2011 Roadster with start problems.

tranzloop

I originally thought this was the steering lock problem, but I have cause to think again....


This was my original post in the Steering Lock sticky:-
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Hi, I now have this problem with my 2011 Roadster (auto) at 34,000.

It seems to have failed before the lock 'locked' so I was able to steer the car into my garage from the driveway where it failed. For that I am thankful as the roadster windows drop an inch when you open the door and close when you shut the door....except they don't in this scenario. They just drop an inch each time so having got in and out of the car several times the driver side window was open with no way of closing it.


So, in a nice dry garage I have just knocked seven shades of shite out of the box with a hammer and no luck getting to Acc(essory) mode. So I wondered if, given that I am one of the 'lucky' ones just pulling the fuse might help. It didn't. So the fuse is back in and I have tried the hammer a few more times without success.

I have found a video of a Canadian guy who discovered that shorting the pink wire connector to the chassis allowed him to get to Acc mode and therefore, remove the fuse. I am going to give this a go later. I'll post the result and the video if successful.
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So I followed this video and indeed, with the pink wire grounded the car starts.
1. Left the car running
2. Took the steering lock fuse out
3. Stopped the car, un-earthed the pink wire.
4. Dead car again with KEY symbol on the dash.
5. Repeated steps 1-4 with same effect.


The obvious answer is that the same component is knackered but not the steering lock part. Has anyone come across this?

I am toying with the idea of permanently grounding that wire to sort the problem but I don't know how that effects the immobiliser system. I guess as long as the car locks and I am insured I shouldn't worry.

Another interesting facet of this feature is that when the car is in fail state, I can't get to the ECU via the OBD port. Is this a faulty ECU or a deliberate part of the ECU programming, I wonder?

As ever, any ideas gratefully received

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370Z Roadster (2011) & MB R350 CDI (2011)
Yamaha VMAX (1999) & BMW K1300S (2010)