Chimaera 4.0 brings Heathrow Airport to standstill
Discussion
Ok, folks. Time for a funny story...
'Bout a month ago I drove my new pride and joy to Heathrow to pick my brother up. I took a slight wrong turn and ended up driving up the ramp to term 1 departures, no biggie so I parked, turned off the engine and 'phoned big bro who appeared a few mins later and jumped in. This is when the fun started.
Turned the key in the ignition. Nothing. Tried all the tricks I know and still nothing. Then tried both of us getting out the car to reset the alarm/immobiliser and noticed the key fob had no effect. Cursed flat batteries and phoned my girlfriend who drove in from home with the spare keys. That key fob didn't work either. Phoned the AA. The first patrol man turned up and decided to test the key fob transmit strength. He tuned his tester to the TVR frequency but before he gets any further his receiver goes bananas. Putting 2+2 together eventually I grab the tester and point it at the ground surveillance radar transmitter whereupon the receiver goes truly bananas. So it turns out my immobiliser is on the same frequency as the radar and is being drowned out by the much more powerful transmission. I phoned the previous owner of the car (Thanks again Trefor for your continuing patience....!)and try a few more tricks but eventually give up and call a flatbed.
This is where the funny stuff starts. Two hours later (by which time my missus has phoned everyone she can think of to tell them what's happening) the flatbed turns up. He drives up the ramp to departures and despite the fact there's no height restriction at the bottom finds he can't get under the covered walkways at the top. Decides to reverse but by then there's two solid lanes of traffic jam stuck behind him. While we're standing there scratching our heads the police wander up to see what the fuss is about, p**s themselves laughing and bugger off before any of the irate motorists collar them. The flatbed was only 10cm too tall so we tried letting his front tyres down (it was only the drivers cab that was too tall) but that still left us with 2cm to go. Eventually my bro and I climbed on the roof of the truck with a spanner each and unbolted the fibreglass roof from its metal supports and lifted the roof up. We then had to walk backwards on the roof of the truck as it inched forwards carrying the roof with us until it was clear when we could drop it back down and bolt it on again. Whilst we were up there we could see over the parapet into the central area and noticed our own personal traffic jam had grown from term 1 all the way round the other terms and nobody was going anywhere. After repeating the process for the second walkway we got to my car which now had a bl***dy parking ticket on it! So while the AA guy (who was a real legend) and I got the car on the flatbed my bro pumped his tyres up again and off we went. Fortunately there was no height problem leaving the terminal and we we're on our merry way on empty roads leaving total chaos behind us! As we went through the tunnel I leaned out the window and zapped the car and the alarm worked fine so we pulled up next to the model Concorde (maysherestinpeace), dropped the car back on the road and drove home. I picked my bro up at 19:30 and we got home at 00:45.
The point of this post is owners with the Foxguard F1-11 alarm BEWARE!!!! (and if it does happen try pushing the car behind a building)
And questions
a) Has this happened to anyone else?
b) Is there a way round the immobiliser?
'Bout a month ago I drove my new pride and joy to Heathrow to pick my brother up. I took a slight wrong turn and ended up driving up the ramp to term 1 departures, no biggie so I parked, turned off the engine and 'phoned big bro who appeared a few mins later and jumped in. This is when the fun started.
Turned the key in the ignition. Nothing. Tried all the tricks I know and still nothing. Then tried both of us getting out the car to reset the alarm/immobiliser and noticed the key fob had no effect. Cursed flat batteries and phoned my girlfriend who drove in from home with the spare keys. That key fob didn't work either. Phoned the AA. The first patrol man turned up and decided to test the key fob transmit strength. He tuned his tester to the TVR frequency but before he gets any further his receiver goes bananas. Putting 2+2 together eventually I grab the tester and point it at the ground surveillance radar transmitter whereupon the receiver goes truly bananas. So it turns out my immobiliser is on the same frequency as the radar and is being drowned out by the much more powerful transmission. I phoned the previous owner of the car (Thanks again Trefor for your continuing patience....!)and try a few more tricks but eventually give up and call a flatbed.
