AlMur

Help!

Just bought a nice 2 year old WRX with dealer fitted alarm / immobiliser. Drove home....stopped in town center and when I finished, car would not start. Much mucking about and finally called Subaru assist. Brillient bloke called Ken arrived and told me that I'd parked too near the Police Station and their radio system was to blame! He towed me (red faced) 400 yards and Scooby started first time.

Tomorrow I'm going back to the (non-subaru, sadly) dealer to shout a lot! Have any of you kind and knowledgable folks had similar problems and do you know the fix?

Thanks.

A

babber

Not happened to me, but heard and read a little about this. Apparently does happen, and even been told that your keyfob / alarm can be frequency shifted to eliminate this

Not sure who can do this ?

Phill

Monday Lad

s'happened to me twice and I've only had the car 4 weeks.

AA man was very sympathetic - but two hours in an Asda car park, right next to a police station with massive antenna on the roof, is not fun.

Monday Lad

ps the only fix the Subaru dealer offered me (unhelpfully) was dont park near police stations, oh... and Petrol Stations, as the hidden mobile phone emitters can do it too.

One I can avoid (I hope) the other I seem to visit quite a lot!!!

SiDHEaD

This is always happening to me. I don't have the PIN for my alarm so i can't use the manual override on the immobiliser. Instead i have to get the car pushed/towed out (usually with the alarm foinf odd )

Subaru did a "modification" (under warranty) but it hasnt really helped. The best thing to do if you are parked somewhere new, is before your ignition times out and the immobiliser comes on, try locking the doors with the keyfob - if it doesnt work, get the ignition back on quick before immobiliser kicks in. Then find somewhere else to park.

This is damn annoying but there we go

Andy

AlMur

Thanks guys. Unfortunately I don't have a PIN number either. My local shops and petrol station are close to one police mast and at work (15 miles away) the car park is less that 50 yards away. Ethier I'm going to be pushing a lot or Subaru are going to have to come up with a better solution. I recon calling Subaru assist daily might focus their attention a bit!!

Chris L

Yep this happen to me twice on my MY01. If I park near my sister's house in Caterham and lock the car with the immobiliser key fob, I can't get back in! I had to call out Subaru Assistance once as well. Now I know I have to use the code pad to gain entry (which sets off the alarm when you open the door) or I park a few streets away! Never had the problem anywhere else.

Chris

Chris L

Al - Take your car into your local dealer, they can reset the pincode to whatever you like. Very useful to have it anyway.

Chris

brett555

No point shouting because not much can be done

Happened to me yesterday in my car. (clifford alarm) , i parked next to a taxi , had to push the car up the road a bit and then all was ok .

brett

scoobyboy

they can change the ecu for a sheilded one which so far has cured all of the customers cars we had with that problem. and it was done under warranty so nobody paid anything (providing they were in warranty)

AlMur

Thanks. This is very good news! I certainly had no intention of accepting PIN number disarming or parking in the next town!! Hope this helps you other guys.

Will let you know what happens to me.

Best wishes,

AlMur

churchwa

beware of cranes as well, just happened to me in my STi8. Stopped to get flowers for my mum and the car would not lock. So i used my key, came back and it would not open. A chap by the crain said i would have to wait until the crane stopped. When it did, the car came back to life.

SiDHEaD

Well i've had the fix done, and i've still found occasions (such as tesco last nite, by fire station) where i have to wave the keyfob around right next to the window to get it to work.

And yet other times it works from miles away (i can accidentally unlock the car with keys in my pocket, when i am IN THE HOUSE) Bit of a nuisance really.

Andy

ed_the_duck

Heard that touching the end of the fob on your chin then pressing the button can help sometimes......helps too if the frequencey has shifted......many times my car immobiliser and alarm wont deactivate and this has worked for me sometimes

SiDHEaD

Tried this, didnt work for me. What did, was opening the bonnet and putting the keyfob down behind the intercooler. However be warned, the alarm is LOUD, and your head is right by it! I was deaf for 20 mins afterwards LOL.


Andy

JonnyStell@

yep, happened to me a few times....

scoobyboy

i expect this will get deleted but the box itself is just above the steering column not easy to spot but thats the idea i spose

Scooby555 2

I only come to witney once in a blue moon and always have problems in the town centre c/parks

Manners

The in laws remote garage doors did mine and had to use the keypad but it took four goes before it would start.

korky

Mine did it in the middle of the North York Moors - near to Fylingdales early warning radar complex.

Imagine....in the middle of nowhere.... No houses.... No people.... One freezing cold 2-year old.... Mobiles do not work out there.

I thought the batteries had gone on the keyfob.

After an hour the thing just burst into life as though nothing had happened.

Anyway, the sheep will not forget the encounter LOL!

Korky