I thought I would give the Exige a run out this morning, jumped in, strapped in, ignition on, key fob button pressed, turn key and… nothing
The red led on the centre console stops flashing and goes permanent red when I press the button, but rather than then going out just reverts to flashing. I can set and unset the alarm via the fob okay, but the immobiliser appears to be permanently engaged. I checked the battery, but that is 100% charged.
Does anyone have any tips on how to over-ride the immobiliser? I’m assuming it cant be easy, otherwise it wouldn’t be a very good immobiliser! I can’t even take it to the garage at the moment and I don’t have AA ‘Homestart’ (That’ll teach me!)
I think I must have a similar problem. Car has been out of action for a few months and as I have been forced to keep my 205 GTi (my daily driver) on my one and only Optimate during the cold weather and the Exige battery had gone completely flat.
Exige battery has now been completely restored by the Optimate, holds its charge well and checks as ‘green’. Car key fob works well (alarm arm/disarm) and Stack dash goes through normal power up sequence when ignition is turned on … however, Meta Immobiliser will not disable.
Please could anyone with a greater understanding of these things drop me a PM or point me in the right direction?
Thanks Andy. Just given that a try but with no success …
Battery is definitely fully charged. Alarm arms and disarms normally. Disconnecting the battery with alarm active sets the alarm off and alarm then cancels with blip of the key but immobiliser remains activated throughout …
Mine did this out at Le Mans one year and it was a relay behind the drivers seat. I had to take the cover off the relay and press the contacts in by hand to get the car to start.
Whilst you are there, have a look at all the fuses in the box between the seats. I replaced the 1.5A one that kept blowing with a 3A and all was then well.
Assuming the elise and Exige are similar on the lhs of the engine bay looking from the rear just in front of the ECU is a push button type switch, it overrides the immobilisor. Its something to do with if the car is tilted when being towed for a breakdown (rather than being stolen) to switch off the immobilisor which cuts in as an emergency action when the car is lifted. My Audi’s/BMW’s always have the same thing on drivers door for same purpose.
Had a few issues similarly in the past - also kicks in under real heat, which happened after a day on track in Le Mans and took and hour to cool and was fine again.
The way I would do this is to pull out the crank relay from the rear bulkhead (between the seats and the middle of the three relays) and take the plastic cover off. Then put it back and see if the relay is getting pulled on, you will see a silver lever move across. If this does not happen then it could be the immobiliser. You can push this relay switch manually with the ignition on and the car should crank. The immobiliser also stops the spark, so this is another check that can be made.
If the relay is not working then next step would be to check the black wire (pin 5) of the immobiliser to see if it is giving a 12v feed after the blip is pressed and crank position on the key is made. If you’re not getting a 12v feed then check pin 12 for 12v when crank is keyed. If there is no voltage the immobiliser is not the problem (suggest ignition switch), if there is 12v then the immobiliser has an issue.
