non starter, headlights and wipers are always on with the key

Hello,
I have another non starter - a 2003 petrol 1.4 manual. And the headlights and wipers are always on with the key. Nothing else is working, e.g.interior lights, heater, indicators, and the odometer is blank.

After reading the forum, I had the BSI cleared by Rolling Motion, and tried swapping the engine fusebox with a s/h unit. Neither made any difference at all. I searched throughout for a short, but found nothing obvious.

I haven't reprogrammed the BSI yet, but I've been told that this is unlikely to be the cause and to look elsewhere. I'm going to look at maxi fuses next, but they rarely blow in my experience.

I'm running out of ideas so help would be appreciated before I bite the bullet and send another mechanically sound car to the scrapper.

Thanks in advance, Pete

Hi pete_exe

I haven't reprogrammed the BSI yet, but I've been told that this is unlikely to be the cause and to look elsewhere. I'm going to look at maxi fuses next, but they rarely blow in my experience.

I thought about maxi fuses, although they don't normally blow, this is not a normal fault. Its a cheap check, should have been done while swapping the engine fuse box (BSM) out?

Water in the BSI or some other sort of damage could cause this sort of problem, so reprogramming it isn't the answer. But it could well be a faulty BSI. You could try swapping it out if you have one. Don't expect the car to start, but if it fixes the ODO, heater, lights etc then you have found your cause.

Thanks Guru, Result....I swapped out the BSI with a S/h one and now have some odo and a few things working - lights, boot lid. It doesn't start. The key has been cleared and I have the 4-digit security code.

I was running a clone diagbox6.01 on an XP machine but it was problematic, wouldn't connect. I've reloaded it on a 32-bit Win7 machine and ran a global scan, but there was no system dialogue. Now I get "communication card incorrectly initialised, tool must be restarted", then disconnect and reconnect USB, or "access to communication card impossible". I'm entering 4-digit RPO and VIN no. manually, but nowhere am I asked for the 4-digit security code.

I read on forum that 1. diagbox works better on XP than win7 and might not work at all on Win7; 2. use earlier lexia rather than diagbox on older cars ; and 3. change MAJ_COM=TRUE to MAJ_COM=FALSE in C:/awroot/bin/launcher4/ap to prevent upgrades.

None of this makes any difference. I guess it's possible the software tried to upgrade before I made the change hence I need to reload again. I was a bit concerned by posts recommending running XP on a VM to avoid Diagbox changing the computer settings...too late!

Anyway this is all too complicated. Grateful for any other steers, 'cause I'm out of pocket and need the car to work.

Thanks Peter

Thanks Guru, Result....I swapped out the BSI with a S/h one and now have some odo and a few things working - lights, boot lid. It doesn't start. The key has been cleared and I have the 4-digit security code

This proves your BSI was bad. The car will never start with only donor BSI, this is to be expected.

No amount of lexia programming will get a donor BSI to start the car.

What you have learnt is the original BSI is faulty and need repair - BBA Reman (via their ebay store)] or your other option is to fit a matching ECU, BSI and Key kit on eBay

I read on forum that 1. diagbox works better on XP than win7 and might not work at all on Win7; 2. use earlier lexia rather than diagbox on older cars ; and 3. change MAJ_COM=TRUE to MAJ_COM=FALSE in C:/awroot/bin/launcher4/ap to prevent upgrades.

I would say lexia 3 software on XP and Diagbox on 7.

Lexia 3 software was designed for the earlier cars, and Diagbox to cover the later (2011) cars. But I think you should still get communication with the car when using Diagbox on Windows 7 on an early model car if you have the right clone actia box (2002-2006).

Now I get "communication card incorrectly initialised, tool must be restarted", then disconnect and reconnect USB, or "access to communication card impossible". I'm entering 4-digit RPO and VIN no. manually, but nowhere am I asked for the 4-digit security code.

The clone actia box is not communicating with the laptop. That is your error message. The software can't communicate with the car, so you have to enter VIN manually - which doesn't help.

4 digit pin only gets asked for only with some security changes, like adding keys or some such security procedures, but without communication, you will never get asked.

None of this makes any difference. I guess it's possible the software tried to upgrade before I made the change hence I need to reload again. I was a bit concerned by posts recommending running XP on a VM to avoid Diagbox changing the computer settings...too late!

I don't think Diagbox makes bad changes to your windows, but it can or may update the clone actia box firmware, making it not work with Lexia 3 software. There should be a 'downgrade firmware' somewhere on the DVD or at least the option to check firmware version in the clone box if you suspect diagbox has updated the actic clone firmware. Or just run the upgraded clone on diagbox and win7.

Anyway this is all too complicated. Grateful for any other steers, 'cause I'm out of pocket and need the car to work.

Replace engine ECU, BSI, keys and Transponder ring all from the same donor and similar year, fuel, spec car. Or get just the original BSI fixed.

From there, you can see if it works and fault find via lexia (if necessary), but hopefully it was only a bad BSI.

I'm back...... but still C3 less. Thanks for your help so far.

I've now replaced ECU, BSI, key and fusebox from a donor car, good as far as I know. I now have odo, important things working like lights, wipers, boot lid but engine won't start. I tried spraying petrol around manifold, but no life. Have I missed out an important step. Do I need to connect with diagbox? I thought that was to reprogram my old, virgised, BSI.

Cheers

Oh blow - I just read about the transponder ring - I missed that. The donor car has now been recycled so I don't think I can get it. Can I get round this....e.g. with new transponder chip in the key?
Cheers

pete_exe wrote:Oh blow - I just read about the transponder ring - I missed that. The donor car has now been recycled so I don't think I can get it. Can I get round this....e.g. with new transponder chip in the key?
Cheers

You don't NEED the transponder ring, its more of a belt-and-braces thing. In theory the ring shouldn't make a difference, but some people have found there seems to be a 'memory' effect in the ring. Doesn't make much sense. But keeping the ring and key transponder chip together negates any potential memory effect problem.

pete_exe wrote:Have I missed out an important step.

As long as you have the ID46 chip from the transponder key from the donor, you should be ok.

Well I'm a bit further on. I can now access BSI with diagbox on Win XP

I have donor BSI and ECU and new unprogrammed key chip, but the old original transponder ring. However, you guessed it, key programming fails. System status shows ECU locked, and transponder not recognised. Is this because it's the old transponder? The donor transponder is unavailable.

Arfur suggested that I have the original BSI repaired. That's been the problem from the start. I returned it for diagnosis to the specialist who 'virginised' it originally, but he suggests it's a power supply issue.

Thanks for patience.
Pete

Hi Pete,

pete_exe wrote:However, you guessed it, key programming fails.

Can you screen cap or show how it fails, some more information on the failure please.

pete_exe wrote:System status shows ECU locked, and transponder not recognised. Is this because it's the old transponder? The donor transponder is unavailable.

I don't know its the transponder ring that is giving you this error, more likely you are getting the error because you haven't managed to pair the new ID chip (transponder) in the key to the BSI as you said above 'key programming fails'.

The transponder is the ID chip in the key fob, this needs to be paired to the BSI. You must carry out this task to get:

Success at last I fitted a new key chip and it porgrammed straight away - There must have been something wrong with
the other (new) key chip. Now on to MOT work! Thanks to all for help. Pete