P38A 98 2.5 DSE With electrical issues

So my P38 has been parked up for a couple of months whilst i organised some 2nd hand parts from the UK. Now back on the road i have a few other issues. First of all, on occasions it would be difficult to start. Normally it cranks for about 1 second and then fires up bit now occasionally i have to crank for maybe 4-5 seconds. No i haven't checked the glow plugs (yet) as that is not my main issue. On Friday i fitted a new battery, 1000CCA, no problem, started first time and all appeared normal. Started again first thing on Saturday morning and again at lunch time and then parked up inside until Monday. Went to start it this morning (Monday) and noticed that the headlights would come on with the ignition and that i could not turn them off. Started it up ( no problem) and parked it outside. Now the central locking doesn't work, the petrol flap keeps popping open, the wipers don't self park, the headlight washers squirt and wipe as soon as the ignition is switched on and the horn sporadically beeps (as it does when you lock it with a door not properly closed) even when driving, or parked up with the key out Quite bizarre. I'm making a guess that it's probably to do with the BECM but i would like to know the thoughts of someone with more nouse than me. I also have a spare P38 i can use for parts but i am unsure whether the BECM is the same as it is a V8 petrol model. All help greatly appreciated.

Have a check of the connector plugs on the becm for damp and signs of green corrosion, give them a spay off electrical contact cleaner not wd40 .

Classic symptoms of an earth fault.
Check your earth lead from battery and between body/chassis/engine.
Also check your new battery is indeed fully charged.

Will carry out both those jobs tomorrow morning. Pretty sure battery is fully charged as cranks like a good un.

spadgr said:

Will carry out both those jobs tomorrow morning. Pretty sure battery is fully charged as cranks like a good un.

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DO NOT have the battery connected when you do it.

My manual has a big earth cable on GB too, not sure about auto.

You get your transmission done?

Check the underside of the carpet on the side the BECM is located for wetness. If it is wet or damp, there may be condensation inside the BECM as well as corrosion in the connectors.

+1^^!

Datatek said:

Check the underside of the carpet on the side the BECM is located for wetness. If it is wet or damp, there may be condensation inside the BECM as well as corrosion in the connectors.

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There are 2 types of BECM, the lowline and highline, each with lots of software versions. You can swap between petrol and diesel but some settings will need changing with diagnostics.

OK, so i had a look at the underside of the carpet and it is indeed damp, i suspect leaking heater core O rings are the culprit. The plugs to the BECM appear to be in good clean condition, so my sparky mate removed the BECM and we have opened it up and there are a couple of areas that have some mild corrosion. On the bottom piece of circuit board, on the underside there is what i assume is a micro processor and whatever it is that is covering it has come away. Unsure if this is the problem, but will investigate further tomorrow. I have taken the BECM from my spare parts Rangey, but it is the other type to the one in my vehicle. Is it possible to swap them over, or are they totally different? I f it is possible to swap them over, are there issues with the immobiliser? I do have access to diagnostic software and i also have a BBS MV Extreme on hand.
All help gratefully digested and absorbed.

Transmission on my new Rangey will be removed when Old Bess is back up and running.

RangeRoller dt said:

You get your transmission done?

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spadgr said:

OK, so i had a look at the underside of the carpet and it is indeed damp, i suspect leaking heater core O rings are the culprit. The plugs to the BECM appear to be in good clean condition, so my sparky mate removed the BECM and we have opened it up and there are a couple of areas that have some mild corrosion. On the bottom piece of circuit board, on the underside there is what i assume is a micro processor and whatever it is that is covering it has come away. Unsure if this is the problem, but will investigate further tomorrow. I have taken the BECM from my spare parts Rangey, but it is the other type to the one in my vehicle. Is it possible to swap them over, or are they totally different? I f it is possible to swap them over, are there issues with the immobiliser? I do have access to diagnostic software and i also have a BBS MV Extreme on hand.
All help gratefully digested and absorbed.

