Hi all.

Got the donor bug home but had a bit of a prob with the steering lock.
My cousin had broken the key in the lock and then butchered the lock trying to turn the ignition on, he even tried to drill it into submission - with no joy.
I had to remove the barrel in order to get the bug onto the trailer - which was when I noticed that he had also butchered the end of the barrel.

Once I'd recharged the battery I tried to start the engine but it wouldn't start - I get the 'key code' light and also the 'system fault' on the display.

Which brings me to the question:

If I obtain another barrel and key, will it match to the car or will I need to do something with it before it will be of use?
Any help will be appreciated.
George

:Key and barrel prob

You need to get hold of the original key.
It has the Transponder 'chip' in it for the Immobiliser circuit.
You can transfer it to a new Key easily enough.
On my original Multi, I drove it for nearly two years with no key, after having the same trouble with a snapped Key.
I just glued the Chip to the Barrel (what was left of it), and glued a lump of Alloy into it to act as a Key, to operate the switch in the base.

Thanks for your reply BikeDoc,
unfortunately, the idiot can't find the broken bit of the key, hence me sourcing another key and barrel.
Do you think if I get one of those bits of kit off the bay I will be able to either do a re programme myself or maybe con the system into accepting the new set-up?
Yeah, I'm a bit green regarding the sparky side of Fiat's, but I'm sure there's a way to get it sorted, I just want to get the engine running before ripping the shed apart for the worth while bits. The rest of the heap is destined for the scrap man, it's even beyond my normally optimistic views - so it's got to be bad
George

I'm not sure if each Key & Barrel set is 'sync'd' to the ECU, or if you can just replace with another matched Key & Barrel set.

If you can get hold of a second-hand Barrel and Key (Key with the Chip in), it would be a simple job to just unplug the connector from the old Barrel, and plug in the other one to see if the Multi 'accepted' it.

Had a bit of luck yesterday, found a ECU, barrel, transponder, halo and key. The key was cracked but 'was workin ok'. (said the man )
Got me prizes home and fitted a bit sharpish, hooked the battery back up and full of expectation, turned the key - nothing!
Same old key code light etc.
Looking at the key I thought ' maybe if I put the guts into my spare Bug key and try that.
It didn't work.
Back to square 1.
So, with the guts back in their original places - and a new battery in the new key, tried again, still nothing, then noticed that I had accidently been using the old halo, which was still in place but 'out of the way'
New halo in place, everything double checked and hey presto, turn on the key, code light out, no system fault, turn to start and away it went.
Don't sound bad, no knocks or shocks, so it's a good lump.
So, anybody with a similar problem, it can be over come without too much hassle.
Cheers
George

Oletimer,
so you'd used the original keys "aeriel -halo".., but it needed the "matching one" from donor car..??

is that correct..??

Maybe I didn't make myself very clear...

To cut to the chase, I ended up using the 'new' ECU, transponder and halo with the new key (it required a battery)

I had, along the way, got the halo's mixed up which was what was giving me trouble and not allowing the engine to start. It certainly didn't want to play with any of the bits mixed up, so they must be matched in the factory.
I did notice, thru trial and error, that the part of the key that talk's to the transponder / ECU is the tiny little glass (plastic?) pellet that's glued into the slot in the one half of the fob, without the battery and circuit board it still signalled the halo and started the engine - so that little micro chip thing is all that is relied upon.

Once I'd sorted out the correct bits, all was well and it now starts first time, sounds like a decent lump too.
Cheers
George