2.5 ton paperweight??

Hello again boys & girls, I was on this forum many, many years ago when I had my lovely '95 DSE, loved it to bits & regretted selling it EVERYTHING was 100%!!
Anyroadup, after several more cars, I pined for another to 'play' with, still got 10 bikes I restored, fed up with them so I found a NON-RUNNER & probably one of the last P38s made, Reg in 2002!
So, this DHSE auto, 20" rims, has been sat in a industrial yard for around 6-7 years, & had a BeCM fault, thats ok as I still have my old Rovacom-Lite!!
Once delivered, I started to explore everything, 1 key only & it was unlocked, inside was/is pretty disgusting, popped the lid, no battery, dropped in one I had
( wrong but good enough to test ) First thing, remote led lights but no effect whatsoever from the car, key in & the half lit display states 'key code lockout', well I expected that, tried the EKA code, but of course everything is dead, but whilst the key was in, I tried the windows, sunroof, seats & headrests, boot, lights, indicators, both wipers & even the antiquated GPS, they all worked fine!!
Air-sus down, but not worried about that, easy fix for me as I replaced/repaired my old complete system years ago.
Fuel- flap is dead as is the entire central locking, even if the door buttons are pulled & pushed.

Hooked up the Rovacom, & after the usual 'chuntering away for a minute It comes up in red, 'cannot communicate with BeCM as its in ALARM state, EH???

How is that possible when its not had a battery for years? It cannot communicate with ANY of the modules either.

Not to worry, i'll pull the BeCM & check stuff, NOW FOR MY BIGGEST PROBLEM............the passenger door will no open, from outside OR inside, & at this moment in time is my bugbear, so there will be many cries for help in the future, but for now, any help on getting the door open please.

To start with, you need to leave the battery on until the key code lockout times out, then you may be able to make progress

kermit_rr said:

To start with, you need to leave the battery on until the key code lockout times out, then you may be able to make progress

Click to expand...

+1^^^^^

As above. Might be superlocked. Fully charged battery. Check RF plugged in and make sure EKA entered and key is synced. If you can get the central locking to respond to fob then that might sort it. Microswitches might be duff on drivers side. Other option is the door cble has popped put of its hole.

Brand new battery, pressing the keyfob has absolutely no effect to any of the locks, but the key will manually lock & unlock driver door only.
Today I managed to prize off the top-inner rubber trim from the passenger door & looked down at the lock through the gap, ALL the rods are connected to the lock, the inside lever pulls the cable ok, to outside handle seems to operate the lock levers ok & the pull up, push down button operates the white nylon unit on the lock, BUT, on the drivers door there is a distinctive 'click' & 'feel' when operating, but on the locked passenger door, it simply goes up & down without any 'feel' or noise, its as if its broken inside, there seems no way at all I can remove the inner door card, Tried a long 10mm steel rod onto the various levers I can see & hammering them but zilch so far!!
Its as if this 1 particular unit is superlocked, I can just see the striker bar when the rear door is open, so tomorrow i'll remove the door hinges ( & door ) & then it MIGHT reveal the striker enough for me to somehow cut/grind it off the B pillar to get the door open.
Can anyone explain why as soon as a battery is connected the BeCM is 'armed' & the dash-top led starts flashing??
This is why my Rovacom cannot communicate with it when armed, how do I dis-arm when the remote has no effect on anything.
Thanks

Just remembered, today I removed the fusebox, removed the circuit.-board, cut the links, opened up the mainboard to inspect. The whole thing is like new, clean, dry, no corrosion or burning at all, so closed it up, re-soldered the pins, reinstalled relays & fuses & connected it all back, so at least THATS ok!!

Today I removed all the seats, main carpet & sill- plates etc. all dry, dis-connected the BeCM, checked it all over, seemed ok, nothing obvious as well, loosely refitted & re-connected all the wiring/plugs etc. This time it DID accept the key-code, no engine disabled indicated, turned key & the starter burst into life, but awful noise, turns out its hanging off!!, Tried to re-sync the key, & Wey-Hey, all the locks also burst into life, & it central-locks with the key!!!

Still don't know if the engine runs or gearbox will work yet!

Hooked up 6mm air pipes & manually pressed up the suspension, each corner went up about 6", it looked great, but it soon settled back down again, so maybe next week ill shove 4 new bags on, just ordered replacement seal kit for compressor & valve-block.
The radio has been removed, the speakers say 'Harman-Kardon' but that's all I know, there is a HUGE finger-thick copper cable, about 6m long running from the battery, right under the carpets to the boot area where the was obviously a large power-amp ( missing ) of some sort as well as 8 very thick speaker cables & a couple of big electrical boxes under the seats, to this wiring , what they are, I know not!

