Engine Disabled

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Maverick-biw

New Member
Posts
15
Location
Dudley, West Midlands, UK
Hi all

My P38 hates me!

Just because I didnt drive it for a couple of days over Christmas, the battery decided to go flat. Now it's done this before without causing a problem, but we all know the game of "P38 Russian Roulette", sooner or later it'll end in a dead car!

I recharged the battery and reconnected it. Sure enough, it asked for the EKA code. No problem as I have the code, and the car seemed to accept it as the display message has changed from "Engine disabled. Press remote or enter EKA." to "Engine disabled. Press remote."

Next I thought I'd try to resync the key fob. My car is a '98 4.6 which I've been told is resync'd by locking and unlocking the car while holding down the lock / unlock button on the fob, but this doesnt seem to do anything (the LED on the fob flashes when the button is pressed and the batteries are new). After the resync... nothing, no sign that the car and the fob are talking to each other.

Now the car locks on the key (all doors lock), but only unlocks the drive's door. To unlock the other doors I have to push down the sill button then lift it. At this point the other doors open.

The alarm is disarmed when the key unlocks the driver's door (well the LED goes off anyway), but if you try to start the car you still get the "Engine disabled..." message. Locking the car on the key lock all the doors and rearms the alarm.

One odd thing that I have noticed is that when I put the key in the ignition (without turning it), the LED on the fob flashes, and keeps flashing until you turn the ignition on (dash lights up) and then turn the ignition off.

The "Check Engine" light does not light up, which I understand means that the body module has not given start permission. I beleive that this is normal until the engine is re-mobilised.

Does anyone have any suggestions on getting her moving, or are we looking at a trip on the back of a lorry to my (now) trusted mechanic?

Thanks in advance!
 
Maverick-biw said:
Hi all

My P38 hates me!

Just because I didnt drive it for a couple of days over Christmas, the battery decided to go flat. Now it's done this before without causing a problem, but we all know the game of "P38 Russian Roulette", sooner or later it'll end in a dead car!

I recharged the battery and reconnected it. Sure enough, it asked for the EKA code. No problem as I have the code, and the car seemed to accept it as the display message has changed from "Engine disabled. Press remote or enter EKA." to "Engine disabled. Press remote."

Next I thought I'd try to resync the key fob. My car is a '98 4.6 which I've been told is resync'd by locking and unlocking the car while holding down the lock / unlock button on the fob, but this doesnt seem to do anything (the LED on the fob flashes when the button is pressed and the batteries are new). After the resync... nothing, no sign that the car and the fob are talking to each other.

Now the car locks on the key (all doors lock), but only unlocks the drive's door. To unlock the other doors I have to push down the sill button then lift it. At this point the other doors open.

The alarm is disarmed when the key unlocks the driver's door (well the LED goes off anyway), but if you try to start the car you still get the "Engine disabled..." message. Locking the car on the key lock all the doors and rearms the alarm.

One odd thing that I have noticed is that when I put the key in the ignition (without turning it), the LED on the fob flashes, and keeps flashing until you turn the ignition on (dash lights up) and then turn the ignition off.

The "Check Engine" light does not light up, which I understand means that the body module has not given start permission. I beleive that this is normal until the engine is re-mobilised.

Does anyone have any suggestions on getting her moving, or are we looking at a trip on the back of a lorry to my (now) trusted mechanic?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

As yours is a 98my to resync the fob you simply have to insert the key into the ignition switch and the pickup coil around the barrel will automatically resync the fob.
Once you have done this press the unlock button on the fob and the engine check light should illuminate and the engine will start.
 
Hi John
From reading everything I could find on the internet, thats what I thought but when I spoke to the local Land Rover mechanic, he thought it was too early... what do I know!

I've tried the car again (key in, turn ignition on then off, press unlock), and still nothing, the car does not responde to the fob at all.

But it still does that thing with the remote LED constantly flashing when its in the ignition.

Is she trying to tell me something. I've not heard of this before.

