Deep joy!! Have just managed to introduce a replacement "red key" as a master in immobiliser and added the obligatory 2 blue keys.
One small step for (a) man........
Tony.

go on my son! i knew you'd crack it

now you can start selling the service at a reduced price to codeman and make some money.

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a bravo 1.8 hlx however it does not have a red key. Been doing a lot of reading on forums about the lack of a red key and the hassle it causes. It does have 2 blue keys, so would you be able to make a master 'red' key from one of those blue ones incase I ever needed the master key??? Or have I completely misunderstood that post?

Cheers, jim.

1.8HLX is a good choice, although i would say that

you cant make a red key from a blue key. but if you have the correct equipment and know how, you can introduce a new red key code without having any keys at all.

buying a bravo with no red key could be no problem at all, or it could turn out to be an expensive hassle. but the risk is something you have to weigh up, statistically i'd say there is only a very small chance of a big problem occuring. you should use the lack of a red key to haggle the price down by at least £100, but dont let it put you off buying the car.

if you ever do have any problems and need a red key, you cna always send your ecu off to www.codeman.org and they'll sort it our quickly and without too much cost.

Jim- As already stated by jug, you cant make red key from blue cos codes are unique to each key. I can however recover all the key codes from the immobiliser and make replacement red or blue keys from them. If anyones interested the fee would be £55 to recover all codes + £20 for each key. This method restores fully the immobiliser features and reverts vehicle to original manufacturers specifications. Decoding companies in general remove the immobiliser features from the vehicle. Not the best way I dont think, but I would be happy to do this if someone wanted it, cost £60.
Tony.

thats good to know. and reasonable prices too

maybe we should have a sticky advertising your service. its definately in demand with many system 1 cars.

can you write maps to ecu's too? if you can i'd start a mail order remapping service as well as your key code service using the pre-written maps most places use, they're so cheap on ebay, or free if you have a good look on the web

I think the maps for Punto/Bravo are held in eprom (uv erasable),27128 or similar. These can be simply copied from a known upgraded eprom, or copied from file. But I suspect many around are not generated by technicians with rolling road etc and all the test gear to get enhanced performance, so would feel guilty about selling something which I didn't have the confidence in.
Tony.

so... instead of paying fiat stupid money to get the ecu reset, you could sort out the problem, cheaper than codeman, and you dont lose the immobiliser?

Hi, did you get any engine starting problems when only using blue keys. We only have one blue key and our Brava sometimes won't start (it's as though the imobiliser is active or no petrol).

Also does disconnecting batery for an hour or so reset the ecu ? If so do you then need a RED key for any reason ?

Regards.

SC

Jim- thats about the size of it.
Mercanlandy- Using red key will reset ECU but it probably wont help with poor starting. Blue or red key it will start the same. It will not do any harm to disconnect battery, some radios have codes in them which are lost when disconnected, but dont know your car radio. You will not need a red key to restart car after disconnecting battery.
Tony.

Hi Tony
I have a w reg Bravo with no red key please give me information where I can have the code read and keys supplied
thanks Jackie

hi jackie, the last activity in this thread was 8 months ago.

however Tony has a website to advertise his services: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/datarecall/

OK. this is my problem.
Ive found that on this bravo 1.6 16v the ecu isent pulsin to num 3 injector. So ive pinpointed the fault to the ecu.
OK customer as come in with another ecu off another car, but obviously i havent got the red key for it, i might be able to get my hands on the imobiliser ecu, but not sure. But i have got the red key for the old ecu.
What are my options if any?
cheers lads!:slayer:
P.S> Great forum by the way

you need the main ecu, the immob ecu (aka codebox) and the red key all from the same car. they are permanently paired and all 3 must be together for it to work.

if you have a faulty ecu, to replace it you need all 3 parts from a donor car, 2 out of 3 is pointless.

ecu failure is very rare, have you tested the wiring from ecu to injector? and have you tested the injector? injector failure is VERY common on the 1.6, so common that you expect it to happen.

if you do need to replace the ecu, and you cant get the complete set of 3 matching parts, you're options are a brand new ecu (it will pair with any codebox, but only the first one it communicates with) or a decoded ecu (the immob is disabled when you do this).

alternatively you can hotwire the fuel pump by giving it a new earth, but i didnt tell you that.

reddy4bed said:

Jim- thats about the size of it.
Mercanlandy- Using red key will reset ECU but it probably wont help with poor starting. Blue or red key it will start the same. It will not do any harm to disconnect battery, some radios have codes in them which are lost when disconnected, but dont know your car radio. You will not need a red key to restart car after disconnecting battery.
Tony.

Click to expand...

Hi
I have just put my Brava into a local garage to have the clutch replaced and they have called to say they had to disconnect the battery and now it won't start. It turns over but won't fire.
They called me and initially asked for a 5 digit code -which I don't think I have in any of the paper work, or the red key - which I do have but am not sure this will solve the problem -as per the above.
I also heard that once you use the red key you can't go back to using the blue key - but don't know if that's true.

Thanks
Nikki

the code they requested is the emergency start code, this will bypass the immob. you can request it from the dealer, however you usually dont need it if you have the red key, unless there is a fault with the immob.

if the key code light is remaining lit it means the immob is not switching off so the engine will not start. this happens when the blue key codes are 'lost' by the codebox, which can happen when you disconnect the battery. the red key is the master key, its code can not be lost by the codebox. if your red key starts the car you can use the red key to teach the codebox the blue eky codes, then the blue keys will work again, however you must have at least 2 blue keys to do this, you cant teach the codebox only 1 blue key code. the procedure to teach your codebox the blue key codes is this:

insert red key, turn to on posititon (mar i think its called?)
keycode light will illuminate then go out
remove red key
insert 1st blue key, turn to on positon
keycode light will illuminate then go out
remove 1st blue key
insert 2nd blue key, turn to on positon
keycode light will illuminate then go out
remove 2nd blue key
insert red key, turn to on posititon
keycode light will illuminate then go out
remove red key

you need to swap keys over quickly, you only have a few seconds.

alternatively, if you find the red key doesnt work and it wont start with the red key, it means there is a fault in the immob.
the most common causes are:
-aerial around ignition barrel is faulty or its connector is loose
-codebox (near interior fusebox) is faulty or its connectors are loose
-immob ecu is faulty or its connector is loose
-immob ecu is not getting power (blown fuse, rusty fuse terminals, damaged wire)
-codebox has lost blue key codes and need to be taight them using the red key (can happen if battery left disconnected for some time or when certain electrical faults happen, such as when several fuses blow at once)

hi i have a 99 bravo 1.8 16v hlx,im now getting the cambelt changed,but i only have two blue keys and not the red key,shall i tell the garage not to disconnect the battery or will it be ok for them to do this? thanks

if any one in essex southend way brights locksmiths at southend can sort out a new red master key somtimes same day 01702 346274

jpegg81 said:

hi i have a 99 bravo 1.8 16v hlx,im now getting the cambelt changed,but i only have two blue keys and not the red key,shall i tell the garage not to disconnect the battery or will it be ok for them to do this? thanks

Click to expand...

disconnecting the battery will be fine

quick question then if i have only got one blue key and the red key if i wanted to do the reprogramming thing above with inserting keys i guess i need both blue keys that came with the car or could i use one that i could purchase from a dealer?