Possible solution to Laguna starting problems (immobilizer)
jokre
09-22-2006, 03:56 PM
Hi all!
I've been reading a lot of threads on problems with Lagunas not starting (I'm talking about Laguna model 1 here - mine is a Laguna 2.0 8v RXE Estate from 1997). Many people out there has had a lot of trouble mostly related to the immobilizer. Many of you has put a lot of money on expensive repairs. Many times not even solving the problem at all.
Here's my story:
Some days ago when leaving work to go home I came to the parking lot at work. As always I used my remote to unlock the car doors. It worked well as usual. But, when I tried to start the car it wouldn't fire up at all. Everything looked fine at first (instruments working, control lamps working, etc). The motor turned but no ignition. The control lamp in the instrument cluster for ignition/immobilizer (zig-zag-lamp) was blinking at a furious rate. A lot of other things indicated that something was wrong, but I won't dig deeper into that here. One thing that was significant was that the hazard light switch on the centre console didn't work nor did the central locking mechanism or the immobilizer indicator lamp on the centre console (near the hazard light switch). That lamp was completely dead and did not blink as it use to do. The interior lights did not go on when opening doors but worked perfectly well when forcing them on with the light switch at each door (the lamp in the luggage compartment did work when opening the door though - strange...)
I spent several hours reading forums relating to this problem and what I read wasn't very pleasing. I saw a large number of reasons for this kind of error. Many of you on this forum has made many visits to the repair shops without getting any real answer to what is wrong with your car. I saw myself spending a LOT of money on fruitless efforts made by the repair shops to fix my car (changing keys, resetting the immobilizer, changing the ECU, etc ,etc, etc).
However, I'm also active in a Swedish forum for Renaults and one kind person there (a Renault mechanic) told me that these kinds of electrical problems on Renaults very often comes from a faulty circuit board where the fuses are mounted. Said and done. After 2 to 3 days and nights on the parking lot at work, I really needed to get the car home for the weekend in some way. Before starting any towing project I made a last effort to try to get the car home on its own. With my forum friend's theories in my mind I started a quick error finding job. I knew that all the fuses where good, but I went through them once again and... no one of them where bad this time either. I then proceeded with the theory that there where some sort of weak circuits on the fuse mounting board. I also knew from the fuse board layout that the fuse for the central locking is placed in the upper left corner of the fuse board. So, I pushed my fingers over the fuse box upper edge and gently pressed the back of the fuse box with my finger tips on the backside where the central locking fuse is located. And, wow, was I happy to see that the immobilizer lamp on the centre console started to blink again?! The best was, however, that the car started just as normal. Now I have the car safe in my garage again :-) I just ordered a new fuse box/fuse circuit board from a Renault specialist dealer for about 80 euros. I'm now pretty convinced that I don't have to go to the repair shop and spend a lot of money on things that doesn't solve the problem. My advise to you all experiencing these kind of immobilizer problems - try to change the fuse board first. It might save some time, hair and money. My Renault friend on the swedish forum says that changing this fuse board solves many other electrical problems too (other than the one I have mentioned here).
Happy problem solving you all!
Cheers
/ Jonas
I've been reading a lot of threads on problems with Lagunas not starting (I'm talking about Laguna model 1 here - mine is a Laguna 2.0 8v RXE Estate from 1997). Many people out there has had a lot of trouble mostly related to the immobilizer. Many of you has put a lot of money on expensive repairs. Many times not even solving the problem at all.
Here's my story:
Some days ago when leaving work to go home I came to the parking lot at work. As always I used my remote to unlock the car doors. It worked well as usual. But, when I tried to start the car it wouldn't fire up at all. Everything looked fine at first (instruments working, control lamps working, etc). The motor turned but no ignition. The control lamp in the instrument cluster for ignition/immobilizer (zig-zag-lamp) was blinking at a furious rate. A lot of other things indicated that something was wrong, but I won't dig deeper into that here. One thing that was significant was that the hazard light switch on the centre console didn't work nor did the central locking mechanism or the immobilizer indicator lamp on the centre console (near the hazard light switch). That lamp was completely dead and did not blink as it use to do. The interior lights did not go on when opening doors but worked perfectly well when forcing them on with the light switch at each door (the lamp in the luggage compartment did work when opening the door though - strange...)
I spent several hours reading forums relating to this problem and what I read wasn't very pleasing. I saw a large number of reasons for this kind of error. Many of you on this forum has made many visits to the repair shops without getting any real answer to what is wrong with your car. I saw myself spending a LOT of money on fruitless efforts made by the repair shops to fix my car (changing keys, resetting the immobilizer, changing the ECU, etc ,etc, etc).
However, I'm also active in a Swedish forum for Renaults and one kind person there (a Renault mechanic) told me that these kinds of electrical problems on Renaults very often comes from a faulty circuit board where the fuses are mounted. Said and done. After 2 to 3 days and nights on the parking lot at work, I really needed to get the car home for the weekend in some way. Before starting any towing project I made a last effort to try to get the car home on its own. With my forum friend's theories in my mind I started a quick error finding job. I knew that all the fuses where good, but I went through them once again and... no one of them where bad this time either. I then proceeded with the theory that there where some sort of weak circuits on the fuse mounting board. I also knew from the fuse board layout that the fuse for the central locking is placed in the upper left corner of the fuse board. So, I pushed my fingers over the fuse box upper edge and gently pressed the back of the fuse box with my finger tips on the backside where the central locking fuse is located. And, wow, was I happy to see that the immobilizer lamp on the centre console started to blink again?! The best was, however, that the car started just as normal. Now I have the car safe in my garage again :-) I just ordered a new fuse box/fuse circuit board from a Renault specialist dealer for about 80 euros. I'm now pretty convinced that I don't have to go to the repair shop and spend a lot of money on things that doesn't solve the problem. My advise to you all experiencing these kind of immobilizer problems - try to change the fuse board first. It might save some time, hair and money. My Renault friend on the swedish forum says that changing this fuse board solves many other electrical problems too (other than the one I have mentioned here).
Happy problem solving you all!
Cheers
/ Jonas
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