Thanks for your help
 
Last edited:
Maverick-biw said:
Hi John
From reading everything I could find on the internet, thats what I thought but when I spoke to the local Land Rover mechanic, he thought it was too early... what do I know!

I've tried the car again (key in, turn ignition on then off, press unlock), and still nothing, the car does not responde to the fob at all.

But it still does that thing with the remote LED constantly flashing when its in the ignition.

Is she trying to tell me something. I've not heard of this before.

Thanks for your help
Click to expand...

If your car isn't a true 98 model but bit earlier sold in 98 try this method for sync: begin this with the key in ignition, lock door with key then press lock on fob, wait a second or two, unlock with fob and start car. Only a slight possibility but an easy try.

To me it looks like you still need the EKA code re-entered as well

Resynchronisation from workshop manual:
On vehicles up to 97MY, resynchronisation is
achieved by locking or unlocking the driver’s door
using the vehicle key with 30 seconds of locking,
superlocking or unlocking using the remote handset.
The BeCM monitors the condition of the driver’s door
CDL switch to initiate the resynchronisation.
On vehicles from 97MY, friendly resynchronisation
was introduced on vehicles with passive
immobilisation. A remote handset that is not
synchronised to the BeCM will automatically be
resynchronised when the key is inserted in the ignition
without using the vehicle key or Emergency Key
Access (EKA) procedure.
The resynchronisation uses a pick-up coil in the
remote handset and a passive coil located around the
ignition barrel. The passive coil provides a signal for
the remote handset to transmit an unlock signal to
remobilise the vehicle.
 
Last edited:
As the LED is flashing on the FOB it sounds like the later version. I reckon it's just a case of loss of sync between the BECM and the engine. However the battery should not go flat after a couple of days. Maybe your RF receiver is at fault and have you checked the battery voltage? they don't like low volts.
 
Hi all

I've retried the old sync method - no change
I've retried the new sync method - no change

The battery is showing 12.02 volts

The alarm arms and disarms on the key but there is no response from the fob and only the drivers door unlocks from the key, all other door remain locked until the sill button is pulled up.

I've also tried to re-enter the EKA, but the car only responds to the first turn of the key (i.e. it only flashes the lights for the first turn to the unlock possition and seems to ignore any further turns), which sounds to me like its happy with the EKA I already entered, and the display message no longer asks for the EKA (but still says engine disabled).

Does the EKA just grant access to the car of should it also enable you to start the car?

Cheers all
 
Should still accept EKA and yes grant start, maybe dodgy door switch due to faulty RF receiver? Just tried my EKA on a working car, it accepts it. Mine is a 1995 though.
 
Maverick-biw said:
Hi all

I've retried the old sync method - no change
I've retried the new sync method - no change

The battery is showing 12.02 volts

The alarm arms and disarms on the key but there is no response from the fob and only the drivers door unlocks from the key, all other door remain locked until the sill button is pulled up.

I've also tried to re-enter the EKA, but the car only responds to the first turn of the key (i.e. it only flashes the lights for the first turn to the unlock possition and seems to ignore any further turns), which sounds to me like its happy with the EKA I already entered, and the display message no longer asks for the EKA (but still says engine disabled).

Does the EKA just grant access to the car of should it also enable you to start the car?

Cheers all
Click to expand...

The battery is as good as flat, you should have around 12.8 volts.
the door operation is normal when the FOB is not synced.
Get the battery sorted, you may then need to re-sync the BECM and engine ECU.
 
There's also the possibility it needs the becm & engine ecu sync via sync-mate or like but not sure at this stage, think it needs to accept the EKA first. I said think.
 
Last edited:
what engine does it have? if petrol is it gems or thur?? if thur send a pm to nathen he has a sincmate and is not fer from you, your car ans lost its code between becm and engine ecu..
 
ok, thanks again

Battery now back on charge :)

I've also just performed another test which is to check for voltage drop on pin 6 of connector C326 (the blue one into the BeCM) when the fob is pressed. Sure enough when the remote is pressed the voltage does drop, so (from what I've read) this means that the remote is working (?).

On the subject of the EKA, even when it seemed to work, it still didnt grant a start
 
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