Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

About 2 months ago my 964 went to a bodyshop recommended by a well known independent, for a minor bodywork repair. When I went to pick it up from the above mentioned independent, I was told that the car was a bit late coming back from the bodyshop as they 'had trouble starting it up'.
When my 964 eventually arrived, the immobiliser was not disarming. They managed to start it up and I came home - and the car did nor start again.
I spent the next 3 weeks calling and emailing the bodyshop; I left with them a car with no issues and they brought back a car that would not start. They eventually told me that they spoke to two Auto Electricians and apparently a low battery upset the circuit board in the alarm control unit. Due to the 'security nature' of the alarm system, all wiring is black in colour making it almost impossible to trace and diagnose specific faults. Both electricians said bypassing the alarm was the only real solution. they offered to organise this for me and the work will cost approximately £100 + VAT. I would then have to buy and install a new alarm/immobiliser unit.

In desperation I called Hamilton & Palmer who had installed the unit almost 22 years ago. They put me in contact with the Porsche specialist who used to install these units for them (and is now retired), who over the phone diagnosed the problem, told me what I needed to do, where to get the part needed and assured me that if I could do some basic electrical work I would be able to fix the problem. And he was right! This morning, after 6 weeks of silence, and a bit of simple electrical work under the dash, the 964 fired up again.

I cannot praise enough Hamilton & Palmer for their superb after service (how many companies support their units 22 years after installation?) and of course Jim, the retired Hamilton & Palmer Porsche specialist, who guided me to solve the problem, when all the modern day 'specialists' were obviously after a quick buck.

seg

[Clarifications:
1. The ‘independent’ mentioned in this post is not my regular Jon Mitchell in Bournemouth, who have consistently given me *very* good service and advise.
2. I cannot formally blame the bodyshop for this as I cannot prove beyond doubt that *they* damaged the immobilizer. All I know is that I left a working car with them and got back a car that wouldn't start. I most certainly question their choice of experts, as the two 'specialist' electricians gave the same wrong advice - one that would only benefit their pockets. I have also formed a strong view about their pretty bad customer service and will be voting with my feet going forward.]

By the way, anyone reading this and seeing some of Stathis's older posts may wonder if the specialist was me..

It wasn't us.

Sorry to hear about your troubles Stathis and glad to hear your car is running again.

If anything like this happens again, please call me for some free advice.

To be honest, we condemn the H&P immobilisers from time to time, normally because the main control unit has failed completely, in which cases we typically charge £75 to remove the system to restore the wiring where the immobiliser was installed back to factory condition, using soldered joints where required, and then advising the installation of a Toad Powerkey as a replacement system, as a true Thatchum Category 2 system, which often works out a more cost effective solution than repairing the H&P system.

However, by the sounds of your post here and a direct PM on the forum, the specialist or bodyshop in question should have tested the system rather than saying it needed to be axed for the sake of what turned out to be a bad contact or connector.

One word of advice to owners of cars with the H&P immobiliser. This system does predate the Thatchum standards, although has been given a historic thatchum cat2 status, however in the event of a insurance total loss due to theft, due to the variable standards of original installation, an insurance company may not find the system was installed to Thatchum standards originally and therefore invalidate your insurance. This is not an issue at H&P's fault, but due to something out of their control, which was main dealer and PCarsGB technicians not installing to cat2 standards, because in fairness the standards did not exist back then.