Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.
Hey all! Today I connect an ELM327 OBD-II code reader up to the car for the first time. It uses wi-fi and connects to my iPhone using Dash Command. Everything connected and seemed ok. I tried to start the car with it connected. The car cranked but wouldn't catch. I removed the reader and it till would not start. After consulting the Google I acme across an FAQ were it states some car's alarms arm when the ODB port is accessed. I ended up pulling the immobilizer fuse (#4 in the main fuse box) and all was well.
Has anyone else had this occur? If so, how to you start the engine with the scanner attached? Remove the fuse and leave it out? Any info would be appreciated!
First one to say, "iPhone, there's your problem" gets punched in the throat!
It's happened to me numerous times, but I've been using a regular scanner.
I'm not entirely sure of what sequence trips the immobilizer, but it seems to me it's having the door open for several minutes with the key in pos II and the engine not running. I don't think it has anything with the OBD being accessed. I just do the key dance in the drivers side lock and reset it. lock and unlock at least 5 times with the key to reset it.
Thanks, Matty Moo! I had my door shut when fiddling with the OBD reader on and the immobilizer tripped. I read on other sites it is a theft deterrent as some cars can be started through the OBD port. However, there must be a bypass mechanism to support maintenance? I just need to figure out what it is.
Ok, figured it out. The instructions received with the scanner said to leave the key out of the ignition when plugging into the OBD port. Apparently this is what trips the imobilizer. When I have the key in and turned to either position I or II, then all is well.