Immobilser problems - please HELP !!

Hi,

I have a 2002 soft top Jimny and it now won't start...

The background of this is, the one key with the chip in was broken - so we've been using the spare (no chip), along with the broken off original key to start the car. Its been fine but just a little fiddly.

So yesterday I gave it an oil and filter change and after thought that I would whip the steering cowl off, by the ignition key, and tuck the chip-key in there somewhere - so we wouldn't have to mess around with the 2 keys when starting.

I took them off and could see that the transponder sensor is within a plastic ring that sits around the area where you put in the key.

As space is really limited behind the cowls, I thought - if I whip that sensor ring off from around the ignition barrel I could tape the chip-key to the plastic ring and tuck up behind the dash out of the way and just forget about it.

I eased the sensor ring off from the barrel, and it came off without issue, but I could see that it was secured by a single screw which is inaccessible at the top of the ring. I thought about disassembling part of the dash to get to the screw, but then thought better of it so eased the ring back in place over the barrel - with a mind to just stick the chip key to the outside of the cowl somewhere.

Anyway - you guessed it - now it won't start at all !!

I've researched it on the internet for a while and haven't really found anything useful. I have tried disconnecting the battery, leaving it a while and reconnecting and that made no difference.

Can anyone offer some clues as to what I might have done? I'm quite a competent home mechanic so haven't been ham-fisted with this - it just doesn't really make any sense!

Many thanks!

For any that are interested, I have now removed the immobiliser unit and sent it off, together with they keys, to 'Auto locksmiths' in Leicester who say that they can diagnose & repair the fault. I'll update the thread when I get it back.

Is that the type with the metal cased immo? the antenna is just a wire coil on those. Did you try pulling the fault codes from the immo?

If you'd been in Brum I'd have said go to Duplicut. When I was looking for a Jimny I came across all sorts of excuses for keys. So when I got this car with only one coded key (and only that key) I went over there and had a spare made pronto and they'll do it for 20 to 50 notes which is a lot cheaper than Suzuki want. The main agent said not to buy a Jimny that has only one key.............what do you make of that?? Because I never found one for sale with two keys!! :laugh: :laugh:

The immobiliser box was a small plastic box, with the plastic ring attached that contained the coil of wire (antenna). Before sending it away I popped the unit apart and could see that the antenna wire had broken away each end of the fixings. I thought that thankfully it looked like a simple fix so re-attached the wire and refitted to try again.

But..... no luck, light still flashing on cranking the engine - so something must have gone wrong with it. I'll just wait and see what the auto lock people say hopefully later today.

You would think that there would be a plug in module or some such, allowing you to by pass the immobiliser altogether...

Anyway, I'll update when I hear.

Thanks for the replies.

the only way I could get this to work was take the ring off the lock and tape the key across the back of the ring
it would not work in the ring or at the front only at the back
so give that a try