Kia immobilser problem

[FrintonMike]

My 2005 Kia Sedona went into the main Kia dealer 02/11/11 and is still withy them.

They did the original work and did a test drive which was successful but when they tried to drive the car again it would not start. The diagnostic system says immobilser problem.
In the past I have had to lock and unlock the car a couple of times on a couple of occassions before the immobilser would deactivate to enable the car to start

The dealers have had two other Kia dealers look at the car but with no success. The other dealers say they have had similar problems but have always manager to start the cars. The immobiliser and ecu have been changed but the car will still not start and the diagnostic machine still says immobilser problem. The car is now on the back of a low loader waiting to go to a car electronics firm to see if they can solve problem
I have just changed the wifes car at a Ssangyong dealers and he said that they had the same problem with a Ssangyong last year and it took 3 months before the car started. The car suddenly started after 3 months and he still does not know why

Kia and Ssangyong are bothe Korean so I suspect that they may use common parts.

I googled "Kia immobiliser problem " and found that the immobilser problem is not restricted to Sedona's but all models of Kia and the problem is world wide. Some one in Texas was stranded in the desert for two days.

Any one else had a similar problem ?

 

[Juliec1]

Hello,
My husband was an auto-electrician and he says for an emergency repair, can't the immobiliser be by-passed or disconnected or is the immobiliser so far integrated into the system that nothing else will work either?
The reason we are interested is that we are thinking about buying a Kia Sorrento!!

Juliec

 

[RogerL]

Julie - an immobiliser can never be easily bypassed - it's there to deter thieves and an easy bypass would soon used by them if it were possible.
The Kia Sedona was introduced around the time that Hyundai took over Kia but I imagine all it's development was prior to that - although it did use a Hyundai-built engine based on an old Mitsubishi Pajero (Shogun) design.
The original Sorento was all Kia's own work but again used Hyundai-built engines. The later Sorento (2010-on) is pure Hyundai Santa Fe underneath.

 

[seth1]

If the main agent is struggling i doubt the autoelectrical firm will do much better.If any control units need programming how will they do it?Most vehicles are now on a system known as "pass through programming" in other words the data files for the control units are kept on the main server which only the main agent has access to and downloads them to the diagnostic machine and then uploads them to the vehicle in order to program the nessecary control unit.
Another problem with Korean/jap vehicles is they use JOBD instead of our EOBD this makes it very hard for a third party repairer to carry out repairs.In theory the immobilizer can be "flashed" off, i.e the parameter turned off.
It cant be hard to fix though,either the transponder in the key is duff,the transponder ring is duff,the body computer is duff,or between the body computer and EDC control unit there,s no "CAN" with each other.Are all the control units powered up?

 

[ChristineandAlan]

Hi Juliec,i have a 2008 sorennto from new,i havent had a problem with mine at all,i havent heard anyone else having a problems either. so go ahead and buy a sorrento its a brilliant tow car.it must be with the sedona only.
All The Best Alan P/T
Kia Sorrento 2008
Abbey Gts 620

 

[Juliec1]

Having been married to an Auto-electrician for many years, I know that if the main agent can't find the problem, they will call in an auto-electrician.!!

juliec

 

[seth1]

With the greatest of respect to your better half,im also a timed served autoelectrian that went hand in hand with the job but not i must stress on passenger cars.I suppose i was lucky enough and given a chance to move on a little when the job moved on towards the era were in now by my then Anglo-German employer.Sadly now though in dealerships and repairshops there is no such thing as a dedicated "sparky" instead there are technitions who do both.Suits me though as my company has just spent 2 weeks in South Africa working for the above said manufacture as they have no way of repairing machinery that far away.GREAT!

 

[Juliec1]

With the greatest of respect. My husband was proprietor of an auto-electrical company who did work for large companies designing electrical systems. As part of his work he interviewed people who called themselves auto-electricians when all they had done was fitted a pair of spotlights for their Uncle Fred!!! But, in any case this is going rather 'off-thread'!

Juliec

Moderator Note:

Uncalled for antagonistic comment removed from end of above post.
Do NOT turn this into a personal thing.

Damian-Moderator

 

[xtrailman]

Repairs of this sort can to difficult to sort.
Unless you have specific knowledge of the system, then all a local sparks can do is change modules, a dealer trained tech may be the best bet, but it depends on the dealership.
However the Manufacturer should be able to send out a tech, or give guidance for a local repair.

 

[seth1]

I presume you,ve totally misunderstood my post.I wasnt in anyway trying to "big" myself up.I also wasnt taking credit from your husband otherwise i,d be doing it to myself.I also think ive never indicated what position im in within the company whilst using this forum.Why the need for your attuide when im stating a fact.
I class myself,like your husband as a reasonable auto electrician,i must be for a manufacture to send me around the world as a repair agent with confidence.But accept this because its fact unless you have access to factory servers through maindealer ISDN internet connections which entails being a main agent your not going to repair the vehicles.It is impossable to carry out a simple task such as a flash program which is just a software update without a factory diagnostic tool.The first thing any dealer does when a customer takes the vehicle in with a fault is to check whether any updates are outstanding,nine times out of ten a download cures the problem.For example i had a fault with my vehicle 6 months ago,juddering from the engine when cold,took it back to the supplying dealer,dealer rectified fault with a transmission download.Gearbox holding on to gears to long when engine cold.Cured problem.No parts fitted what so ever.What does that tell you?
Sadly times have moved on.

 

[chrisbee1]

I work for a truck distributor franchised to a leading European truck manufacturer and can only agree with seth. It’s a fact, without connecting to the factory server it’s not possible to carry out many routine operations, never mind diagnose/rectify faults. Several tool retailers will sell you all kinds of “programming” tools but without access to the server their use is at best limited.