"Immobilizer active" message on Ford Mondeo

Meath Centre Forward

Hi All,

I was hoping for some advice regarding my 08 Ford Mondeo 1.8L which will not start.

It was fine yesterday however this morning it would not start and the lights on dash were not coming on when the key was in. The battery is flat even though there's never been any issues with the battery before - would the cold weather have caused it to go flat overnight?

Anyway I connected up a set of jump leads and that did no good at all. The dash is now lighting up and there is a message saying "Immobilizer active".

Does anyone have any experience with this? What does this message mean and how can it be fixed?

Thanks for any advice in advance!!

keano25

Sounds like a fried battery and now the computer has kicked in to prevent further damage.

You'll have to get it to ford or an independent with the right software to do a reset and replace battery.

colm_mcm

Cold weather kills batteries.

I would connect up jump leads and leave on for a good while (10-15 mins)then try again, its probably just because the battery is so flat. (Unqualified opinion but my jag was in a similar position and that worked)

keano25

colm_mcm wrote: »

Cold weather kills batteries.

I would connect up jump leads and leave on for a good while (10-15 mins)then try again, its probably just because the battery is so flat. (Unqualified opinion but my jag was in a similar position and that worked)

Funny you say that, just after posting I recall someone successfully starting their car by putting it on a battery charge for 30 minutes then locking and unlocking car. The car then started, if this fails ford have to do the reset.

Worth a shot.

Meath Centre Forward

Thanks for the replies. No luck so far. It's funny I left alone for around a half an hour and went back to it when the engine tried to start. But after that the Immobilizer must have kicked in again. Kind of strange that the engine almost started that once time - not sure what that means?

colm_mcm

Have you connected it to jump leads or what?

Meath Centre Forward

Yes they were connected for 20 minutes, but they there was no life in it with them whatsoever. The I disconnected it, left it alone for half an hour and when I went back, it nearly started! Not sure how that can be explained?

keano25

If you could get a battery charger and leave it on for a few hours id say it should work. Considering she gave it a shot after half an hour.

colm_mcm

I'd imagine the battery is fecked anyway.

gud

similar thing happened my 2008 Ford mondeo. in the end had the battery replaced but imobiliser message still appeared and wud not start after ecu reset. ended up being a fault between in wiring between ecu,s after 2 days of trying to locate faulty wiring, my mechanic just put a new wire by passing the fault and it has been fine since. 9 months now. hope tour problem is simplar to fix

martinr5232

I seen this problem before id say your bcmii/fusebox needs to be reinitialised. Try leaving the jumpleads on again for a while to charge the battery have the doner car running after about twenty minutes try it again.