Hi all, Problem with a 99model year Marea diesel. starts every time when hot, but will not crank when cold. If you keep turning the key on and off, eventualy there is a wirring noise and if you wait a few seconds it starts. Any ideas??? Can the imobliser be removed,and if so whats involved. regards woody.

Sounds like solenoid on the starter motor to me, possibly even stater motor itself.

If the immobilser cut in then you wouldn't even get it to crank.
If the immobilser is at fault then the light(orange key thing) would stay on.

Thanks for your reply. The starter is fine, works with a wire to the solenoid. It just will not recognise the key when cold. The circular bit with two wires that goes round the lock barrel was replaced by the previous owner, but made no difference. once the car has started its fine till it gets cold again. Can the imobiliser be removed? I did this to my last car when I hit problems, my insurance company were ok about it, just a small increase in the premium. Regards Woody.

Yes it can be bipassed, I had it done to my first Marea years ago, when I had a Clifford alarm installed.
Have no idea how it's done though??

Can I just ask why you seem to have decided the immobiliser is the problem? Your query does not say what diagnostic processes you carried out before arriving at that conclusion.
Does the engine turn over but not start or does it not turn over at all?
Where does the 'whirring noise' come from? If it is at the back it could be the fuel pump, might there be a dodgy connection somewhere in that circuit or a faulty pump? As Notorious says the immobiliser warning lamp would normally stay on if there was a problem there.
I don't know a lot about the diesel engines but do they have crank position sensors? A faulty sensor would stop the car starting but not necessarily stop is turning over.
Have you tried it with other keys, especially the red programming key to see if the fault persists?
Good luck

Just a thought, is the glowplug warning light going out atfer a few seconds as per norm then start.
The wife's JTD130 struggles a bit sometimes but we know the glowplugs are on there way out, after starting the glowplug light comes back on and flashes this is to tell us there is a fault with the glowplugs, but at the moment its not too bad.
The glowplug light is the orange coil thing on the dash..

Hi all. The reason I think its the imobiliser, is that it will not crank from cold with red or blue keys. The starter is ok as it cranks if you put a feed to the solenoid. The glow plugs were replaced by the previous owner. The whiring is the fuel pump, but you need to operate the key a fair few times to get that to happen, then it will go and be all right for the rest of the day. The previous owner never got to the bottom of the problem, but claimed it was worse in cold weather. Regards Woody.

I had the same type of problem last year.The car let me down so many times.Thought it was the imobliser and tried to disarm it as fuel pump would not buzz.Eventually the car would not start at all although the starter would turn the engine until the battery was flat. Problem turned out to be the cam position sensor. the diesel should be the same as the 20v (sensor wise) I also changed the crank sensor at the same time for extra measure.
no further problem. Diagnostic machine will give you the sensor fault code Number. might be worth checking this.

Bare in mind if your starter will not turn the engine over then it could be something simpler like an underated or Knackered battery fitted (with a cell down).or bad batt/starter motor earth/feed.Maybe check the batt spec.

clobak.

not cranking and not starting are two different things.. check your battery connections and starter connections and earths first.. if the starter turns ok with a jumper wire then there's got to be some problem with the battery/ignition switch/supplies/connections etc.. this could be affected by temperature.
I'm fairly sure the immobiliser will not stop engine from cranking.. if there is a problem with the immobiliser then normally you will see the key light. if you don't see the injection light or glow plug light or hear the fuel pump coming on when you turn the key then you have a supply problem.. in which case check the above and the ECU main relay.

Thanks guys. I am not familiar with Fiats and thought the imobiliser stoped it cranking. Battery is new. after replacing it the airbag light stayed on Going to have a look at that when the starting is resolved. Will check ignition switch and wiring. Regards Woody

If you have a laptop the airbag light can be removed with this piece of brilliant free software http://www.fiatecuscan.net/ you will need an interface all the instructions are there.