hi, 1997 Impreza GL Auto. car starts but cuts out after a few seconds, immobiliser light wont go off. is there some way i can rewire the immobiliser or deactivate it so i can start the car and drive as normal. i dont mind if i no longer have an immobiliser as ill be getting an aftermarket one.

thanks in advance.

 

No direct experience of the normally aspirated ECUs, but if they run according to the same general principles of the turbocharged cars you'll be better off fixing whatever's wrong with the immobiliser than trying to remove or bypass it.

To do so you'll probably need to alter some of the wiring loom and obtain an ECU from a Japanese market car that has an identical engine spec to your own. That isn't likely to be easy, or quick. In addition if you do need to alter the loom, plenty of people here could tell you what to do to a turbo car. Might be on your own with an N/A

There aren't that many things that can go wrong with the OE immobiliser. Provided you actually have the right transponder in the key, an auto electrician should be able to find what's wrong pretty easily and quickly.

 

thanks for the reply, subaru want 125 to fix it. apparenly an auto spark wont be able to fix it. i think ill try talking to some more sparks before going to subaru.

 

Subaru immobiliser & Subaru immobiliser bypass module, supplied by Automotive Electronics

I have quite a bit of knowledge about the immobiliser on these cars. Give the above company a try, I suspect your immobiliser box will be like the one on the right of the picture. It is very hard to bypass this immobiliser unless you know the specifics of how it works the security is very clever. A JDM ecu is an option but like splitpin says its a rewire cam/crank switch over I think, plus others I'm sure. Then you end up with an ecu that isn't designed for uk fuel.

edit: Have you tried all your keys? i.e. spare ones too, also make sure the 'halo ring' around the key hole is plugged in and the wiring is good, same applies to the unit under the dash.

 

125 is reasonable to have it fixed, look at the big picture, you get an auto electrician to bypass/remove your immobiliser, probably an hours work, prices will vary between each electrician, but call it 50 quid, now your car is uninsured, great you say you need a new system, cost you 175 quid for something basic, so thats 225 quid or 100 quid less for subaru to fix it.
Your choice though

Tony

 

As per Tony, £125 for a fix plus the peace of mind that comes with knowing it's fixed doesn't sound like a bad deal. Especially given that the immobiliser delete option would probably work out dearer by the time it's fitted and leaves your car either less secure, or needing an extra method of immobilisation - which would then cause its own reliability issues.

Can't see why a decent auto spark couldn't work this out though, no rocket science involved. If the immobiliser light on the dash doesn't go out at any point, that pretty much confines it to the key/aerial/connection between aerial and immobiliser box.

 

Well I think it would be very hard for your average auto sparky to bypass, that particular system is identical to the NATS 3 system afaik. I would be keen to know how it can be bypassed without very specialist knowledge and equipment. You cant 'wire' around it as its coded onto the ecu so without the correct waveform input the ecu wont play ball.

 

I didn't say it would be. I said it should be easy to fix.

 

Just to smash the cartel of immobiliser decoders a little, and for general interest... When gogling or searching on electronics forums for immobiliser hacks those in the know use 'immo' or 'im*o' instead of the word for immobiliser, this is done for 2 reasons; 1 the average joe wont be searching for those words so car thieves wont find out the tricks, 2 the usa version of the word immobiliser is spelt with a 'z' so it standardises the word 'immo' for search purposes. so thereya go!

 

had a problem with my car alarm, the signal got screwed on the remote so the car was locked and it wouldn't start (UK Turbo) . I called the AA and had it bypassed by them in about 45 mins, car ran fine for a while before i got a new alarm and immobiliser sorted, if your a member, they'll come and do it for free too, only leaves you with getting a new alarm/imm that won't screw up in the future. I got a toad fitted for 295 at my work.

 

None of your experience applies to the OP, or anyone else having difficulties with the OE fit integral immobiliser Steve. You're talking about a third party alarm/immobiliser that's wired into the car after manufacture - and anything wired in can, as you've seen, be wired out. (even the "standard fit" Sigma alarm supplied on UK cars is effectively an aftermarket item)

The factory fit cat 2 immobiliser on UK/Europe market cars talks electronically to the ECU and simply cannot be simply bypassed in a manner that leaves the car drivable. If the ECU doesn't get a coded "OK" from it during start, it shuts down the engine, it's as simple as that.

 

i phoned the guy above and when i told him my problem he said " sorry cant help, find sombody local" and hung up on me. ******!

OK listen to this.... i phoned again and asked why he cant help me and he told me that he knows what the problem is but cant help and was trying his hardest to get me off the phone, i said that if he knows what the problem is then why cant he give me any advice and he hung up again.

whats this guys problem?? he made me feel like i was asking him to tell me how to steal a car.

 

Thought I should say sorry for the bad lead there, their new website looks really good and they sorted me out when I was in stoke a while back.