huge electrical problems / becm ?

I had my rangerovrvaleted etc . ran ok with a few electrica gremlins . Now !! has gone completely mad , loads of stuff not working , working on its own , alarm siren , horn , window washers, petrol cap opens . Iwas informed the becm had got wter in it ???? was then informed if i dried it out wuld come back to working ? as it did not by putting a house heater in the car over night , i was then informed to spray wd40 on all connections to include the circuit boards and leave to dry . This i did all dash went dead , apart from front windows working and stereo . I un plugged the battery and charged to full , put battery back on car and everything lit backup ! started car started fine 1min then horn blew constantly washers constantly , lights on front of car all on , i disconected the car battery but everything carried on working !!! do i have the devil car ? i had to pull a yellow plug out of font of becm to stop everything working and sounding . Is it still damp in becm? will becm come back to normal ovr time ? wll disconneting becm an utting in wrm houehelp i dry out recover? am i proper fu****d ???

Oh dear....water and BECMs do not go well together and in combination with WD40, may have completely killed your BECM.......
You really need the expertise of someone like IrishRover, a member on this forum, who has the hardware / software and the knowledge of BECMs to be able to test it for you and see if it is dead or reviveable. Send him a PM, I'm sure he could help.

It will mean removing the BECM, but this is not too difficult although it does mean removong the drivers seat.

WD40 is NOT a great product to use on electronics as others will be along to tell you - there are specialised electrical contact sprays which are far safer.

You may be able to source a replacement used BECM via Irish or sources he is aware of - obviously breakers yards and ebay are possibilities but you have to take care that they are warranted as being in good order from a reputable source, not just a private seller flogging off junk who will then disappear once you have paid !!

Hope you get it sorted. Remember not to let over-exuberant valeters loose in your Rangie again!!!!

Yes..have spare BECM's which can be programmed to suit your car if yours is shot. I caqn check and repair, if economically viable, your own. Both options..same day turnaround.
PM me if you are interested

See this is where it all goes silly ... i called a bemc mending company who told me , that they soak theres when they come in for mending in WD40 !!!! Is that a stupid thing to do ??? cheers or your advice and help . i have had the front seat out already , cause i neeed to "soak the becm in WD40........... Car battery now flat but did manage to startthe car this afternoon which is a step forward from yesterday ???? or not ? can i remove wd40 residue with something ? if is not the way to do it as instructed by the becm guy

Actually the web site states "THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE BECM SITE IN THE UK "!!!

Have i been shafted ?

Wash the WD40 off both halves of the connector with contact cleaner, you can get it from Maplin.
I wouldn't send a BECM to anyone who recomends "soaking it in WD40". WD40 is an excelent product for some purposes but is not suitable for electronics.

Both halves of connector ? ..my god i sprayed it all over the boards and connectors .. in a frenzy of hope !

moneypitRR said:

Both halves of connector ? ..my god i sprayed it all over the boards and connectors .. in a frenzy of hope !

Click to expand...

**** Get PCB cleaner as well then and wash off the boards as well, then let it all dry out for 24 hours or so before you test it

****...isthat a technical term ?

moneypitRR said:

****...isthat a technical term ?

Click to expand...

no it's not.but OH ****, might be.

definately clean the becm with proper contact cleaner as advised, not wd40, buy plenty and give it all a good spray so it is soaked in contact cleaner to get rid of the wd40, my thoughts are nt only the becm.
Did they steam clean the engine bay when it was valeted, if so also disconect and remove the fuse box that is beind the coolant tank and give that a good spey with the contact cleaner, inside there are relay's and a fuse board that cause problems like that just from coolant overspill, so if they have jet washed it, who knows.

What i would say is do one firts then check if the faults have gone then do the other, that way you will know which was at fault if any.

Hello, if your sure the people who valeted it are responsible, then you should claim through them, they should have public liability insurance??which covers this sort of thing, if they dont take them to a small claims court, initial out lay is small but as long as you can prove it was them you should win, as the hassle your going to go through and expense could see you out of pocket, take them through the legal system buddy,
hope this helps Rob

In my job I come across a lot of Rover 75 engine ECU's that get submerged in water thus causing the engine electronics to fail.

