Help please fob/becm/new owner problem!

Hi All,

Hubby and I bought a 4.6 Vogue on a 99 T plate last Saturday. Dodgy dealer told us that the only key for the car had lost the code and needed reprogramming. He knocked small amount of price for this and hubby bought car. Only way to start car at this point was by physically entering the EKA or info panel said "Engine disabled". Took car to Paul Rutter in Chichester, very helpful, put car on diagnostic box and although couldn't tell if problem was fob or becm somehow managed to make it work so we only had to unlock the door with the key and it would start. Great, until next morning (yesterday) when hubby goes out, unlocks car, fiddles around getting daughter in seat and finally puts key in ignition to be told "Engine disabled". No amount of entering EKA worked so in the end we disconnected the battery, left for one hour and got car to restart. This morning he did it again! Car locked out, engine disabled etc etc. I've tried disconnecting the battery for an hour, again and cannot get the car to run. Get lots of funky beeps because nothing works but still engine disabled.

In the meantime I've been back over to Paul Rutter in Chichester and picked up the new Key 2 which we'd ordered on Wednesday, so now I have this too.

My question to all you experts out there is what do I do next? I cannot get the two leads from the battery once they are disconnected to meet over the top to touch them together as they aren't long enough. I have again disconnected the leads and left the car but how long will this take now? Then if I can get the car running again what should I do with the new key to try it, without making something else go wrong? I ask because these things do not seem simple on these cars. (love my Scooby, very simple!)

If anyone out there can help me please do! Would love to get the damn thing running! Looks very pretty on the drive but not running makes it a very expensive planter and I can't get too many flowers in the bonnet anyway.

Thanks lots,
Nikki.

PS am not very technically minded and am also female so please explain any suggestions thoroughly!! Thank you!

put your battery back on, put the key in the door lock, press lock button on key and turn key to lock. do the same with unlock button, pressed in turn to unlock. take key out and that should work..

Leave the battery alone. Do as J the R says and all should be good. Also you may need to put the key in the ignition and turn it to position 2 and press the unlock buton.

Does your new key fit all the locks? I have just got my key 3 from Guy Salmon at Portsmouth and they set it up when I bought the key. Do the re sync procedure and post feedback.

Hi J the Range,

Thanks for your help, but it didn't work. I reconnected the bettery and got the car going with the original key and also the new key, but still neither of the fobs work despite me following your advice with both of them. Is there anything else you can suggest or do I need to take it back to the chap with the diagnostic box to get it working?

Thanks,
Nikki.

Hi Again,

Just tried again to re synchronise the keys and pressed unlock button whilst in position 2 but still no luck. Reset all the windows etc so funky beeping has stopped and car starts without the EKA again which is a real bonus from where we were but again neither fob works. Do we need to get these "set" with the car by a dealer or person with a box? Can accept our key 1 might have been faulty but hard to believe brand new one is also.

Any suggestions gratefully received.
Thanks,

Nikki.

Send "Rick the Pick" a PM....He is based in the Brighton area.
He has the specialised Becm software, same as myself but is more local to you.
Any problems getting hold of him etc., send me a PM.

Hi

Welcome, first of all.

Maybe battery in old key is dead as you have not mentioned whether the red light flashes, but as both old and new key don't fob, good verb there I thought, then as Irish said, sound like a BeCM problem which both Rick the Pick and he specialise in.

Have used Irish in the past and he is a top top bloke, heard only good things about Rick the Pick too.

One last thought, if you stand by the rear of the car with the fobs touching the last quarter glass, do they work then? If the previous owner has disconnected the IR receiver (should say IR receiver antenna) to stop battery drain then in position it allows your fob to fob, then you need to be quite close to check. Cannot remember which side though, sorry.

Good luck.

drivers side

Could be the RF receiver has failed before you go doing expensive things with the BECM. It's under the trim right hand side rear. Easy access by removing the trim panels in the boot. They are often disconnected due to battery drain caused by the early receivers picking up spurious signals from door bells wifi etc. Sometimes the wrong connector is unplugged which causes problems, it should be the aerial that is disconnected not the 3 wire supply.
Have a look, see if the receiver is there and if it is connected. If it's connected it may be faulty. If it's not or only partially connected you have your answer. Don't get a replacement on Ebay. You would need the latest version or you will have more problems.

