoke to the guy the first time it went wrong and he was going to come out and reprogram the ECU, he rockened that if the battery voltage drops below a certain point the ECU get currupted, I cancelled him coming out when the problem went away.
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