Technical Errors after Ghost immobiliser fitted

[BoJangles89]

I recently had a car stolen so when I purchased my new fiat decided to get a ghost immobiliser installed.

Since the day it was fitted I keep getting warning errors pop up. It starts with hill holder unavailable, then check engine light comes on, then general fault followed by transmission error (it’s a 2019 dualogic)

Ghost engineers insist it’s nothing to do with them, the ghost isn’t faulty, but I’m adamant they’ve made something loose and created an issue with the ECU. They won’t look at it again until I take it to a mechanic, but my issue is the mechanic won’t know where the bloody thing is to remove it and check if it’s the problem. Only the engineer knows where it’s installed. So I’ll be back and forth between both!

Anyone else had a similar experience with the immobiliser?

 

[John202020]

How long had you had the car before you had the immobiliser fitted?

 

[BoJangles89]

Just 2 weeks. I drove it 80miles from dealership to home with no issues it had had a very recent service

 

[John202020]

So there's no definitive way of knowing whether the fault was there before purchase of the car?

There's a considerable size post re the transmission

The one and only Dualogic failure thread | FIAT 500 (2007+)

Moderators Note: I've started this thread to put all the currently active dualogic failure posts into one place. The story begins here... Hi All Newbie here!.... I purchased my Fiat 500 dualogic new in 2010.....roll forward nearly 5 yrs & apart from a couple of minor niggles I find myself...

www.fiatforum.com

 

[jrkitching]

I guess the way forward is to ask the Ghost engineers to uninstall the immobiliser and see if that fixes the transmission faults.

 

[BoJangles89]

Yes I think I will need to have it removed and then drive for a week or so and see if I get the errors. If I do, it’s likely it was a genuine issue. Although all the tampering may have knocked something loose. There’s too many variables at once. I’m hoping a diagnostic test can reveal the route of the problem. Quite fun/interesting if it didn’t cost money

 

[The Panda Nut]

I would do some careful basic checks first as the problem does sound a bit like a low battery, and the ver present possibility of an earthing issue. If you remove it and the fault is still there it will be 3 lots of labour to the immobiliser fitter. I would sooner pay an auto electrician to do some checks for an hour first it might eventually save money. You will be in a better position to approach the selling garage and the Ghost people armed with their findings.

 

[BoJangles89]

Update: I had a mechanic do a diagnostic check and of course it threw up loads of errors. These were cleared and then we tested again with the immobiliser armed and disarmed.

I got a p1760 brake light switch.

Have been advised to drive the car for a few days and if the error returns have the brake switch replaced.

Would it be best to just change it anyway rather than wait for the error to maybe reappear like a sitting duck.

I don’t really understand how they ‘clear’ the error- is it like a reset of some sort?

 

[Baglady1990]

Update: I had a mechanic do a diagnostic check and of course it threw up loads of errors. These were cleared and then we tested again with the immobiliser armed and disarmed.

I got a p1760 brake light switch.

Have been advised to drive the car for a few days and if the error returns have the brake switch replaced.

Would it be best to just change it anyway rather than wait for the error to maybe reappear like a sitting duck.

I don’t really understand how they ‘clear’ the error- is it like a reset of some sort?

Kind of … you can only clear errors that are intermittent…. They show up in a blue font on MES .. it’s the red that tells you the fault is permanent! The brake light switch is an easy swap … it’s sitting up under the glove box … but if that was intermittent too it may be ok for now!

But…. It’s what has tripped off all these intermittent faults that I’d be questioning

 

[BoJangles89]

Thanks for explaining- that makes sense!

The mechanic reckons all the fiddling in the installation of the ghost immobiliser started the cycle.

He was reluctant to change it ‘incase it’s something else’ I booked with a fiat mech to order and fit a new switch towards the end of next week.

In that time I’ll drive around and wait and see if I get any more warning lights!

 

[Baglady1990]

Thanks for explaining- that makes sense!

The mechanic reckons all the fiddling in the installation of the ghost immobiliser started the cycle.

He was reluctant to change it ‘incase it’s something else’ I booked with a fiat mech to order and fit a new switch towards the end of next week.

In that time I’ll drive around and wait and see if I get any more warning lights!

Well just be careful! Warning lights are exactly what the say it could be…… COULD’ just be that all the fiddling caused the errors to register… and may not come back!.. although in my experience… they tend to

 

[jackwhoo]

Whatever you do ...do not tell the dealer you bought it off that anyone(ghost) have done anything to it .....the dealer would then refuse to fix anything .
How many miles has car covered total?

One option is to pay ghost to remove their imobiliser and make sure it looks like they were never there.

Then return it to dealer to fix(do not mention any work you had done).....if they can't fix it , reject car then demand your money back.

 

[BoJangles89]

Whatever you do ...do not tell the dealer you bought it off that anyone(ghost) have done anything to it .....the dealer would then refuse to fix anything .
How many miles has car covered total?

One option is to pay ghost to remove their imobiliser and make sure it looks like they were never there.

Then return it to dealer to fix(do not mention any work you had done).....if they can't fix it , reject car then demand your money back.

That is a good point! It’s just done over 19000 miles. Ghost insist it ‘doesn’t invalidate the warranty’ but I very much doubt that.