Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Starting Problem

Thank you to all for the responses. I have looked at the info on the GOMOG site and several different (Poole and Rover) GEMS manuals and have not found much pertaining to this issue. I did find one reference to it that said to reset the GEMS using the Rovacom. It sounds like Colin did this and was unsuccessful over the long term.

So far this has not been a major problem, usually resolving itself by cycling ( off to start) the key 2 - 3 times. My main worry is it getting worse and being stranded somewhere along the road.

Just to clarify, I have not been setting the immobilizer when the car is parked. I only have one working PLIP and don't want to have the immobilizer set and that PLIP fail. The car battery was new when I purchased the car, with the problem occurring, and I keep the car on a battery maintainer. I will try the battery disconnect to see if that helps. I have had the battery disconnected in the past for short periods and have not had any additional problems. If it does disable the car, at least it will be at home and not on the road somewhere.

I will try the PLIP battery change procedure Andrew Green included and see if that brings the second PLIP back to life. The battery in that PLIP was probably original, but it still didn't work after a new battery.

A history on the car: It was delivered to the original owner in 2005 (after a 2 year wait). He drove the car for a short period (along with a Lotus) and then moved to Belgium in 2006. The car was stored, with the battery out, in San Diego, CA. The owner's daughter had the car gone through (at the San Diego Rover dealer) and put back in service in December of 2013, so the car sat for about 7 years with the battery removed. She could not find the removed battery, so she installed a new (same as original) one. The repair invoice indicates there was a code stored in the ECM for "battery voltage missing". They reported they found a bad connection and repaired it, and the code was cleared. This code has not reoccurred. I purchased the car in January of 2014, with 748 miles on it. Other than this problem, which comes and goes, and a failed rad fan relay, the car has been trouble free over about a thousand miles.

If anyone has any other ideas or can point me to someone familiar with this problem, please pass them on.

Many thanks,
Dave

Hello again Dave

Sounds like you have a time-warp car, which may be the root of the problems but, if sorted, should give you years of Morgan pleasure.

I have been looking around the web on Land Rover user sites(thank-you, Google) and it seems to me that perhaps totally by-passing the 10AS immobiliser/"spider" might be the answer ? Lots about this on the forums and Land Rover themselves even seem to have produced an very inexpensive part to do just that, the AMR4956, that appears very readily available.

I believe the immobiliser is found behind the dashboard, in the middle against the bulkhead.

Of course, I may be totally wrong, I am no auto-electrician, just an interested owner, so please do some research and then perhaps talk to an experienced local Land Rover mechanic ?

Keep us in touch with your progress.

Good luck

Andrew Green
2002 Le Mans 62 Plus 8

Hello Andrew,
Yes, I have considered bypassing the immobiliser, but would like to make that a last case option. I have not yet contacted a Morgan dealer (Isis or Morgan West, the original selling dealer) since they are 6 and 12 hours away. The nearest Rover dealer is also 6 hours away. I live in a rural area on the Northern California coast. Great Morgan country. If all else fails (maybe a poor choice of words), I will start talking to Morgan/Rover dealers an see if someone is familiar with the problem.

I disconnected the battery for a couple of hours, and the car started immediately on several tries after reconnecting. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

My wife and I are already enjoying the car greatly, but there is always the "will it start" question in the back of my mind when I shut it down while out and about. When I first bought the car, I had reservations about adding much mileage to a 748 mile car, but since they are made to be driven, I got over it after a couple of sunny day rides.

Thanks for the help,
Dave

I had a V 8 LR Disco that did that, it turned out to be a dry joint in the immobiliser. Luckily having had it relayed back from East Sussex to Essex after it completely refused to start my local garage recognised the problem and took out the circuit board and gently re soldered all the joints and it never did it again.

This tread seems to have stirred up GoMo... solution......

Hi yet again, Dave

As a fellow Gems-engined Plus 8 owner I remain interested in your problems, they might happen to me !

Whilst I still think that if I had the problem I would use an AMR4956 by-pass, I have tracked down the product pictured on GoMog to

www.blackbox-solutions.com

whose BeCM Sync-mate for GEMS seems to be another very useful and relatively inexpensive solution.

If you have not already found this product, do take a look. It might be just the thing for you ?

Andrew Green

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for doing a little more research on this and coming up with a link for the reset tool. I checked the new information on the GoMoG page, but the seller's page said the tool was no longer available.

The battery disconnect/reconnect worked for a while, but the problem eventually returned. If it doesn't start on the first try, turning the key back to off and then trying again usually works. The most it has taken is three tries. The BeCM Sync mate looks like a reasonable solution. I have not looked into the bypass, but will do so.

Looking at some of the Land Rover sites, it sounds like this is a fairly common problem with the GEMS/Immobilizer system.

If I buy one of the tools, I'll post something here to let you know how it works.

Dave