Please have a laugh at my expense...
So, I've spent the last week pulling the dash, heater box and pretty much anything in front of the gear stick out of the car, so it's what I'd call a fairly major job. Anyway, part of the job was to fit a new alarm and if I say so myself, I've done a very decent job of making it neat and tidy, something that's just not possible with the dash in place 
Anyway, alarm fitting was today. I had already studied the wiring diagrams to identify suitable immobiliser points, had access to all the wiring looms, fusebox wires etc. etc. and had mounted the box in a really nice position (loads better than the 1 screw to the steering column that the Thatcham Approved installer had done previously :corey
... so I'm ready to go!
So, I spent the morning doing a rough install to work out what connects to what, where to put wires through the bulkhead etc. and where all the wires will route. When I'd got it all working, I then started to route the wires one by one or in logical groups and by 4.30, I had everything working and it was time to wire in the immobiliser circuits - the final job of the day.
I had already proven that the car wouldn't run with certain wires cut (removed the pins from the relevant plugs) and so I got on with the job of the final bits of wiring...
6PM, all done and so it was time to test, so I powered up the alarm. A few minutes later, I'd been working on another part of the car and the immobiliser had come on, so I tried to start it and yippee, it wouldn't run. I then turned off the immobiliser and it still wouldn't run... this was a concern so I tried it again... still no job and so a 3rd time for luck... nope, not a sniff 
Anyway, I got on with checking everything for the tenth time to work out what was up or if I'd unplugged something I shouldn't have.
After a couple of minutes of checking, I decided to double check that I'd rebuilt the wiring plugs correctly and so came in, turned on my computer and was a little disappointed to find out that I'd done it all correctly...
So, I went back out to the car and did the always futile thing of trying it one more time and crossing everything I could... still wouldn't work.
It was at this time that I looked into the bare passenger footwell and noticed that there was something missing...
THE FEKING ECU
Plugged the ECU in and it all works perfectly and the immobiliser works too
What a day. Time for
and maybe another
I now understand why most one day car alarm installs are such crap. With as much access to everything as I could hope to have, I'll have taken about 15 hours to do the install properly. I have to say, removing the dash is a major thing but it makes this sort of thing almost pleasurable
Anyway, alarm fitting was today. I had already studied the wiring diagrams to identify suitable immobiliser points, had access to all the wiring looms, fusebox wires etc. etc. and had mounted the box in a really nice position (loads better than the 1 screw to the steering column that the Thatcham Approved installer had done previously :corey
... so I'm ready to go!So, I spent the morning doing a rough install to work out what connects to what, where to put wires through the bulkhead etc. and where all the wires will route. When I'd got it all working, I then started to route the wires one by one or in logical groups and by 4.30, I had everything working and it was time to wire in the immobiliser circuits - the final job of the day.
I had already proven that the car wouldn't run with certain wires cut (removed the pins from the relevant plugs) and so I got on with the job of the final bits of wiring...
6PM, all done and so it was time to test, so I powered up the alarm. A few minutes later, I'd been working on another part of the car and the immobiliser had come on, so I tried to start it and yippee, it wouldn't run. I then turned off the immobiliser and it still wouldn't run... this was a concern so I tried it again... still no job and so a 3rd time for luck... nope, not a sniff Anyway, I got on with checking everything for the tenth time to work out what was up or if I'd unplugged something I shouldn't have.After a couple of minutes of checking, I decided to double check that I'd rebuilt the wiring plugs correctly and so came in, turned on my computer and was a little disappointed to find out that I'd done it all correctly...
So, I went back out to the car and did the always futile thing of trying it one more time and crossing everything I could... still wouldn't work.
It was at this time that I looked into the bare passenger footwell and noticed that there was something missing...
THE FEKING ECU
Plugged the ECU in and it all works perfectly and the immobiliser works too
What a day. Time for
and maybe another I now understand why most one day car alarm installs are such crap. With as much access to everything as I could hope to have, I'll have taken about 15 hours to do the install properly. I have to say, removing the dash is a major thing but it makes this sort of thing almost pleasurable
That was the second time I'd been caught out so insurance companies be aware!
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