2004 Nissan Almera 1.5 (N16) Immobiliser Issue

rizzodun

So as luck would have it, ran the Almera thought it's NCT in April, passed with no work, was going to sell it, decided against and now it's giving me a problem!

Basically, when putting in either of the two keys and turning on the ignition the immobiliser light (red car shaped light with a key in the centre) stays illuminated, if you try to start the car you get nothing, not a starter tick or the engine turning over.
Switch off the ignition and back on and it tries to turn over but won't start.
Switch the ignition on and off a few times and the car will start eventually, with either the immobiliser light illuminating and staying on, or nothing.
Sometimes the car will start first time as normal with no issues.

It's currently sitting with the battery disconnected to see if it resets anything.

It's not:
Either of the two keys, both have fresh batteries, remote lock and unlock works as normal.
The battery, never had a problem with the charge, never had to jump the car, no noticeable strain on the battery with lights, heater etc on.
The starter (as someone on this old thread suggested)
The fuel pump, you can hear this kick in when switching the ignition on, when the car starts as normal it starts immediately, no looking for fuel.

It's a 2004, 1.5 petrol.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

MuppetCheck

Crank sensor problem?

rizzodun

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Crank sensor problem?

Don't think so, no research on this has brought up that, any other symptoms that might show that to be the case?

Interestingly, I have a 2001 almera also (slightly different NATS system, key) on the same keyring of one of the keys, this may be causing some confusion.

What I've found on it so far

http://www.almeraownersclub.com/threads/immobiliser-light.34435/

Max Moment

Could be a bad earth. Check that the engine earth straps haven't coroded

bren11

Nothing to do with the battery in the key. There is a chip in the corner of the key plastic housing that is linked with the secu through antennae around the ignition barrell. Could be the antennae, or key needs to be recoded to secu, hopefully not the secu itself.

rizzodun

Max Moment wrote: »

Could be a bad earth. Check that the engine earth straps haven't coroded

Any ideas in particular where these are placed?

bren11 wrote: »

Nothing to do with the battery in the key. There is a chip in the corner of the key plastic housing that is linked with the secu through antennae around the ignition barrell. Could be the antennae, or key needs to be recoded to secu, hopefully not the secu itself.

I know it's nothing to do with the battery in the key, but you'd be amazed how many times that is mentioned, so wanted to nip it in the bud from the start.

Don't think the problem is the keys, as both keys have the same issue, I'm hoping the secu might be corrupted, maybe disconnecting the battery might force a reset, otherwise I need to find out to reprogram the keys, thinking a new secu may be expensive.

bren11

Two nats keys on the keyring will confuse signal to secu. Saw this where salesman had both keys on same keyring and primera would not start. Coding keys to secu used to be a maindealer job. Think its consult II that is used and make sure you have both keys with you.

rizzodun

bren11 wrote: »

Two nats keys on the keyring will confuse signal to secu. Saw this where salesman had both keys on same keyring and primera would not start. Coding keys to secu used to be a maindealer job. Think its consult II that is used and make sure you have both keys with you.

Cheers bren, I'll look into this, hoping it's not too expensive, might try to pull some error codes from the OBD tomorrow, using a generic reader, to see if it sheds any light.

MuppetCheck

Not an idea on where they are, but a similar vintage one had similar issues when new years ago. It's a common problem, there may have been been a recall afterwards.

Notch000

would the immobiliser & key issue stop the car from turning over ?? I have similar issue but the car can turn over all day but looks like there is no spark

rizzodun

Notch000 wrote: »

would the immobiliser & key issue stop the car from turning over ?? I have similar issue but the car can turn over all day but looks like there is no spark

If the light stays on then the car won't turn over, but I presume that's exactly what an immobiliser is supposed to do?

I reconnected the battery and it's started everytime but one, I didn't have it today so have the info from the wife says the light has only stayed on once, she didn't try to start the car, merely took the key out, flipped it around and put it back in, where it started first time.

I'm going to check the antenna in the ignition over the weekend, and hook a diagnostic reader to the OBD to check faults. Seems the fault is intermittent... for now...

paultronix

most likely a wiring fault between immo and ecm,just run a new cable from bcm to ecm and job done.