Question, would all this audio gear be original, or a retro-fit, as the size & quality of this stuff looks very expensive, I'm not bothered & a 'normal' head unit will be fitted, although I can find nothing in the dash wiring for a radio at the moment as all these audio cables have been brutally cut.

If & when I can get the engine & box working, then I'm prepared to spend a few bob 'tarting her up' so to speak!

Sounds like they cut the wiring out of the original radio so they could use an aftermarket, the original harmkon kardon system speakers were all amp driven by the one on the left side of the boot which is standard but obviously they wouldn’t work off aftermarket radio so they cut the wires and put them to an aftermarket amp to drive them.

I have saw on eBay you can get the connectors off eBay from scrappies but would be a lot of work soldering a lot of wires

Any cable that thick is retro fitted

kermit_rr said:

Any cable that thick is retro fitted

Click to expand...

Extra batteria?

Khemitude said:

Sounds like they cut the wiring out of the original radio so they could use an aftermarket, the original harmkon kardon system speakers were all amp driven by the one on the left side of the boot which is standard but obviously they wouldn’t work off aftermarket radio so they cut the wires and put them to an aftermarket amp to drive them.

I have saw on eBay you can get the connectors off eBay from scrappies but would be a lot of work soldering a lot of wires

Click to expand...

Depends on the level of sound system originally installed. I run a jvc head that works well with all the amps and speakers.

I like the extra battery idea, but don't think so due to all the 4 pairs of heavy speaker cables converging on the same area.
It is one hellava retro fit however, must have been a major strip out as all these cables are UNDER the carpets & some even go side to side under the rear seats, & others go under the front seats, so ALL the seating would have been removed, what a job!!
I really hope that I can find the necessary wiring in the dash area to hook up a radio, & I have a reasonable Alpine head unit kicking around somewhere.
No probs sorting & soldering connector wiring, just got to find it!!
'Amps & speakers' ?? Are those black-electrical boxes in the doors, amps??

modelman said:

I like the extra battery idea, but don't think so due to all the 4 pairs of heavy speaker cables converging on the same area.
It is one hellava retro fit however, must have been a major strip out as all these cables are UNDER the carpets & some even go side to side under the rear seats, & others go under the front seats, so ALL the seating would have been removed, what a job!!
I really hope that I can find the necessary wiring in the dash area to hook up a radio, & I have a reasonable Alpine head unit kicking around somewhere.
No probs sorting & soldering connector wiring, just got to find it!!
'Amps & speakers' ?? Are those black-electrical boxes in the doors, amps??

Click to expand...

No they are the door outstations, what are door outstations? Not a bloody clue but that’s what they are.

I believe the built in amp is part of the sub enclosure that sits above the 6 cd changer on the left hand side of the boot behind a removable panel.

Khemitude said:

No they are the door outstations, what are door outstations? Not a bloody clue but that’s what they are.

I believe the built in amp is part of the sub enclosure that sits above the 6 cd changer on the left hand side of the boot behind a removable panel.

Click to expand...

Door outstations control door mirrors and the locks. And the door speakers I think. Struggling to remember what was connected to what!

Grrrrrr said:

Door outstations control door mirrors and the locks. And the door speakers I think. Struggling to remember what was connected to what!

Click to expand...

Learn something new everyday, two days ago I learnt not to have my thumb in the way of liquid gas as its -188c and hurts...still cant feel half of that thumb.

Khemitude said:

I believe the built in amp is part of the sub enclosure that sits above the 6 cd changer on the left hand side of the boot behind a removable panel.

Click to expand...

Nope, once again. They weren't all driven from Amp behind the sub... It depends on what was fitted originally..

Khemitude said:

Learn something new everyday, two days ago I learnt not to have my thumb in the way of liquid gas as its -188c and hurts...still cant feel half of that thumb.

Click to expand...

Hope you haven't got frostbite. Bad time to need the NHS.

Door outstations look like this:



Door Amplifiers look like this:

Well the more I 'delve' into this, I'm thinking its factory, as every bit of wiring is well under all the carpets, the 'boxes' I found are crossover units, it must have been a reasonable system for its day.
My VW SEL has a Dynaudio system which looks similar, shame really as I'm practically deaf nowadays.

Grrrrrr said:

Hope you haven't got frostbite. Bad time to need the NHS.

Click to expand...

Is there ever a good time to need the NHS?