Important! : Vtr starting problems

6th December 2010, 20:54

I recently took my saxo to a garage car wash, after washing my car I was heading home when it conked out whilst driveing along.
I tried starting it back up and the engine turned over but wouldnt fire up, so I left it for 5 mins and tried agen.
When turning the key I noticed the transponder imobiliser warning light was flashing on the dash.
So I tried starting it anyway but it didnt start again so I took the key out of the ignition then put it back in and it started up no problems atall. Drove about a mile and it conked out agen this time after several attemps it wouldnt start back up and the immobiliser light was flashing up again. It was late at night so I left the car and came back the next day to try again but still it wouldnt start. I towed it to a local garage and they thought the transponder aerial had broken so they fitted a new one. They phoned me today to say it hadnt worked and that they think the problem lies with the ECU. To save me shelling out on a new one I didnt know if you may have any ideas on what it could be. I have owned the car for my for 3 month and my mate owned it before me and neither of us have experienced any problem like this before. If the carwash is the problem wat could it have damaged? Any ideas

6th December 2010, 23:16

The car wash shouldnt have damaged the ecu! Check the wires is the first thing ou should do! See if theres cracks in the heat shrink or corroded wires. Ecu should not be affected by water!! Take the ecu to somone which a dyno or a IT expert!! They should connect your ecy to their laptops, they will tell you if its working or if theres a error code. I work for track electronics expert fuel injection and race harnesses tech...

7th December 2010, 21:07

There is a transponder pick up ring around the ignition barrel If this starts to break down it is difficult to get the imobilizer to cancel in order to start the car, however, I do not see how it would stop the engine once its running though. puzzling