4 Way Flashers Came On While Driving

[tuko]

Tonight while out driving my son and his friends in the Disco the 4 way flashers came on while driving. It did not affected in how the disco went down the road, just that the flashers where going all the time. Trying to push on or off the flasher button in the disco did nothing at all.

Once we got to where we were driving to, I turned off the Disco (mistake!) The flashers continued to flash but at the same time it activated the immobilizer unit and the disco is now simply dead.

At the time I didn't have the immobilizer code for the drivers door so my friend drove over to my house and drove my Hybrid out to me and the disco (middle of the woods) then we towed the disco back into town.

I'm totally baffled with this one, what has happened and how am I going to solve it. It's not as if the immobilizer is broken cause it's not starting so it has to be working, too good if you ask me. But the old girl needs the disco to drive to work every day and she refuses to drive my RHD hybrid. So I'm a bit in a pickle and need to get it running fast.

I'm hoping in the morning that using the immobilizer code on the drivers door lock that I can deactivate the immobilizer and get the disco running again. In the manuals it says that if the key fob is not used then the immobilizer will stay deactivated till it's used again, can anybody confirm that? I'm also wondering if it's a bad ground at the immobilizer, but any tips or suggestions of where to look and test are appreciated.

Cheers,

Todd.

[ChrisB]

I had similar experience after fitting my HID headlights - about 75% of the time when turning the HIDs on the immobiliser would activate, flashing the hazard lights. Switching off the engine, removing the key and then inserting again and turning to position 2 was necessary to stop them and continue as normal. Also, after doing this, the car would not lock on teh fob, or centrally from the drivers door. instead i had to repeat the key to position two sequence to fix it.

Since removing my HID lights (cos they were carp), I've had one similar experience: going (fast) over a speed hump, then falling into a big pothole (100mm deep) the other side, causing an almighty bang and car bottoming out on bump stops, caused the same hazard light problem to recur. Same fix applied to good effect.

Maybe earth problem like you say. Have you fitted any electronic equipment that may be noisy recently? Try the switching on/off and removing key trick - it might work for you!

Chris

[tuko]

Thanks for the tips Chris, no nothing new in the Disco just that a headlight bulb burnt out Saturday that I was planning to replace this evening. Tomorrow if I get the Disco running.

Todd.

[Dangerous D]

Hi there,

My disco 1 did this, so did my mates.

Problem was the relay under the dash. give the passanger side underdash area a good kick and it started working again fine.

I am guess you were going over a few bumps at the time! Thats when mine kicked in. Probably a dodgey connector on the back of one of the relays.

Thats the 4-way problem.

Now the imboliser issue is actually separate believe it or not. Again a loose connection will have caused this but if you have a disco one, you spider is on is last legs. Best thing to do is by pass it. It is located centrally under the dash behind the radio. Quite hard to get to unless you have the dash out - pain of a job but once you have done it enough times you can get it out in 20mins.... dont ask!

If you are worried about security put an after market thactham alarm in, will get rid of the spider and give you a nice set of plips to do the doors to replace the standard ones, also the alarm will actually be able to be heard!

Regards,

Dave

[tuko]

Dave your right, I was on a bumpy road at the time this all began to happen. There's no spider in my Disco I.

I had 5 young guys in the Disco yesterday so I'm wondering if one of the two that were in the front seat hit/kicked a relay? When the Disco was stopped I began pulling relays and at some time of doing so the flashers stopped, but unfortunately I have no idea which it was.

I did call home and the wife did give me a code for the Disco, but it was the wrong one she gave me (the key code). I tried the wrong code several time without success and reading here I see once I entered the wrong code 3 times, the immobilizer is in a delayed mode for 30 minutes.

I'll let you guys know if I get 'er running this morning.

Todd.

[gripper]

mine went through a spate of hazzards flashing when driving, in the owners manual it states that this is something like an accident sensor or something similar which runs the hazzards and opens the door locks in case the car has had an accident, i just switch the ignition off and back on again and it resets although the central locking is inactive for a while so rescuers can open the door, i can only assume you will need to use the key code in the door, is the imobiliser light active on the dash?

[Dangerous D]

Good point. Forgot about that! The crash sensor is behind the washer bottle, small black thing with a rubber cap over a button, make sure the button is down otherwise the imboliser won't come off.

Dave

[teabag]

Good point. Forgot about that! The crash sensor is behind the washer bottle, small black thing with a rubber cap over a button, make sure the button is down otherwise the imboliser won't come off.

Dave

Only on a petrol disco and it only cuts the supply to the fuel pump, but with all disco's (D1 & 2) there's is a inertia sensor within the alarm ECU which will unlock locked doors (if locked) and activate the hazard flashers.

[gripper]

Only on a petrol disco and it only cuts the supply to the fuel pump, but with all disco's (D1 & 2) there's is a inertia sensor within the alarm ECU which will unlock locked doors (if locked) and activate the hazard flashers.

that's the one i was on about, couldn't remember the name of it, don't have to reset any switches just turn key off and back on again, mine seems to have stopped doing it now

[tuko]

mine went through a spate of hazzards flashing when driving, in the owners manual it states that this is something like an accident sensor or something similar which runs the hazzards and opens the door locks in case the car has had an accident, i just switch the ignition off and back on again and it resets although the central locking is inactive for a while so rescuers can open the door, i can only assume you will need to use the key code in the door, is the imobiliser light active on the dash?

Gripper,

I tried that to but it didn't work at the time. The flashers just kept going, even when I used the key fob to activate/deactivate the alarm. But the next morning armed with the right code, I unlocked/deactivated the alarm system and the Disco came back to life. Since then (yesterday and today) the Disco is back to normal.

So what happened and why did it happen, I have no idea. I can only guess the 1) the bumpy road shook something lose or 2) the boys in the front seat unknowingly hit a relay that caused the flashers to go off. I have to say, not really knowing what was the culprit it's a bit unnerving to see the old girl drive off with the Disco......Will it happen again or will everything be OK ????????

Todd.

[ccomley]

This happened to me once - (TDi300) beetling down the M5, everyone was hooting, and I realised my hazards were on. Nothing else wrong.

Got off at the next exit, having failed to stop it with switches, etc. Started pulling fuses. One made the alarm soudner go nuts so I put that back and tried a different one. That seemed to do it, so we got back in and continued. After the journey, and a cup of tea, I went for a further tinker. Put back the fuse I'd pulled and... it was all normal. And has been ever since. Dealer says it's possibly a bump caused one of the sensors to trigger, and after a half-hour reset period it all goes back to normal.

So FWIW, ignore it unless it recurrs.