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You can swap the logic board over from the Lowline to the Highline and it should work. I cannot remember which board is which. If you swap the logic board from the Highline to the Lowline then some things might stop working as they won't have power from the BECM powerboard.

Or with Faultmate you should be able to copy the settings from the old BECM to the new one but again, if going High to Low it might not have all the power outlets you need, e.g. fog lamps.

How can i tell which is which BECM? although if my assumptions are correct then it is fairly obvious.

spadgr said:

How can i tell which is which BECM? although if my assumptions are correct then it is fairly obvious.

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One has an H on and one has an L!

Mild progress, fitted the second hand Becm and all the electric shenanigans are gone, but the beast will not start. Hooked up the MSV Extreme and it will not communicate, it says it is programmed for a different ecu. is there anyway I can overcome this? if I put in my old Becm and try to get an eka code or whatever I need, how would I enter it in to the 2ND hand Becm if I can't communicate with it? Should I just buy a tin of petrol and box of matches!!!!

spadgr said:

Mild progress, fitted the second hand Becm and all the electric shenanigans are gone, but the beast will not start. Hooked up the MSV Extreme and it will not communicate, it says it is programmed for a different ecu. is there anyway I can overcome this? if I put in my old Becm and try to get an eka code or whatever I need, how would I enter it in to the 2ND hand Becm if I can't communicate with it? Should I just buy a tin of petrol and box of matches!!!!

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The BECM and EDC will need the immobiliser code matching but if you cannot communicate with the replacement that will be difficult. I'd look at sorting the original.

spadgr said:

Mild progress, fitted the second hand Becm and all the electric shenanigans are gone, but the beast will not start. Hooked up the MSV Extreme and it will not communicate, it says it is programmed for a different ecu. is there anyway I can overcome this? if I put in my old Becm and try to get an eka code or whatever I need, how would I enter it in to the 2ND hand Becm if I can't communicate with it? Should I just buy a tin of petrol and box of matches!!!!

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Is the Faultmate VIN locked? Might want to ask Blackbox.

As I say, the other option is to just swap the logic board over between the BECMs. @martyuk will remember which board is which.

The Faultmate is Vin locked, as regards sorting out the original Becm, i think i would have to send it to the UK and that means it would be off the road for quite a while. There are a couple of electronics places over here, but given all the headaches i have read about, i'm not sure i would want somebody who doesn't know what they're doing have a look as i may end up just digging a deeper hole.
If i swap over the logic boards, would i not be in the same boat? as i would think the logic board would probably control the immobiliser. I have read on the internet about soldering in a plug that gives direct access to the control microprocessor and allows it to be unlocked (Sm035), does anybody have the pinouts for the plug so that i can make one myself? Also is my MSV Extreme likely to have the appropriate software installed to allow me to overwrite the settings? Anybody on here done it?

spadgr said:

The Faultmate is Vin locked, as regards sorting out the original Becm, i think i would have to send it to the UK and that means it would be off the road for quite a while. There are a couple of electronics places over here, but given all the headaches i have read about, i'm not sure i would want somebody who doesn't know what they're doing have a look as i may end up just digging a deeper hole.
If i swap over the logic boards, would i not be in the same boat? as i would think the logic board would probably control the immobiliser. I have read on the internet about soldering in a plug that gives direct access to the control microprocessor and allows it to be unlocked (Sm035), does anybody have the pinouts for the plug so that i can make one myself? Also is my MSV Extreme likely to have the appropriate software installed to allow me to overwrite the settings? Anybody on here done it?

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Unless you have the very expensive additional BECM unlocking software and the MSV 2 is not Vin locked, it will do no more than a Nanocom can. The BECM you are trying to work with has a different Vin number than the one you took out, so the MSV 2 will not talk to it if Vin locked.

So, the options are, fork out for some expensive single use software or send my Becm off for repair. Any ideas who is a reliable Becm repairer please?