Kia Sportage N Reg (uk) Immobiliser Problem

[nregsportage]

Hello all
my first post on this forum, I am at my wits end.

I have had my Sportage for almost 1 year, and I have had more than my share of problems (some which I have not solved) but it would take too long to describe. The main problem and the one I would really like help with is this -

My Kia is one which requires inserting a small fob type thing into a socket so that the 3 contacts on both the fob and the socket connect and this then disarms the immobiliser.

When I bought the car I was given two sets of keys complete with two of these fobs, a red one and a black one.
Initially only the black one could disarm the immobiliser then, after about 6 months the black one no longer worked, and fortunately I happened to have the red one with me and out of desperation I tried it and lo and behold it worked.

Then again after a period of months (which takes me up to last week) the red one stopped disarming the immobiliser and the black one worked but only a few times until last friday when we eventually had to abandon it outside the local shop which luckily isn't too far away.

I have been trying to start it each day since but neither of the fobs will disarm the immobiliser.

Normally the led light on the immobiliser socket flashes red until you insert the fob and as soon as it is inserted the led stops flashing altogether and goes out, then when you remove the fob the led light turns green and you can then start the car.

But now the led light flashes red and that is it. There is nothing that I can do to stop/change the rhythym of the led. It is as though I am not inserting anything into the socket at all.

There has been an instance in the past when the fob hasn't worked but the car has started without disarming the immobiliser and then after a few seconds the immobiliser seems to kick in and the car stalls but afterwards the fob works correctly and the car starts but not this time, the car does not seem to want to start at all.

The fob is shaped so that it can only be inserted one way up. The fob also has a hole for a pin that looks like it might be for resetting it? Or maybe its for taking the fob apart?? Can anyone tell me what it is for?

I read that the immobiliser is on the same fuse as the brake lights? So I am going to check these now.
I will also disconnect and reconnect the battery (out of desperation?)

I would really appreciate some help with this.

sorry for the long post!

[nregsportage]

Well its all sorted now - eventually.

It was a scorpion immobiliser - not factory fitted.

The guy at scorpion told me that you get 250 starts with each fob - however if you dont use the black fob during the 250 uses with the red fob the unit locks. If only the previous owner had passed on the manual....... So there was nothing else to do but have it removed which was supposed to be a major job. Turns out it took less than an hour and £35.

What a lot of crap - car off the road for 2 weeks +, all for that.
It beats me what the purpose of using each fob 250 times is.......

But anyway thanks for the help and I hope this post might be of help to someone else.