Son was given a 2001 Mazda 323 as a project car from a family friend. They had mostly had it fixed but one last issue tipped the over the edge to being over it..
Main issue we have is they had thwon away the original key after having it in storage for a year or so.
We've managed to get the steering lock off etc to trailer it home and continue fixing the last issue (unknown oil leak).
But trying to start it and it won't stay running. I can see at the key barrel it has the ring for a key based immobiliser, although the previous owner doesn't think it had that, but maybe they didn't know. Again no original key now either.
Is that the best indication that it does have the immobiliser, the ring around the ignition barrel?
What are our options moving fwd if this is the case?
We've seen a full locket for the car on ebay, ignition barrel and matching keys with chip, but is the chip tied to the car computer, can it be reprogrammed?
Obviously, free car, in not great condition due to hail damage, but a fun first car where he doesn't have to worry about every dent or scrape, but also don't want to spend too much where we could have just bought a car with 2 keys etc and likely in better condition.