Flashing immobiliser key light, car wont start.
 

Hey guys

I have an 03 WRX and while i was driving along tonight i noticed the key light on the the dash start flashing. When i stopped and turned the car off and left it for about an hour and went to start again it wouldnt even crank over. Has anyone heard of this happening before? At the moment it looks like i will be getting it towed.

Cheers

Jaye

brandt/immobiliser playing up, anti-hijack mode i think

Cheers.

I have heard a bit of bad press about these Brant systems playing up. Anyone know a good system to replace it and who would do it?

Jaye,

I got the exact same problem, have had it for a while now, and it seems to be getting worse. I dont know what the exact problem is, but i can still get the car started. You just have to keep pressing the tip of the key into the key hole until you hear it click, then the red key will stop flashing and all is normal for starting the car.

I will be getting onto fixing this problem when i have some free time, but if you find out what it actually is in the mean time, please shoot me a P.M. about it.


-Nick

seems im lucky my 02 bugeye does not have a brant, not sure if it was taken off or it was never fitted? good luck lads, looks like a real shitty problem.

It's not brant related it's the factory transponder immobilizer playing up.

Usually it's exciter/aerial coil issues (it's around the outside of the ignition barrel- a black plastic ring) or it'll will be another immob related module.

Is it usually an easy fix as in just an exciter/aerial coil replacement? Or do you have to get the key recoded aswell?

Yeah I think so.....IF that's what the problem is.

IF it's the exciter there shouldn't be any recoding required, it just depends on whether or not the code sequence is held in the exciter module on your particular year or not.

Thanks Rossco, i will look into it.

My MY05 died whilst driving last week, then wouldn't start back up. The keypad would (sometimes) let me put my code in, then the yellow engine light would come on to say i could start my car, however you couldnt hear the fuel pump priming.

Turns out the brant was faulty and not giving any power to the fuel pump.

I did a search on rexnet, there are plenty of DIY fixes available. I preferred to get to towed to Subaru and let them sort it out. They just replaced the whole unit. ~$400

Although my symptoms arent exactly the same as yours, i found that most of these issues are caused by the brant.

Did you receive a recall for your car? I'm not sure exactly which build date was recalled, but a number of them were (including mine), for a grounding issue with the immobilizer that was causing the car to stop and not start, etc. -You never know, it might be that issue, which if it is, you'll get repaired for free!