Not a surf problem but

[POPEYE]

Can anyone help/advise, i went with my daughter this morning to look at a ford KA, looked great, good condition etc, drove fine, guy seemed a gunuine bloke (police officer) she bought it and got home, teatime son in law phoned to say the central locking/imobiliser is playing up, lots of clicking going on and he cant lock it with the key, it has a "Toad" fob so assumeing it's a toad system, totally forgot to ask about the instaltion certificate for the immobiliser, now i feel a right dick,
is there anything that comes to mind as to what i should look for/do to either fix it or rip out this sodding alarm?
he's got AA cover so i advised him to call them out and see what they reccon, also phone the guy back (he working till 9pm) and see what he 's gonna do (if anything)
i just feel bad as i went with her and said it seemed a fair car for the money, not a mark on it, interior was good etc,

hate these immobilisers, nowt but trouble, the one in my sons rover (a thatcham i think) played up, even the AA guy said they cant get hold of wiring diags for these things, ended up paying a place that fit em to take the dam thing out, any advise greatly apprecieated,

[HONEST AL]

Ford Ka

Ian,how do.
My youngest has a Ka,S reg 1300,not a bad little runner but she drives too fast.
However the only real problem we had was with the loom through to the drivers door.
There was a break in several wires about 1 year in and I stripped it all down,soldered in some new wires of the correct colours and away it went.
Symptoms were the speaker didnt work,the electric window switch for drivers door worked intermittantly and the alarm/central locking kept clicking in and out ,if you get my drift.
The loom up to the door jamb is ok,but the next bit is always being bent,and being copper it fractures causing the problem,new loom from jamb to key lock is about £50,so I repaired rather than replaced,its been ok since,touch wood.
Dont know if you have stripped it down yet,but it actually separates between door and frame so can be easy to work on in the house,hope this helps,regards,Alan
P.S.,as we type she now tells me the rear wiper doesnt work,I wasnt doing anything tomorrow anyway,Alan

[dieselboy]

On my alarm there is a overide button which is hidden away in case I am ever somewhere and the keyfob breaks. You have to use the key to unlock the door, then turn the ignition to position 2 and then press the hidden button within a few minutes I think.

[POPEYE]

Ian,how do.
My youngest has a Ka,S reg 1300,not a bad little runner but she drives too fast.
However the only real problem we had was with the loom through to the drivers door.
There was a break in several wires about 1 year in and I stripped it all down,soldered in some new wires of the correct colours and away it went.
Symptoms were the speaker didnt work,the electric window switch for drivers door worked intermittantly and the alarm/central locking kept clicking in and out ,if you get my drift.
The loom up to the door jamb is ok,but the next bit is always being bent,and being copper it fractures causing the problem,new loom from jamb to key lock is about £50,so I repaired rather than replaced,its been ok since,touch wood.
Dont know if you have stripped it down yet,but it actually separates between door and frame so can be easy to work on in the house,hope this helps,regards,Alan
P.S.,as we type she now tells me the rear wiper doesnt work,I wasnt doing anything tomorrow anyway,Alan

Hi Alan, i think thats the problem, he brought it round yesterday and after some messing about we found just touching that rubber between the door and the jam sent the solinoilds into a frenzy, so today we gonna strip out the door cards and the inside and see whats broken, replace with some new cable, thanks for letting me know about it seperating, that will make things much easier, looks like a duff day, so dont fancy doing it outside,
guess your busy on your daughters ka today as well then? kids eh! what would they do without dad thanks to you and deiselboy for your replys

[POPEYE]

Hey Alan, well good and bad news! we found two wires broke and another well on it's way, rewired and it still wont lock, after some thought and fiddeling we think the drivers door solinoid is ferked, some strange noises comeing from it, it looks like a motor driveing a rack and pinion type affair so i think the racks flubbared, the whole thing looks a bit heath, reccon whoever fitted the toad was a bodger, off to the scrappy next week then! plus check the passenger door loom and solinoid too,

[HONEST AL]

Ian,watch out for the wires that are broken/corroded inside their colour coded
sheathing,they can be warm to the touch as they can actually ark inside the covering,thermal breaks and all that.Suzies were broken about an inch from the jamb joint,they were also corroded and it took me ages struggling with the rubber tube and getting the solder to take.Dont put the door card back on till you are sure it all works.
Suzies fault was the three prongs at the bottom of the rear door,they had become corroded and so I am told,the wiper had not worked for some time.
Arent children wonderful????Regards,Alan

P.S., not sure if you can swop the solenoide over from door to door to test if one is useless(grab a couple while you are in the breakers yard)

[POPEYE]

Cheer's Alan, we did manage to get the whole loom out although i suspect it's been "got at" as it did'by disconnect or un-plug, the speaker had a plug as did one (brown lead) wire, the rest i had to pull free(ish) on the cab side and cut all four, then removed the loom from the door and soldered it all up on the bench, copper was fine, no corrosion, once done it was refitted and i soldered back together the leads in the cab, all heat-shrinked etc, no more solinoid chatter but it's hit and miss opperating, i'm sure the central clocking has been aftermarket fitted by some half-hearted sod, the solinoids are held on by two screws to a bit of that multi-purpose speaker/radio mounting metal strip stuff, it all flexes when the solinoid works, i'll take a pic of it,
we'll pick up a couple of solinoids if possible, (if it were mine i'd see about removeing the central locking and getting it back to stock, this $hit's more trouble then it's worth)