Yes I am new to your forum, but not to FIATs. Up until now I had loved them. Bought a 1978 124 spyder in 1992 and it was a great car. Then I found a '79 with an automatic trany (made by GM) and it was also wonderful. So in spite of a bad reputation here in the USA of being unreliable cars, I have never had a problem with my spyders. In fact after Katrina the guy that bought my first spyder said it was the only car he had after the hurricane and it served him well. I work on all my cars myself and I must say I know what I am doing and do it well.

The reason I had no choice but to join this forum is that I bought a 1997 Barchetta. Since there are NO Fiat dealers or repair shops in the USA anymore I have no other resource when I have a problem. And this Barchetta has been trouble from day one. The battery died and upon putting a new one in the car it will not start. Code keys do not seem to be recognized and no one can help me. I called Torino Italy as a long shot but no one spoke English. I called 4 garages in the UK and only one even tried to help. One guy told me to "just bring it around for a check". Very funny as that is a long boat ride. I searched this forum about the Immobilizer for info and have not found the answer. So by joining I can be more specific.

Car turns over but does not start.
Code key light does NOT go on at all.
I was able to use the Electronic Code card and after completing the sequence, the car still would not start.
I took out the fuel cut off switch out of frustration in case that may be the problem, but I don't know if the switch is an always on type, and that I should connect the two wires, or, if the switch is a press once contact type and I should just touch the wires and then separate them
I disconnected fuel line from manifold to see if fuel is reaching engine but I am told immobilizer shuts off fuel pump as well. So that was a waste of time
I checked all fuses
I have the red master code key, one blue ignition key, and one blue blank key.

Questions:

1. Does the Immobilizer shut off fuel pump?
2. Where is the Immobilizer located? Is it under dash?
3. Where is the antenna for it that I hear so many times may be at fault?

The Big Question here is how do I bypass, disconnect, or otherwise get rid of this Immobilizer? I understand that putting such info on this Forum puts everyones car at risk. You can email me direct with that info if you have a solution. I don't understand what the big concern is, does anybody really steal FIATs ??? Here in the US there are only 2 or 3 Barchettas that I know of in the entire country. Nobody even knows what they are when they see one. I can supply you with the VIN# my name, address, blood type, or what ever info you need so you know I am really here in the USA and not a FIAT thief.

Thanks

Jeff 504-236-9504

how did it get there?

welcome

hi there and welcome

How did it get to the USA? If that is your question it was imported from Italy by a guy in Missouri. He sold it to the dealer in New Jersey I bought it from last year. The first owner, the Missouri guy, had to go through the trouble of getting a new VIN for it because the State of Missouri would not or could not use the VIN from Italy. Such import VIN # are called grey number by DMV. So now I have the Missouri VIN and the originol VIN from Italy on the car- which still will not start

its the middle of the night here, some one with answers be on in the morning i reckon

imobliser is either in a body computer or in the ecu, i think it ecu on these.
the antenna is around the ignition barrel

Hi,
Abbout the immo, to get him out of the sistem you could do a remap of the ecu if you don't find a replacement ecu on wich the immo function is disabled. Or there are some programs that removes the function of immo from the ecu. I have some of them at home (I'll get there on 16dec) or you can do a search for immo.exe or something like that, but i'm not shure if they are for your chip.
What about a trying to connect the ecu to a tester and read if there are some fault codes, did u tried?

Cheers!

Welcome to the forum DrBarchetta!

Have a look at ebay.de for a used ECU unit paired with the 3 keys.
It should be a plug N play replacement proceedure and its probably the safest way to go.
I can only guarantee side effects of overriding the immobilizer.
Strange problems you have there, thats for sure! Didnt the car start when you bought it?

Good luck!

this german ebay store:
http://search.stores.ebay.de/321aut...sooZ2QQfsopZ3QQftsZ2QQsaselZ335058529QQsofpZ0

is pretty good and should have an ECU set for you. Try to contact them. I know its all in german but you can use google translate to some extent, I m sure that you can send an email written in english with good chances for a reply.

does it have an alarm/central locking operated by a remote?

Hi and welcome

Sorry to hear you're having problems

Good luck

Hi and welcome
You say the dash key light does not come on at all when you turn the key. Sounds like the immobilizer has no power 2 me. You should see the light come on then after a few secs it should go out. If it was the key that was the problem the light would come on but not go out.

You should hear the fuel pump prime when the key is turned before the car starts.

Silly but check the connections of the Battery and make sure you have not missed any small cable and clean up the earth connection to make sure its not that.

I have taken the battery out of my B a good few times and never had to do anything on replacing the battery.

No alarm just the immobizer. Car ran good for the first 6 months. Then battery died and after changing battery, I have not been able to start it.


Jeff

I also disconnected that stupid fuel cut off switch on left side of driver's seat. So do I connect those two wires or just touch them once to be sure cut off is not activated?

And where is the ECU and any other contacts that should be cleaned ?

Thanks

Jeff

Cant help with the fuel switch as I have not needed to mess about with it. ECU is at the back of the engine bay at the top of the engine just behind the fuel rail.

Before getting into all the ecu start with the simple things first. The B should start after a battery change so go slow or you could make the problem 10x more difficult by braking other stuff.
Do you get a spark?
Does the fuel pump prime or get power?
Is the petrol in the tank old?
Is the new battery fully charged?

I did not think I could check for spark as the immobizer cuts off ignition does it not?
I don't hear the fuel pump running when I turn on the key. But I thought that is shut off by the immobilizer also
Gas is good
Can I unplug or bypass the code reader or immobilizer?

jeff

If the immobilizer has no power then I guess I need to check to connections. Where is the immobilizer? I found the key reader under left side of dash as I see a black braided wire going from this plastic box to the ring around the key switch on column.

Jeff

See attached file.

Hello and welcome to the forum!!

Sounds like the key and immo have become out of sync which would require an ECU re-set.

Follow the Doc's advice to begin with, do you have a spark?, can you hear the fuel pump prime? all electrical points clean and secure? - if the immo light on the dash is not going out its likely to be a immo issue. Difficult one to fix, I don't know of a way around the immo without re-programming the ECU - if you need a copy of the Barchetta repair manual on CD I am sure someone here could help!

Good luck and let us know how you progress?

BTW - I bet the b is a hell of a sight on the road in the US!! I spent a week in Salt Lake City in March this year, some baseball player (no idea who) was staying in the same hotel as me and had a 360 Stradale - not quite as classy as the b but got a hell of a lot of attention!!

Also saw a UK registered Land Rover in Canyonlands - seemed very small in comparison to the big US 4x4's...........

LittleRedB said:

I spent a week in Salt Lake City in March this year

Click to expand...

Attending your yearly Tabernacle Choir rehearsals?

Robot said:

Attending your yearly Tabernacle Choir rehearsals?

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LOL - the company that made me redundant has their annual conference there, I gave a few public presentations!! Apparently I was good enough then!!