seanie
Well-known member
Quite possible wouldn't know, but a lot of factory immobilers of that era will allow crank but cut spark or fuel or both.
Diagnosing "engine no start" problem
- Thread starter geogan
- Start date
Quite possible wouldn't know, but a lot of factory immobilers of that era will allow crank but cut spark or fuel or both.
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geogan
Petrolheads
Oh right. Well I obviously would like to rule that out as cause but I don't think there is any way to do that, without going back to where it was bought/fitted. Not something an average garage could do either. Anyway, another thing to consider on list of things to check.
Download freessm and connect with a vagcom cable and see if you get any better codes from that
them Clifford's can give issues with not starting also ,maybe that can be ruled out bye contacting clifford or a call to MDS who most likely installed it if was done bye the previous owner.
a lad on here his car wouldn't start after been intermittent 3 or 4 times before that
spent 3 months on it trying to get it running
even at one stage thought it was the antenna on the Beacon Hotel interfering with his immobiliser as it happened twice at the same cross roads
mechanic came up with a scanner that scanned for bad cables and it turned out to be corrosion on the wire to fuel pump which had been joined previously along the floor near drivers seat,had it running in 15 minutes
I know you can be unlucky sometimes and it can be something odd but they are fairly basic cars which in general seem to give the same simple faults.
you may have recovery on your insurance to have it dropped to a garage free of charge so id check that also
them Clifford's can give issues with not starting also ,maybe that can be ruled out bye contacting clifford or a call to MDS who most likely installed it if was done bye the previous owner.
a lad on here his car wouldn't start after been intermittent 3 or 4 times before that
spent 3 months on it trying to get it running
even at one stage thought it was the antenna on the Beacon Hotel interfering with his immobiliser as it happened twice at the same cross roads
mechanic came up with a scanner that scanned for bad cables and it turned out to be corrosion on the wire to fuel pump which had been joined previously along the floor near drivers seat,had it running in 15 minutes
I know you can be unlucky sometimes and it can be something odd but they are fairly basic cars which in general seem to give the same simple faults.
you may have recovery on your insurance to have it dropped to a garage free of charge so id check that also
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geogan
Petrolheads
Yes I was thinking of bringing it to Dave but he is out past Ashbourne somewhere so no way to get car to him without 200 Euro tow-truck... anyway if all else fails...
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geogan
Petrolheads
Download freessm and connect with a vagcom cable and see if you get any better codes from that
them Clifford's can give issues with not starting also ,maybe that can be ruled out bye contacting clifford or a call to MDS who most likely installed it if was done bye the previous owner.
a lad on here his car wouldn't start after been intermittent 3 or 4 times before that
spent 3 months on it trying to get it running
even at one stage thought it was the antenna on the Beacon Hotel interfering with his immobiliser as it happened twice at the same cross roads
mechanic came up with a scanner that scanned for bad cables and it turned out to be corrosion on the wire to fuel pump which had been joined previously along the floor near drivers seat,had it running in 15 minutes
I know you can be unlucky sometimes and it can be something odd but they are fairly basic cars which in general seem to give the same simple faults.
you may have recovery on your insurance to have it dropped to a garage free of charge so id check that also
Interesting... thanks... will look into that software... maybe will connect to ECU better than Romraider. Not sure if my OBDII cable is VAGCOM though.
Yes it was me who bought the Clifford system from MDS, so I could ring them. I have had problems before with it, but never a non start.
"a scanner that scanned for bad cables" - how does a scanner check for bad cables?? Anyway yes... corrosion is a total pain in the ass for cars this age... every wire is degrading... wish I could replace entire wiring looms!
Could still be fuel pump/wiring corrosion problem...
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some scanner probe thing checks for continuity or something dont ask me
yeah youll need a vagcom cable but handy for fault codes with subarus anyway and data logging
I just spoke to an Auto Electrician there I know he said them Cliffords have 2 immobiliser and his guess is bypass your Clifford and take it from there.
I think call MDS be no harm now anyway and they could confirm if it is possible for the g5 to still power car but immobilise it etc. as they would know
yeah youll need a vagcom cable but handy for fault codes with subarus anyway and data logging
I just spoke to an Auto Electrician there I know he said them Cliffords have 2 immobiliser and his guess is bypass your Clifford and take it from there.
I think call MDS be no harm now anyway and they could confirm if it is possible for the g5 to still power car but immobilise it etc. as they would know
Free SSM is a more basic open source copy of the Subaru SSM software
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG6c8pfCWLo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG6c8pfCWLo
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geogan
Petrolheads
OK update and conclusion. I found this two weeks ago but didn't get a chance to update this..
Turns out it WAS the ****ing Subaru immobilizer. Thought it could not be this since I could see all power coming on when I enter the Clifford pin code... but it appears that unknown to me, some original Subaru immobilization system seems to be still working somehow underneath the entire Clifford alarm/immobilizer system.
So nothing wrong with engine. Well at least I checked and replaced some failing parts and service parts in the process! And bought some new tools (which I never mind spending money on) And didn't spend any money on 3rd party labour (which I hate having to do).
Thanks to those who replied with help !
Turns out it WAS the ****ing Subaru immobilizer. Thought it could not be this since I could see all power coming on when I enter the Clifford pin code... but it appears that unknown to me, some original Subaru immobilization system seems to be still working somehow underneath the entire Clifford alarm/immobilizer system.
So nothing wrong with engine. Well at least I checked and replaced some failing parts and service parts in the process! And bought some new tools (which I never mind spending money on) And didn't spend any money on 3rd party labour (which I hate having to do).
Thanks to those who replied with help !
Great news well done 
How did you find it in the end ?
How did you find it in the end ?
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geogan
Petrolheads
Great news well done
How did you find it in the end ?
Well I just took advice from here that it might be that, but I discounted that theory a long time ago since I could hear the Clifford relay clicking on when I entered the code and the power/ignition/radio etc all turn on at that point. This was always how it worked when the Clifford immobilization was disabled, so I thought it couldn't be an immobilization problem.
Also the fact that it obviously worked the once time and I drove down the country but then it wouldn't restart with the SAME key/fob to return home again which didn't make sense.
So anyway I went and got the spare key from house safe and tried it, and the car started straight away with this key.
So I don't know what happened. Didn't realize there is also some extra Subaru immobilizer still working there somehow even with totally third party Clifford system installed. Or how Clifford code can be entered but still the ignition is disabled.