Following the earlier post in this forum with ref immobiliser problems - the fault has now been traced to a can bus failure - will see if I can get some more details tomorrow when I pick the car up - just wondering whether it is a common problem or not.

Found this on a Ford Mondeo site ( All fords fitted with can-bus have problems with ribbon type cable's. Later paired white twisted wire, has proved more reliable.)

Apparently it is not a common problem on the X-Type, but a few cases have been reported on the S-Type. Here is what the mechanic told me -

Warning lights, rev counter dropping off and a blank mileage display told me that the vehicle had lost its CAN communication network. The control modules use this network to pass information which also includes the security ID which will stop the vehicle from starting.

The immobiliser system on this vehicle is software based and has a number of modules all linked together and passing data between then, it is not based on one unit.

Here is an image of an X-Type dash with the problem

do you know if there is an eobd socket on the xtype and if so what year did they start having them? Do you know of any software that is available? I used to have an Alfa that I could interrogate and reset all of the modules in the car using variously configured cables. I've just got an Xtype today and am very pleased with it so far.