Drove my car on Sunday no problem. I have a 2003 turbo with the Absolute chip. The next day when I went to start the car nothing all the dashboard lights came on but nothing , no cranking at all. Battery was fine. The display came up as engine failure with the key picture. Had the car towed to my shop that installed the chip looked at it and found no problems. Removed chip and resodered it even though it was not necesssary. There were no fault codes stored in the computer. When he re-installed the computer the car started right up and no problem since. He feels for some reason the ignition lock did not recognize the key. The only thing I remember doing differently was I wanted to open the trunk and hit the door lock by accident twice in a row and then the trunk. That is the only thing I think that I did differently. The car runs perfectly. Any ideas??

Arnie

 

I would bet it was the chip. The installer's not gonna admit it, you know.

 

u mean Upsolute right?
Soldering chips is old school...Flashloading is the new way and you would have been able to test if the program caused the fault by just switching back to stock
Get GIAC flashloader - there is no 'ecu tuning' substitute

 

It is called a cold solder joint. It is a little apot where the solder does not make contact even though it looks like it. The code it threw is what it does when it can not read the ECU. These issues are why we are all gad that it is all software loaded not soldered anymore.

 

I have had the Upsolute chip in my car for 2 years since I got it. I am aware of cold solder joints it would have shown itself much earlier. My repair guy said he has seen non-recognition of the key once before and the computer will not communicate with the key as part of the alarm system. He thinks it is an alarm system fault. You get no codes as part of the alarm system when it goes into alarm state.

Arnie

 

YOU CAN HAVE THE ALARM HISTORY READ BY THE DEALER AND CHECK THE ACTIVATION HISTORY(I THINK THAT'S WHAT IT IS CALLED).IT WILL TELL YOU IF THE ALARM WAS ACTIVE AND I BELEIVE THE TIME FRAME.I HAVE NEVER SEEN AN ALARM PROBLEM GIVE THE ENGINE FAILURE INDICATOR THAT YOU DESCRIBED.

 

Agreed, it will show a code. I can tell you if the alarm was the issue the car would do nothing. No indicator would be present. The car simply will not turn over. The starter will not engage.

Engine failure indicator comes from no communication to the ECU. Cold solder joints happen in time from vibration and heat. Not something that necessarily would happen in a day.

 

You are correct nothing happenend the car did not turn over no clicking of any relays etc. That is why it was an alarm problem.

Arnie

 

Could have been dirt in the switches in the alarm control module. They'll cause this problem. Ask me how I know...

 

So...what was the problem? Alarm issue, etc. or Upsolute issue? Just curious.

 

If it was an alarm issue there would be NO fault in the window. It just wouldn't do anything. No screen errors, no turning over, nothingk.

If there is a fault indicator and not turning over it is not reading the ECU. If the alarm module was the issue unplugging the ECU would do nothing. It would not reset.