Fiat Marea Weekend ELX, ECU Problem

[Rob]

Fiat Marea Weekend ELX.
1.9Turbo Diesel.
R reg.
Has the Red & Blue key.

Basically I have one big problem with my Fiat Marea.
Last Wednesday I was driving it like you would on a wet, cold crap morning.

Then I went to start it after leaving it for 30 mins, but the keycode won't disarm the Immobiliser. As in, put the key in, try to start car, it turns over but the glowplug is disabled.

So the problem we have is the Red & Blue key can't & won't disarm the Immobiliser.

So we took it to our local Fiat / Renault dealer who told us they would ring Fiat UK and get the correct keycode to make a new set of keys for the ECU to recognize.

The really annoying thing is that Fiat UK don't hold the Keycode, So the dealer has been trying for 4 days now to get hold of the Keycode from "The Insurance Register, but they have not responded to 4 Fax's.

Can anyone please help because it looks like we will not get anywere anytime soon.

Thanks.
Rob.

 

[Paul - moderator]

********

I work at a Fiat dealership (stop throwing bricks at me!!) and they should have a form they fax up to National Vehicle Security Register. Fiat aren't allowed to hold the codes, although it becomes a pain in the arse, so we keep them anyway locked up. All they need is your signature, proof of ID (driving licence) and address on this form, and as I'm the one who normally does all this stuff at the dealer, i know how long it takes. With correct information it's usually a couple of hours max. So is your dealer playing silly buggers?

However, your car may need more than just key codes putting in. You may end up needing a key code relay and key code ring / antenna, as this seems to be a common fault.

Also, here's an interesting one for you all: All this nonsense about the red key - would you believe, when we ordered a red key for a Bravo that had been bought elsewhere without a red key, we received one with no transponder inside it! And also, if you ever do get problems coding in the blue key from the red, on some early models there was a cock up at the factory whereby blue keys were master keys. Don't you just love Italians?

regards,
Paul

 

[Rob]

Thanks Paul

Thanks Paul, It's nice to know that you work at a Fiat Dealership, which means that you know what your talking about.

But the Dealer has had our car since last Friday morning. They have not been helpful.

They keep on saying that they have faxed the "Insurance Register" 4 times but they have not received any response from them.

So we rang our Insurance company to get some details about the "Register", So they told us that they do not know anything about this secret register.

But the really annoying thing is that we only bought the car two month's ago from a garage that's 3 miles away from the Fiat Dealership. "Ironic that".

So were well & truly stuck.
But it's lucky that we have another new vehicle to use while the dealer has ours parked in their MOT bay.

Any info would be very helpful to us or the Dealer.

Thanks Rob.

 

[Rob]

The NEW Problem is:

This is the story from our Fiat Dealership as of Today - Wednesday morning.
Apparently, the Fiat Dealer has now received the security code.
Great we thought?, ah but the ECU will NOT let them in now. (I take it the code was not recognised).

So Fiat UK Technical help, told them to try everything they could think of.

So what can our Fiat Dealership do to get in.?
How far can they get when the code doesn't let them in.
So if they cannot get in, does it seem that they will have to replace the ECU, Door Locks and so on. The expensive option.

Thanks Rob.

 

[Paul]

Re: The NEW Problem is:

I shouldnt have thought you'd need the full works. If the key isnt coding, you may need a key code relay and a key code ring / antenna.

The Keycode relay is listed as:
ELECTRONIC CONTROLUNIT Part no. 46552274 at 46.27 + vat + fitting

The keycode ring is listed as
ANTENNA Part no. 46538274 at 10.54 + vat + fitting

Suggest this to your dealer if they havent thought of it already.

Hope this helps.

regards,
Paul
PS - any warranty on the vehicle?

 

[Rob]

The True Real Problem is:

Well it turns out that the Fiat/Renault dealer who is still dealing with our car, has been telling porkies to us.

They told us that they received the fax containing the ECU code on the Tuesday of this week.
But we went in to the dealer on Thursday and found out that they had only received that fax late on Thursday. (why lie about that)

They only told us the truth about the situation after us going in there and getting arsey, then they finally told us that they had not even looked at the car till thursday (yesterday).

And to top it all off, the real problem is,
The Fuel pump relay. It's stopping the ECU from allowing the engine immobiliser to disarm (I assume).

What a bloody palava.

Thanks for all the help though Paul.

Thanks
Rob.