When I have removed the DME/ECU removed casing and applied a lot of contact cleaner then compressed air and repeat again I've yet to have one that's failed to start.
Not had one come back yet but I'm sure it's only a matter of time!

I've got to reply to this one.

I've been laughing my socks off! No information is better than wrong information.

WD40 is great for connectors but not components. Bottled pure or filtered water & a brush is the best method then thoroughly dry.

The logics have a protective coating & you don't want to get WD40 anywhere near this as it will compromise the protection. I'd like to know his success rates for repairs.

Rick-the-Pick said:

I've got to reply to this one.

I've been laughing my socks off! No information is better than wrong information.

WD40 is great for connectors but not components. Bottled pure or filtered water & a brush is the best method then thoroughly dry.

The logics have a protective coating & you don't want to get WD40 anywhere near this as it will compromise the protection. I'd like to know his success rates for repairs.

Click to expand...

With you 100% there, lots of folk think just because water and electrics spells disaster they would not consider using water as a cleaning agent around electronics, generally they are correct, BUT PURE WATER is a different story, you can emerse any electrical component into pure water without harm, even when it is active, same goes for electronics, cause pure water does not conduct electricity and in fact is an insulator. I found this out about 25years ago, when a normal fluoro light got knocked by a cat into one of my freshwater fish tanks that was very well filtered. Cat and all went into tank, no harm to cat other than very wet and light kept working under water, the residual current device didn't trip either. so got me wondering, and after lots of research found out about the pure water thing.

It goes to show that because someone advertises their services doesn't mean they know what they're talking about.
It fill's me with dread knowing that people would use that guy.

You really would be sending your becm off to the unknown.

There's another chap who's company name begins with M who tell's his customers that their becm has logged a number of faults, then charges £300 odd each time to rectify a known common problem that should cost £30. Total rip off.
When one of his customers sent me the becm this guy had fixed because this same problem kept occuring & after paying £360 each time, i took a look for him after this M chap kept saying he was replacing a specific chip inside each time. On examination, nothing had been touched inside & when the customer reported back this fact to him with a demand for a refund of over a £1,000 this M chap told him his soldering was so good that i haven't the experiance to see where he had replaced any components.

What a ****. 70% of our work is repairing & rebuilding these becm's for main dealers worldwide & i'd rather work for nothing than let people get ripped off by this guy.

So if anyone wants proper advice regarding their becm feel free to ask either me or Irish & know that you can get proper facts without getting ripped off.

I wouldn't call that a tuppence worth, more like a few quids worth.

hmmmm , was going to look through my handbook ! was looking under "S" not"o" all this for clean bloody carpets , if i ever see a can of wd40 again i will cry .

Moneypitt, you have my sympathy.

I had my P38 valeted just after I bought it as my wife thought it smelled of tobacco.

Exactly the same thing happened. Electrics went crazy and I was devastated by it...

I took it to a local independant who removed the BECM, gave it a good clean. It was a little damp inside, not soaked, but there was verdigree on the internal electrical components/contacts.

Once cleaned, dried and reprogrammed it was fine, and has been eversince..

He charged me just over £200 for the job lot including reprogramming. He apologised for the price but most of it was for time and hiring the software to reprogramme. I was delighted as I had expected to pay a lot more. Would have been over a grand at our local main dealer..

Needless to say I clean it myself now.

Good luck,
Steve

Rick-the-Pick said:

I've got to reply to this one.

WD40 is great for connectors but not components.

Click to expand...

WD40 is not a lot of good on logic level connectors either as it can degrade the plastic that the connector pins sit in. You should always use a good quality contact cleaner that is safe on phenolic type plastics.

well the becm is in the post to a certain irish rover man with a plan . My becm never came back from deaths door , mind you i doubted it would , the water thing was just the start , i think soaking it in wd40 did all the real damage , so lesson learned . i have had it in and out the car so many times now and read so much about it !!! i could give a lecture !!!