Hello all,

I had the keyless entry fail on me. I soldered the common failure wires under passenger sill and still had no luck. Havent had time to further investigate and am out of town for work. Wife was manually unlocking the door and had the key blade break off of the key fob. She managed to get in, however using pliers when she turned the key in the ignition it would not turn over. Lights, fan, radio etc all worked but no engine. Is this an immobilizer problem? The key blade was tried with the fob both in the cupholder and held in contact with the blade and still no luck.
Any advice?

Aaron

 

Yes, probably an immobilizer issue. Immobilizer is on the PCB in the key shell. It needs to be right next to the ignition key cylinder in order for it to work. I would try to put the key fob right next to the ignition cylinder, THEN insert the key blade and try to turn it. If you can verify that your immobilizer is still working, and assuming you have a spare key around somewhere, then you can probably get a new blade cut and repair your fob if you're handy and have some time and patience. There are guides for swapping your fob shell all over the place. Idea would be the same.

 

Position of the key fob is also likely crucial for the immobilizer. On my other car, where the spring is prone to giving out and the fob hangs at a 90 degree angle to the key blade, the immobilizer will not allow the car to start if it is at 90 degrees. It must be in the correct position.

 

Excellent information,
Thank you guys, I will give this a try again tomorrow.

 

Tried all sorts of things today with no results. Picked up my new key from the dealer that hasnt been programmed. Used that key in the ignition with the old one held directly next to it. Also tried all angles of it near the ignition cylinder, old key blade with pliers etc. No luck. Battery was also dead, so I Jumped it and left it attached. Was getting 13.1 volts across the terminals with both vehicles running. Battery is of unknown age, should I be checking/replacing that as well? Old key keyless entry worked. All fuses and fusible links that I could think to check were okay.
Checking the starter relay tomorrow and seeing if it will turn over if I jump the relay terminals. Anything else I can try?

Insert the key, everything operates as expected except nothing happens when turned to start position. Lights on dash operate as expected when starting vehicle, faint relay click heard occasionally (but not every time) when trying to start.

 

Why didn't you get the new key programmed? If it were me, I'd take both FOBs to the dealer, have them programmed....go home and start my car. 13.1 volts is enough to start the vehicle.

 

Vehicle needs to be at the dealer or shop to have keys programmed. So it needs to be towed in.

 

Ahhhh.....okay.

 

Where are you located? I'm in Huntington Beach, CA and can program it for you

 

Abran, I greatly appreciate the offer. I'm in Canada though...
I have CAA, so I got a "free" tow to my local independant LR shop and had it programmed. This solved the problem. It seems that even though I had the old key held close enough and in the right position, it was so low on battery that it would not disable the immobolizer. The red alarm light stayed flashing regardless.

I was under the impression the immobolizer would still allow the engine to turn over momentarily. To anyone reading this in the future, that is not the case. My relay clicked but nothing else happened.