Bubba po

I wonder if anyone has experienced this problem. Lately, the immobiliser/alarm on my MY99 wagon has been failing to respond consistently to the blip of the fob - in some instances taking about ten minutes to work. It happens with both fobs, both of which have had the batteries replaced. The weird thing is, this only happens when the car is at the front of the house! At the rear of the house or, in fact, anywhere else in Britain, there is no problem at all.

It reached a peak last night when I couldn't set the alarm at 2 a.m, or even start the car, and spent yonks trying to do so. Now, the only thing I could think of that might be causing a problem is some sort of electromagnetic interference from domestic telephone lines or underground electrical stuff in that area causing the chip in the immobiliser to freeze. I pushed the car away from the area and it STILL wouldn't respond. In the end, I decided to disconnect the battery for five minutes and reconnect it. Hey Presto! It's cured.

Anyone had a similar experience? Are there any electronics people that might support my suspicion about the possible interference from the phone/electrical lines?

Chip Sengravy

Telephone cables are such low voltage they wouldn't be a problem. Domestic AC supplies are multicore cable, this generally cancells out any noise....so probably not.

Maybe something else? a wireless router? TV remote? microwave oven ?

Bubba po

It's possible there's a wireless router nearby, but not in our house. It's happened too often to be coincidence. I suspect that the pavement outside my gaff contains a labyrinthine tangle of electrical ****e; there are regular parties of students in hard-hats and pristine hi-viz vests being instructed in the use of some kind of underground electronic detector wand.

Chip Sengravy

Cable avoidance tool, it's called.

Maybe then. Perhaps you have an HV line running up your road? Are you near a substation ?


or [Tony Baron] it could be rats! [/Tony Baron]

Bubba po

There's one about a quarter of a mile away.

WRX_Dazza

dont worry about driving mate, get your post count up...

Bubba po

There's a question for you on the other thread, if you can be bothered to stop trolling me for a sec.

Hol

iTrader: (1)

Lol @ Post count gag!....

Do a search on the technical problems, this was big news 4/5 years ago as a lot of the 99 & 00 cars sufferred this and doors that would not open.
It was traced to mobile masts.


I don't think it made the muppet section though.....

The Zohan

Hi there, had similar with an MY99. It turned out to be the radio kit that controls sliding doors on shops, or at least thats what Subarus recovery service said, the way round it is to input your code into the keypad in the glovebox to arm/disarm the alarm if the keypads do not work. this happened to me several times

speye91

Mobile Phone mast's,just what i was thinking.

Is there a new mast gone up close by?But i suppose if there had been a mast,you would of heard about it.

Chip Sengravy

I had a similar experience with a Vauxhall Viva. Turns out the cnuting thing didn't even have an alarm

Bubba po

Thanks for all the tips, everyone. Was there a fix for the problem? I had another MY99 for four years without this problem. I don't know to a new mast going up, either.

Bubba po

Simon 69

Police 'Tetra' radios are the worst cause of this.

darren...

Second that answer - Tetra works by radios in range effectively forwarding the signals and they're known for interferring with car alarm fobs etc... Normally if it is Tetra though it will clear with time so that could give a clue

Simon 69

Unless there's a Home Office repeater or a mast nearby.....

dpb

Bucket of hot water

sammyh

iTrader: (1)

We hit a HV cable the other day and to be fair it did sort out the electrics on the the mini digger