This is where the funny stuff starts. Two hours later (by which time my missus has phoned everyone she can think of to tell them what's happening) the flatbed turns up. He drives up the ramp to departures and despite the fact there's no height restriction at the bottom finds he can't get under the covered walkways at the top. Decides to reverse but by then there's two solid lanes of traffic jam stuck behind him. While we're standing there scratching our heads the police wander up to see what the fuss is about, p**s themselves laughing and bugger off before any of the irate motorists collar them. The flatbed was only 10cm too tall so we tried letting his front tyres down (it was only the drivers cab that was too tall) but that still left us with 2cm to go. Eventually my bro and I climbed on the roof of the truck with a spanner each and unbolted the fibreglass roof from its metal supports and lifted the roof up. We then had to walk backwards on the roof of the truck as it inched forwards carrying the roof with us until it was clear when we could drop it back down and bolt it on again. Whilst we were up there we could see over the parapet into the central area and noticed our own personal traffic jam had grown from term 1 all the way round the other terms and nobody was going anywhere. After repeating the process for the second walkway we got to my car which now had a bl***dy parking ticket on it! So while the AA guy (who was a real legend) and I got the car on the flatbed my bro pumped his tyres up again and off we went. Fortunately there was no height problem leaving the terminal and we we're on our merry way on empty roads leaving total chaos behind us! As we went through the tunnel I leaned out the window and zapped the car and the alarm worked fine so we pulled up next to the model Concorde (maysherestinpeace), dropped the car back on the road and drove home. I picked my bro up at 19:30 and we got home at 00:45.
The point of this post is owners with the Foxguard F1-11 alarm BEWARE!!!! (and if it does happen try pushing the car behind a building)
And questions
a) Has this happened to anyone else?
b) Is there a way round the immobiliser?
You couldn't make it up could you 
. (Mind you I'm in a '99 so maybe things have changed).
i have this at my work, when i park up at the back of the office the alarm refuses to work, had to call the AA first time this happened and had a flat bed take me home, once home alarm worked fine.this occurs every time i park behind my office but no where else. apparently there is a local radio/cb club nearby and that could be the prob.
Crikey David. I didn't realise you had that much hassle with the AA truck. I think I'd have pushed the TVR down the exit ramp. Mind you, I guess he was stuck at the entrance so you had to help him first anyway! Maybe next time we can have Heathrow turn off all the radio/radar transmitters for TVR owners. I'm sure the pilots waiting above won't mind 
As I mentioned to you on the phone at the time, I had something remotely similar twice. In an underground carpark in Leeds where I was staying for a few days - new batteries in both fobs but still the alarm seemed to recognise presses when it felt like it. The other time was in Goathland (Aidensfield) - this time it worked 10 minutes later. Looking back radio interference does makes sense - surely other early Chimaera owners have had a similar problem at some point?
My Audi's remote doesn't work at the Shell garage in Bracknell by the Coppid Beech Hotel. I keep forgetting, locking it and going in to pay, then not being able to unlock it and have to resort to the key. There's a massive transmitter nearby ...
As I mentioned to you on the phone at the time, I had something remotely similar twice. In an underground carpark in Leeds where I was staying for a few days - new batteries in both fobs but still the alarm seemed to recognise presses when it felt like it. The other time was in Goathland (Aidensfield) - this time it worked 10 minutes later. Looking back radio interference does makes sense - surely other early Chimaera owners have had a similar problem at some point?
My Audi's remote doesn't work at the Shell garage in Bracknell by the Coppid Beech Hotel. I keep forgetting, locking it and going in to pay, then not being able to unlock it and have to resort to the key. There's a massive transmitter nearby ...
apaerbag:Great story. 
Reminds me when (many moons ago) I was managing a project at the public car parks at Heathrow: the Ground Operations Staff took great delight in explaining just how quickly the jam would reach the M25 if we blocked the entrance to the Terminal 1 Short Term car park.
Unfortunately this meant we had to do most of the work between midnight and 6am.
Reminds me when (many moons ago) I was managing a project at the public car parks at Heathrow: the Ground Operations Staff took great delight in explaining just how quickly the jam would reach the M25 if we blocked the entrance to the Terminal 1 Short Term car park.
Unfortunately this meant we had to do most of the work between midnight and 6am.
jj. said:
Mines a bit of an unusual one, but if the drivers door of a Ford Mondeo is opened to within about 5cm-10cm of my Trev (it doesn’t have to actually touch the car) it sets the alarm off. Bizarre…!! 
jj
If I leave my car in the garage with the car roof off, the alarm goes off when I turn on the florescent lights. How odd is that (and annoying)!
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