After all the drama replacing my TP wagon's starter motor, this morning I had exactly the same problem - no response from the starter motor although the ignition and everything else turns on.

My sedan was parked behind it, so I pushed the wagon out the driveway and down the street. That allowed me to get the sedan out to drive to work. I don't think I will be able to push the wagon back in again so I will have to work on it in the street.

The problem must be the aftermarket immobiliser/central locking sytem. It has been an unreliable pain in the butt ever since I bought the car so I am going to remove it. The difficulty is that it is a no-name brand and I don't have a wiring diagram to indicate how it works.

Can anyone give me some clues about how immobilisers usually work? It definitely disables the starter but I assume that would be done by cutting off voltage to the solenoid rather than the starter itself. I know it also disables the ignition and possibly the injectors but that part of it seems to switch on OK at the moment.

To get it started and back into my garage, I thought I should be able to attach a wire to the solenoid and touch the other end on the positive battery terminal. Brooommm! That is assuming that the ignition is working. I think it is, judging by the instrument panel lights.

Am I on the right track? Any help would be appreciated.

regards,
Coldamus

immobiliser cut power to different parts of the ignition system and/or starter. if the starter's power is cut, you can bypass it by putting the wire on the solenoid of the starter.

but it's not to say that the immobiliser is not cutting power to ignition coil and/or fuel pump.

when i installed my immobiliser, mine cuts power to fuel pump, ignition coil, carby idle cut solenoid and TCU. relays are under the dash in different places.

you can try hotwiring it by placing a wire from the ignition coil (black/white wire) to battery to feed power into the ignition system without using the key and then kick over the starter with a piece of wire if you are desperate to move the car.

Thanks BCX7,

I'm hoping the immobiliser on mine, being older and probably a cheapy, is not as sophisticated as yours. I opened the case on it once and remember seeing a couple of small relays inside it.

First thing this morning I tried again and starter was still dead, so I ran a wire from the solenoid and touched it on the battery. The starter worked and I got the car running and back in my garage.

I rescued my old starter from the rubbish bin as there was nothing wrong with it. Oh well, now I have a spare! I am really annoyed at all the wasted time and effort. When I get this immobiliser off, I am going to jump up and down on it!

It probably does cut power to the ignition, injectors or fuel pump but that part of it must be switching OK at present. I will just have to trace the wires, work out the function of each one, remove it and repair the wiring. Another dirty weekend coming up.

remove the coil wire or rotor out of the dissy

wont start and I doubt if anyone would keep trying :gtfo:

what relevance does this post have to the OP? Are you getting around the age where alzheimers hits you?

what relevance does this post have to the OP? Are you getting around the age where alzheimers hits you?

Doesn't matter. I'm already at that age myself.

Incidentally the problem turned out to be the neutral safety switch. Strange, because I've never had a problem with it before.

When I have a starting problem, I always jiggle the shift lever just in case, but I must not have said the right magic words. I said plenty of them when I figured it out and realised all the work swapping the starter motor was for nothing.

Rather than waste another weekend, I ended up leaving the immobiliser connected and just tidied up the wiring a bit.