"Engine Disabled" error message. Any ideas?

12142 Views 13 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Alex30013k, May 19, 2015

mb010273

Discussion Starter · Sep 17, 2010

Dear All

I wondered if I might pick your brains for a moment please.

Occasionally I notice an error message flashes up on my car's driver's console. It's a picture of an engine with a big cross through it and the warning message "Engine disabled" beneath it.

It flashes up and then is gone very quickly. It's actually very difficult to spot; you really have to keep your eyes peeled. Ages can go by before you notice it again. It's away too quick to be able to take a photo.

I don't have a problem with the car starting at all. And there are no other obvious problems with the car (none that I've noticed anyway).

I should add that I had to clean out my plenum drains recently (I had quite a bit of water in there and it had never been done before). Now the plenum is as dry as a bone and has been for a little while. But this message still sometimes pops up. (See http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?p=3970188)

I should also say that my satnav is dead (has been since I owned the car). The power led is not illuminated at all. I only mention this thinking that there may have been some kind of electrical problem in the past.

Also, I had to replace the immobilizer EWS because it got corroded. Since doing that though, I've never had a problem. (See http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?p=3928364 for full details). NB when swapping it out, I don't think the garage did an electrical reboot (because the mileage on the trip computer had not been reset whilst they worked on it).

I drive an MG ZT 180 (petrol 2.5l V6).

So my questions are:

o Any suggestions as to what may be causing this?

o Is this anything to worry about?

o Is it worth doing an electrical "reboot" to fix this? To do this presumably I just detach the battery terminals and wait? Is there anything that can go wrong? Or is it really as simple as it sounds?

o If you were me, would you be worried? Or would you just ignore this message?

Any thoughts or hints would be very welcome.

Kind regards,
Mike.

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MisterTomez

· #2 · Sep 17, 2010 (Edited)

Hi Mike, hope you are recovering well.

I'm really not sure what to think about the engine disabled message flicking up, but battery resets are a good place to start on any funny business with the electronics, if there's no power LED on the satnav then I guess it's just a straight disconnect, since it's not actually on anyway.

Perhaps it would be worth popping the unit out and checking everything is actually plugged in properly behind.

To do the power down properly (although not really relevant to your stroppy satnav unit!), this is Dr. Dave's official procedure from the "how-to" section:

How to safely disconnect the battery - Hi Line Sat Nav Models

1. Open bonnet and boot. Open all four doors - just in case you need access.
2. Switch off the car at the ignition along with all systems (i.e lights, stereo etc).
3. Now wait.
4. It is important that you do not touch anything (i.e switches, door latches or even the lights) because doing so will 'wake up' the SatNav system and you'll have to wait longer....
5. Keep an eye on the little red LED on the Nav Computer. Once it goes out and stays out you know the system has shut down.
6. Again, do not touch anything!
7. You may now safely disconnect the battery.

I think you leave it disconnected for about 20 mins - half an hour to let everything reset.

Hope this helps mate,

Tom

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robdrinkwater

· #3 · Sep 17, 2010

That message usually means that the chip in tyhe key has not been recognised. It's probably the case that as you turn on the ignition, the passive chip is not immediately recognised by the immobiliser ECU, this then sends the error message to the dash board, but almost immediately the chip is then recognised and you can start the car and the message disappears really quick.

HTH, regards, Rob.

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mb010273

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 17, 2010

robdrinkwater said:
It's probably the case that as you turn on the ignition, the passive chip is not immediately recognised by the immobiliser ECU, this then sends the error message to the dash board, but almost immediately the chip is then recognised and you can start the car and the message disappears really quick.

HTH, regards, Rob.

Thanks for the quick responses, gents.

Rob, the error message I receive flashes up even when I've been driving along for a little while. Soonest I've noticed is after 10 mins of driving. So it's not really specific to initial ignition of the car.

But you reckon this error message is connected to the key not being recognised?

Hi Tom - yes, I'm coming on very well thanks.

Thanks for the hint about the electrical reboot. I'll try it anyway. Can't do any harm...

Thanks for getting back so quickly, guys. Appreciated.

