Help Factory immobilizers, diagnostic codes, O/D light flash

Hi all,
First things first,
- does anybody know whether 96 4WD Super Customs had a factory fitted immobilizer, or is the one on my vehicle an after market one? If so, how can I tell?

My van which has been pride and joy for 2 years and driving beautifully, has a gremlin.
It started cutting out. ie within the first 1km of a drive, the engine would just stop. It would restart, just to stop again a short time later. Eventually it would restart and continue to drive perfectly, including a long drive from NSW t Vic without missing a beat.
Then back in Melbourne the same pattern would happen again.

Then the O/D off light started to flash. Firstly iregularly and the car still drove just fine.
Then more recently the O/D off light would flash consistently every 1.5 seconds. This was accompanied by the van feeling underpowered. It was taking off in 3rd and switching to OD, but nothing below that. I now believe that was the car in 'safety mode'.

Now it's in for diagnosis/repair and the auto elects and transmission guys (who are really good) are struggling to get to the bottom of the problem.

They replaced a solenoid and the crank angle ?sensor?. Thought they had solved it, but no.
The diagnostic is showing a code that they think implicates the immobilizer as the problem??

They are worried that if it's a factory fitted immobilizer and they mess with it, they may never get it going again.
If it's after market, then they can have a go at it.

They also think that the code may be correctly identifying the immobilizer as an issue.

Any advice from people who have been down this track would be much appreciated.

-Bondy

Do you have the 1KZ 3.0 turbodiesel?

That engine can have a defective ECU as we can sometimes read on this forum.

HI there,
Just read your post and can tell you that I had a similar experience a few months ago. With mine the speedo also stopped working. The whole upshot was that the speed sensor in transmission was worn out and had to be replaced.
Hope this helps at this late stage.
Regards
Graham.
Sorry forgot to mention that engine didn't shut down.

Hi Builtolast and others.
Just wanted to let people with similar issues know that my van is all sorted and happy once again.
It was quite an ordeal.
I took it to an Auto Transmission/Electrical guy who was highly recommended to me, without success, as I said in my original post.

Then, based on this forum, I decided to remove the ECU and get it looked at. I was impressed with myself that I was able to a. find it and b. remove it.
(the ECU looked so pristine in condition that it was hard to believe there could be a fault in there, but I guess that it's been neatly sealed away from the rough and tumble of the world for 20 years....)

I could have taken it to Injectronics which is quite near me in Victoria, or post it to the mob in Sydney that get a few really good mentions on this forum.
Turns out Injectronics don't deal with the general public. You have to send it via a business like Burson, or my Auto Electrical guy, then they Bill that company and pass it on to you. So I think there is a middle man cost. -it all seemed a bit messy.

I decide to post to the guys in Sydney and they were awesome.
Dropped in the post office 10.30 Wednesday and by 11.30 Friday it had arrived back at my house!!
(in Vic)
While it was there, I spoke to Antony (via phone) and he said that there were 2 capacitors that were leaking and this would be exactly consistent with the problems I was experiencing.
Reinstalled it and all is good.
-2 leaking Capacitors had to be replaced, total $345 including all postage etc.

Highly recommend these guys.
Thanks for your interest and responses.
- Bondy

Glad you got it fixed. Please advise contact details for the people in Sydney.
Graham.

Hi Builttolast.
Sorry for the delay in reply, I've been OS for a while.

Here is a page of the website for Specialised Automotive Electronics.

http://www.autoelectronics.com.au/toyota_hilux_surf_ecu_repair_10.html

Super highly recommended by me!!

cheers.