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More SDi immobiliser woes and observations

2K views 1 reply 1 participant last post by  Rob-xro 
#1 ·
Ok, so my car is suffering with the seemingly common problem of starting and stopping when it feels like. There was a Polish guy on ebay removing the immobiliser function from the ecu but I chose not to go down that route. Instead I have a feed from the battery, to a switch in the cabin which then goes to the fuel shut-off solenoid. All is fine now just as long as I remember to switch off the feed when I get to my destination. A couple of times I've forgotten when I got home and then when I got up the next morning to go to work I've had to bump start it due to a flat battery.
Anyway...my latest problem is this:
When it won't start, I flick on the switch for a live feed to the solenoid and away we go.
Sorted!
Well, not quite!
You see sometimes, when I have to do this, I lose power. It's almost as if I'm only getting about 60% power. It's the same effect as when the mat rides forwards and gets underneath the loud pedal, so when I think I've buried my right foot, in fact all I've done is bury it into the rucked up mat. It's great for saving on fuel, but not very good when you're in a hurry...
Occasionally, when running with switch 'on' and in 'reduced mode', I have felt the car surge for a second then back to 'slow' mode again. A couple of weeks ago, it surged two or three times on my ten mile trip home and then finally it surged, and then stayed at full power for a couple of days.
Does anybody know if the immobiliser controls anything else in addition to cutting the fuel supply off? Another weird thing I've noticed, is when I turn the ignition on with my illuminated switch off, while the glow plugs are activating, the switch lights up. I can only assume that the glow plug circuit is linked to the fuel solenoid shut off terminal which then back feeds up to the illuminated half of my switch.
Oh one last thing, when I fitted my switch, I decided to remove and tape up the 'loom' feed to the solenoid. My thinking was, that I wouldn't need it as I'd be in control of the fuel solenoid. With the loom wire off the solenoid, the engine wouldn't start, even WITH a live feed to the solenoid. For the engine to start, I must have the loom wire connected as well.
It's still fast enough when on reduced power but I sometimes wonder if I'm slowly buggering something up which will make itself known on the precise night I'm far away from home, in the dark, in the rain...
 
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#2 ·
Does nobody have a clue about this subject or can nobody be bothered to help?
As my other cars are all Land Rovers, I have come to expect a certain level of help from fellow owners.
Sadly I'm seeing nothing at all like that on this site...
Especially seeing as this is apparently a common problem with these cars!
 
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