my Rover 216 has a problem with what i think is the immobiliser. The car will not start, replaced battery in the key fob, when i put the key in the ignition the alarm rings the dashboard lights up but the car will no turn over. It seems to me like an immobliser problem, does anyone have an idea please. the car is an N reg 1995 model. The car was running fine until i went out to start it and found the battery on the car was totally flat! Since then i have had this problem, i have repalced the key fob battery and put a fully charged battery on the car and all i get is the alarm riging sound, lights dash board and the alarm light will NOT go off when pressing the key fob. PLEASE can anyone help me?

Stephen, February 2008

how can i bypass the immoilizer alltogether

kev, December 2010

Found another way of resolving the lost remote code on my partners Rover 216 coupe, the battery went flat yesterday and i tried my previous suggestion shown on this forum and for some reason it didnt work this time, so try this, sit in the car with the doors shut, ignition lights on, remove the battery fron the key fob, hold both buttons on the fob down for approx 1 minute, put the battery back in, with the ignition still on try the remote, should lock and open the doors, sorted!

John.Etherington, April 2010

Hi i have 3 216 softops+a 216 coupe AND if you charge batt -then go in passenger door lift up lock and well it has worked for me MANY times!!!-Cos the alarm is hooked too the drivers door? You bypass it++Worked for the first AA guy i called-in Ireland-So hope that helps and dont be bying fobs etc!!!

Robert Fennell, December 2009

try locking the door with the key then on the fob press the unlock button four times

dave, October 2009

i had this problem with a rover last year, in the owners book there is a section at the back that tells you what to do to program it its a pain if i remember you have to stand outside the car and lock and unlock the car with the key 3 times then push the button on the fob and it sincronizes
it back to the car, try it , if it does not work find a rover owner and look in his book, good luck and all the best steve wilson.

steve wilson ,southport., December 2008

I too have had the same problem, i went away for a week and when i came back my car battery was flat, so i charged it up and placed it back into the car (Rover 216 coupe 95 model), the thing is when i went to use the remote to unlock the doors and to de-immobolize the the engine nothing happened, i went to unlock the door with the key and the alarm went off, i did an internet search on how to repair it (as you are doing now) and learned that the code from the ECU and the key for was lost and that the only way to get it back ws to have it towed to Rover's and they would reset it all for around £100, well here's the thing, i spoke to a very nice mobile mechanic up the road from me and he said that if i have the battery fully charged (as it wouldnt work with a low battery) put your key into the drivers door and unlock and lock the door 9 times and it works, mind you i opened the drivers side window and aided the locking and unlocking by pulling un and down on the locking button too, great it worked for me :)

John Etherington at roverp5b@hotmail.com, June 2008

yes i just had mine done u have to the key fob and get them to solder it secure cause thats wat happend to mine and i got the same car

tash, May 2008

sounds like i had the same problem recently with my 216 coupe
i was told id have to take the car to an ex-rover dealer to have it reprogrammed. this was too much trouble so what i ended up doing was taking out the immobiliser control box from behing the ignition. ( its a small black box with 'Lucas' wrote on it and very awkward to get at!). i sent this and my keyfobs to Remote key Ltd. in Coldfield. they sent it back within the week. they retrieved my security code from the box, reprogrammed it and i also got a new keyfob, total £70. i put the box back in the car. now its working fine.

aidan, February 2008

hi,
I have what sounds like the exact same problem with my 1994 216 coupe. tried everything, batteries etc... i have no code that can be entered using the key. have you had any joy in sorting the problem??

Aidan, February 2008

Sounds very much like an ECU problem, if so the ECU has lost it's 'memory' and has to re-learn the settings.
Once started, the car needs to be taken on a ten mile run using a combination of different speeds and loads so as to allow the ECU to reset itself.

John, February 2008

I'm not a hundred % sure about this, but on some cars if your battery goes flat for a certain amount of time, you need to disconnect the ECU (from the actual unit connector) for half an hour. Then reconnect it. This has the effect of resetting the ignition.
If doing this doesn't solve the problem, I can't help, Sorry.

Ray Carcel, February 2008