Hey guys, I've got an 02 Prado which has just started having some immobilizer issues of late. I took it to the mechanic and they ruled out anything mechanical and said it has something to do with the immobiliser and that I'd be better off going to an auto-electrician.
When I turn it over, it does crank but intermittedly doesn't start. Sometimes it can be hard to replicate, other times it can take quite a few goes before it works.
I took it an auto-elec and told them what the mechanic said, and they went and just got my keys reprogrammed. Charged me $250 and thought they fixed it. It worked ok for a couple of days (I'd say by chance) and then the issue has returned. I've spoken to another auto-elec who says he's had the same issue on 90 series Prado, and the only way they could fix it was to replace the immobilizer module and the entire security lock set, and then follow some settings to reset and sync it. This sounds like a nightmare because 1) the parts will be hard to find 2) sounds expensive.
I'm not convinced this is the issue yet though. I've been doing some testing for the last 24 hours, and although this has worked so far, it obviously could be just by chance.
I've found if I unlock the car with the key in the door manually, it will start the car first time. I've had success with this in about 10 attempts.
In between my testing of this, I did lock the car and then try to unlock with my remote and it failed. It also worked this way a couple of times.
Any one experience this before? Could my remote be causing the issues?
Oh, I'll also say, I have two keys and the issue has been happening with both.
When I turn it over, it does crank but intermittedly doesn't start. Sometimes it can be hard to replicate, other times it can take quite a few goes before it works.
I took it an auto-elec and told them what the mechanic said, and they went and just got my keys reprogrammed. Charged me $250 and thought they fixed it. It worked ok for a couple of days (I'd say by chance) and then the issue has returned. I've spoken to another auto-elec who says he's had the same issue on 90 series Prado, and the only way they could fix it was to replace the immobilizer module and the entire security lock set, and then follow some settings to reset and sync it. This sounds like a nightmare because 1) the parts will be hard to find 2) sounds expensive.
I'm not convinced this is the issue yet though. I've been doing some testing for the last 24 hours, and although this has worked so far, it obviously could be just by chance.
I've found if I unlock the car with the key in the door manually, it will start the car first time. I've had success with this in about 10 attempts.
In between my testing of this, I did lock the car and then try to unlock with my remote and it failed. It also worked this way a couple of times.
Any one experience this before? Could my remote be causing the issues?
Oh, I'll also say, I have two keys and the issue has been happening with both.