I second Datatek, my first port of call would indeed be the RF receiver

Thanks everybody.

Unfortunately still having problems. It turns out that now the car won't accept the EKA at all and if left for a while it disables the engine again, however quickly we put the key in the ignition and with the EKA not working that means we have to disconnect the battery again. We've had it a week and a day and it's spent 90% of that time sitting on the drive refusing to start!

It's currently sitting refusing to start again now but once we get it to start again (if!) we'll try the suggestions about the RF. Just so frustrating! Lovely to drive when it goes but really not much use at all otherwise.

Thanks Irish Rover I will try to contact Rick the Pick too, although at this point I'm ready to scrap the car! :-( We'll try the RF and post back.

Thanks again.
Nikki.

Further update...

Got engine disabled warning to go away once battery reconnected again and now car turns over but won't catch and run.

Any suggestions? We've checked spark plugs and made sure all obvious connections under the bonnet are good but it seems as though it's not getting any fuel. Tried turning over with and without gas pedal pushed down.

Help...???

Thank you.

99% sure that the security "Handshake" between the Becm and the engine ecu. is not being made and needs a resynch.
If you are not getting the "Engine Immobilised" message, hopefully the Becm has not alarmed and locked itself out, although if it has, it's not the end of the world and can be rectified by Rick or myself.
You say that EKA entry is not happening, does the indicator side repeater flash with each turn of the key..if not, the micro switch in the drivers door latch, not the handle, could be sticking or gunged up and may need a good dose of WD40 (Common problem).
Is the "Check Engine" light coming on when you switch the ignition on ?-if not, the engine will not start and the fuel pump will not run.
As you have had the engine running previously and your main problems seem to be related to keyfobs/security/central locking issues, then I would concentrate on those areas.
Have you looked at the RF receiver yet to check that the wiring is present? there are two connections to the unit, a single blue wire (Antenna) and a multiplug with two or three wires (Power and output signal)...if the single wire is unplugged, the previous owner has been having problems with battery drain due to stray wireless signals, plug it back in and see what happens with trying to unlock/lock the car remotely..you may need to try a key resynch. again.
If this doesn't work, have a go at the door latch switch.

Ok, engine check light comes on but now we have the "engine disabled" message againh so we have no idea if the car would actually start or not because as ever the battery has had to be disconnected again.

Only thing that appears to be different is that the alarm LED in the middle of the windscreen is now flashing and wasn't before!

We're stumped. Have sent a message to Rick and hopefully he'll have some ideas, however the car is currently immobile so I've no idea what we can do next!

Thanks for all the suggestions. The expensive planter is looking more of a possibility every day!

Cheers for the help though people,
Nikki.

Have you considered throwing it back at the dealer ?

FYI - You don't have to remove anything to see if the RF aerial is connected you can see it through the hole where the back seat latches. Its right off to the left at the same height. You will need a torch to see it. If you had long enough pliers you could even plug or unplug it through the hole.

The aerial is the single blue wire.

Felix

Sale of goods act ?

Hi All,

I've been back to the dealer this morning and having taken advice from Trading Standards have managed to get him to agree to foot the cost of repairs. Also have Rick the Pick coming out tomorrow evening with any luck to do the jobs, so all seeming to get a little better!

Have had significant difficulty obtaining lockset code from Land Rover today, called them every half hour through the day and still not got it! More calls to be made tomorrow. Hubby is out there now checking out the door latch and the antenna/ receiver connections, will post back when I know what he's found. Have my limits only being a mere female!

Thank you very much for all the suggestions though, we've learnt enough from this forum that I probably won't insist hubby sells once the car is mobile again!

Hi

Glad to hear you're keeping it, at least in the short term!

EKA not working is probably the door latch mechanically failing, but could be communication from the latch. Rick the Pick is the guy so best of luck tomorrow.