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OhNoItsD

· #5 · Sep 17, 2010

robdrinkwater said:
That message usually means that the chip in tyhe key has not been recognised. It's probably the case that as you turn on the ignition, the passive chip is not immediately recognised by the immobiliser ECU, this then sends the error message to the dash board, but almost immediately the chip is then recognised and you can start the car and the message disappears really quick.

HTH, regards, Rob.

So in this case - are we asking mike to try his other keyfob (if he has one!)?
Is it worth replacing the batteries in the keyfob anyway?

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lovel

· #6 · Sep 17, 2010

If you ever come down to Fyvie area I could hook you up to T4 and see what it says.

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mb010273

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 18, 2010

lovel said:
If you ever come down to Fyvie area I could hook you up to T4 and see what it says.

Cheers mate! Next time I take a cruise over to the 'Deen, I'll stop by Fyvie!

Cheers for offer!

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robdrinkwater

· #8 · Sep 18, 2010

OhNoItsD said:
So in this case - are we asking mike to try his other keyfob (if he has one!)?
Is it worth replacing the batteries in the keyfob anyway?

The other key could be worth using to experiment.

Changing the batteries won't change anything, as the system is passive, the remote locking transmitter requires the batteries in the key to be good, but the chip does not use any power as it is a simple chip that is excited by the toroidial coil next to the ignition lock, once excited it gives out a code that the coil picks up and is then interpreted by the immobiliser ECU, which in turn authorises the engine ECU to allow the car to start (or not as the case may be).

The chips rarely give trouble, unless they happen to fall out of the key head. It is more likely to be the toroidial coil or the wiring from ECU that is the problem.

As regards the fault warning coming up whilst driving, that's a bit strange, but I guess if the ECU does check the key periodically it may lose communication. AFAIK it will not cause the car to stop, but will prevent it starting of it happens at startup.

HTH, regards, Rob.

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mb010273

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 18, 2010

Cheers Rob.

Thanks for posting back, Rob.

It’s reassuring to know that, in all likelihood, my car won’t let me down whilst I’m driving.

Also, it sounds as though that error message doesn’t mean there’s a potential problem with the engine itself.

So one day, if the worst comes to the very worst, I’ll not get her started. I can live with that risk.

So that’s the big concerns out the way.

Cheers all for the outstanding contributions, lads. Very much appreciated.

Keep well,
Mike.

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mb010273

Discussion Starter · #10 · Oct 5, 2010

Final solution...

Dear All

Just for completeness, I thought I'd update this thread with what I found.

I started using my spare key as the main one - I just swapped my keys round.

Since doing so, the error message doesn't seem to pop-up ...at least I haven't noticed it occuring since swapping my keys round.

I wouldn't like to promise that was the problem, but I think I would have noticed by now if this was still a problem. As a matter of fact it was pretty rare in the first place.

So, sounds like you were right in the right sort of area, Rob. Thanks very much to you and to everybody else who contributed.

Best regards to all.

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robdrinkwater

· #11 · Oct 5, 2010

mb010273 said:
Dear All

Just for completeness, I thought I'd update this thread with what I found.

I started using my spare key as the main one - I just swapped my keys round.

Since doing so, the error message doesn't seem to pop-up ...at least I haven't noticed it occuring since swapping my keys round.

I wouldn't like to promise that was the problem, but I think I would have noticed by now if this was still a problem. As a matter of fact it was pretty rare in the first place.

So, sounds like you were right in the right sort of area, Rob. Thanks very much to you and to everybody else who contributed.

Best regards to all.

It does seem to suggest that the toroidial coil or ECU are not recognising the chip in the other key at some points, I wasn't aware that the immobiliser ECU even 'looked' for the key once it was running as there's no need to, but it is possible that it may 'look for it' every so often and if it doesn't see it it will display that message, despite not actually disabling the car at that point.

There would probably come a day when it failed to recognise the key completely and thus you would be stuck with a car that won't go.

Thanks for coming back to us and letting us know that info.

Regards, Rob.

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zdl

· #12 · May 18, 2015

Hi.. just arrived in Feltham W London overnight in carpark and thus morning 75 would not start. Engine disabled light. Any one?

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Mike Noc

· #13 · May 18, 2015

Do you have the standard key or has it been modified to a flip key?

If it is standard have you had the key apart?

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Alex30013k

· #14 · May 19, 2015

I have a flip key and if I put my hand around it or bend it down I get the error message.

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