My car won't start

[Oscar Nelsen]

Remote start that is.
2010 Cadi CTS, 2016 RT
When the bike is within 50 feet of the car, none of the buttons on the car's remote work. This is intermittent, but very consistent at this point. I won't list all the troubleshooting steps I've done, but the car's remote never fails unless it is near the bike. I've yet to come up with an ironclad repeatable scenario for either pass or fail.

[guest2360]

That's a world first.  Better than the other way round though.

[T6pilot]

Frequency interference,
When using Mobile stations with FAST PASS (which I do not have) my 15RT will not start, have to walk bike 10 or more feet from pump and all works normally again
Brought this to attention of my selling dealer, they are aware of issue
Question bike is only a receiver while fob is transmitter, do you still have issue with caddy when bike is parked near car and fob is in another location

[Oscar Nelsen]

Don't quite understand the question, but I 've yet to try to move the bike's fob far away. It has been far enough away from the bike to not be recognized, but maybe not far enough for the car to not pick it up.
There are transmitters on the bike like tire sensors, Bluetooth, and possibly the alarm system which I don't have, but some of that equipment may be present on all models.
Next test will be to put the bike fob in the back yard in a lead box and see what happens. I believe this is what you meant. The crux of the biscuit is now is it the bike or its fob?

[T6pilot]

My guess and it's only a guess at this point, issue is with fob
Keep us posted, as previous poster said this is a totally new one

[Oscar Nelsen]

You want weird? I can give you weird.
I took the cover off the bike, back to front as usual, but stopped with the cover bunched up on the windscreen; the Cadi fob now started to work. OK, I pulled the cover back on as far as the seat; the fob did not work. I pulled the cover forward to the windscreen again; the fob worked. Cover back onto the seat; the Cadi fob did not work. At this point it did not work no matter where the cover was. I have no idea where the RT fob was during all of this, but the next day I repeated these steps with the exact same results!
You got weird.
The Cadi service department never heard of this problem other than the Cadi fob interfering with other cars and cell phones. It is amazing how far the Cadi can be from its fob and still receive its signals, like 1/4 of a block. Maybe the car's receiver is super sensitive. Taking the RT in for service tomorrow evening and I'll ask a few of the guys I know there, so I will only have tonight and tomorrow morning for testing.
Another possibility is it is not the bike or the bike's fob, but their proximity to each other and the car.

[Oscar Nelsen]

Wife came home and the fob worked for a while, as usual. I've yet to time how long it takes to fail, but fail it did. Removed the battery from the RT fob and the Cadi fob still failed. Went outside and just for sits & giggles, pulled the cover off the bike up to the windshield and wallah, the Cadi fob started to work. My next trial will be to get a live chicken and swing it over my head. Any ideas on how many revolutions? What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen chicken?

Actually, the next test will be to disconnect the bike's battery Friday night when I get the bike back from service. What I probably have to do is reconnect the ground with a jumper, wait for the Cadi fob to fail and then disconnect the jumper. Several trials will be necessary if it does work and one trial will have a long string connected to the jumper so I can yank it off from a distance. When I last tried to disconnect the battery, the fob started working just as I was about to remove the engine fairing.

[guest2360]

That's made my day reading that.  Keep us all up to date. Hope the chicken survives.

[T6pilot]

Oscar maybe the BMW is telling you it's time to trade caddy

Have to admit this is one for the books

[Oscar Nelsen]

Ain't gonna sell it; wouldn't be prudent. Cadi is a black 2010 CTS with a ton of options including the rare rear deck spoiler. I bought in 2013 with only 7,000 miles. Guy hardly drove it and traded it in on a Porsche. I could do that.

And now, for the rest of the story..........

[Oscar Nelsen]

I think I have it sussed. Assistant service manager at the dealer called it the Immobilizer, BMW calls it Steuereinheit für schlüssellose Fahrt or Keyless Ride control unit. He said he did not know how it worked, but he believes it is a receiver and a transmitter. I speculate that when it senses the button push on the Cadi fob, it goes into anti-theft mode to shut down any attempt to start the bike. The Cadi may sense this shut down signal and accepts it, or the signal from the fob is altered so that the Cadi does not recognize it.

The 'Immobilizer' is located on the front of the triple clamp. Now the cover being pulled up onto the windshield affecting the operation makes sense. There are 2 connectors going to the unit, but I hesitate to disconnect them. Who knows what the CANbus will do. Maybe the TV remote will stop working.

I’m satisfied that the source of the problem is identified. Now, what is the solution? Shield the 2 cables maybe. They could be acting as antennae.

[bushbikie]

My next trial will be to get a live chicken and swing it over my head. Any ideas on how many revolutions? What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen chicken?

African or European? 

Hope you get the issue sussed out!

[Maz12]

Id love to see a picture of this car

[Oscar Nelsen]

Nothing special, really, except maybe for the spoiler.

Sent an email to GM/Cadi and BMW.  I'm hoping that one or both will offer a solution.  I'm expecting one to blame the other.

[Oscar Nelsen]

Screwed up.  Here's 2 more.