How do I diagnose and confirm bad Immobilizer
 

Hello, I recently bought a project 2000 Porsche Boxster with the 2.7 and the manual transmission. Car has 98k miles. My hope is to go full blown racecar over the next few years with it, and eventually have a stand alone engine management system. For now I would like to simply hear it run before I remove the transmission to replace the IMSB. I cannot get it started, and have believe I may have an issue with my immobilizer under the seat but dont know how to confirm that this is my problem. The car will not turn over with just the key alone, even when I jump the Clutch switch wires. The only way I have been successful in getting it to crank over is by jumping the starter relay AND turning the key. So with the the starter relay jumped, I can then turn the key and it will turn over, but it has no spark and i believe also no fuel injector pulse. I have removed the immobilizer and inspected the motherboard and i see no water damage or broken solder joints. But I can tell you that the car sat for some time with the windows down, so water damage may be present anyway.

I need some assistance with diagnosing my problem. Before I drop $600+ on having the electronics reprogrammed I would like to know without a doubt what the problem is.

Thanks in advance!!! You'll probably start seeing a lot more of me here on this and other boxtser forums as the project develops.

Welcome to 986forum!
Do you have a check engine light? If yes, maybe scan it and see what is the code.

Have you inspected your key? Check to see if the transponder "pill" is in there.

If there is a Porsche dealer close by take it there as they have the equipment to do all the tests and they would tell you what is wrong with the car.

No check engine light, as battery had been disconnected for some time when i bought it.

And I will go ahead and inspect my key for the transponder.

However I have no porsche dealers near me.

Find someone with a PIWIS, they might be able to tell you for sure.

Don't think the Durametric can help you.

you might be able to borrow a DME, Immob and Key from someone.

I had a not start on a SPB and it was a nightmare to resolve.

I looked for a long time to find a definitive -- "yes I'm happy signal" -- but I couldn't find one externally available (outside the DME)

I actually found a Porsche professional who works part time at a small shop in a small town nearby. He primarily works on and restores air-cooled porsches, but he does have a PIWIS, so I will be taking the car to him in a week or two after I replace a broken suspension component. Then hopefully I'll have a good heading as to what needs to be done first to get this thing started.