Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Starting Problem

I have a 2003 Plus 8 with the GEMS Engine Management system including the immobilizer. Occasionally the car won't turn over even though the immobilizer is deactivated. After cycling the key two or three times the car starts normally and may continue to do so for a number of starts.

When the no start condition occurs the Check Engine Light comes on and the ECM stores a 1622 code (Repeated Wrong ECM Security Code Fault). Does anyone have any ideas on what is happening and how to prevent it? The nearest dealer is 6 hours away, so running over and having them hook it up to a Rovacom is a two day trip.

The battery is new and all connections are good.

Thanks,
Dave

Dave

This is a well known problem with the GEMS system and the remedial measures are relatively simple. Rather than give you my (poor) understanding of the cause and the remedy, I will wait until Colin (Spanner Juggler) reads this as he has a much better understanding of the issue.

Do you have a second key?
If so is the fault there with both?

I actually have three keys. Two came with the car, one was an aftermarket. The problem has occurred intermittently with all three.
I also have two PLIPs. One works correctly and will set and deactivate the Immobilizer, the other does not seem to work. The problem occurred before I tried using the non-working PLIP.

Spanner juggler is away bobbing up and down, maybe a few days b4 he responds

As Colin's enjoying a life on the ocean wave, would it be worth having a look at David Poole's GEMS manual, I don't know if this issue is covered in there?

Hi Dave, I would consider disconnecting the battery and walking away for at least 30 mins. Then reconnect and see if the problem has gone, this should force an ECU/security reset and may resolve it. Worth a try. Bare in mind I take no responsibility if it's disabled after.

Hi Dave

I doubt if Adrian's suggestion would cause you any problems. I have disconnected the battery on my 2002 Plus 8 for a similar period of time(but not for this reason),with no ill-effects.

Is the battery on the PLIP (remote fob, but not key) getting tired ? Replacement of the battery (CR 2032 3V) in the Lucas 17TN PLIP worked successfully for me, using the instructions found on this page :

www.mgrovercodes.com/accessories

Both actions could be worth a try until there is a more authoritative response, but with a similar disclaimer to Adrian !

Andrew Green
2002 Le Mans 62 Plus 8

I had a quick look at the Gems manual from Gomog.
Nothing specific, but it was late last night so may have missed something!
As for disconnecting the car battery....shouldn't be a problem, had to do that late last year and no issues. Mine is a 2002 car. I use a ctec conditioner to keep battery topped up due to low level drain by immobiliser etc.

Not at the moment he isn't....Oriana cant get into the berth so delayed departure, lastest is saying maybe tonight????

Anyway, more interesting is this problem and what Andy alludes to is a different issue totally (main battery going flat as the GEMS fails to totally power down, I developed one of the work arounds for that which works, others also have different methods involving relays) This issue is one of the interaction between the GEMS and the 10AS (immobiliser). The GEMS and the 10AS share a rolling code protocol and they regularly get out of step, there is no pattern to it and I have been left sat at a petrol station for 15 minutes once. I have tried everything, removing the key, making sure the spare key (which was hidden in the car) was well away and even wrapping it with silver foil (MMC advice)nothing works. you can go days without a problem and then have 30 no starts almost in sequence, that and throttle sticking at 1500 (yet another issue) was the main reason for selling the car. I had resorted to carrying a laptop with me and I bought a £1K worth of Rovacom Lite software and access harnesses to allow me to reboot the system, I never went anywhere without it and managed to get the reboot job down to minutes but it was a total pain. I knew others with a similar aged car with no sign of a problem at all and one that went back to the factory and resulted in a dealer buy back.....go figure.

So sorry no fix, no advice as I tried everything and failed to find a cure, moving the ring aerial around the key switch does not fix it, I even removed the aerial, taped a key next to it and used a none PLIP key to unlock and drive the car and it still did it. Sorry.....