L322 Lock out

I've been having a few issues with Rangie over the past few weeks with a power drain, as long as she's used every couple of days she's ok but any longer then its a dead battery. So as work is a little today, this was my day to try and find the issue... Came out this morning to a dead battery, ok, no problem, put 12v through the tow bar electrics to power the locks which I've done many times, red light on the dash flashing...... didn't unlock! She won't unlock via the key either, I should mention that the door lock has never worked in my ownership........ Tried both keys but no luck, had to resort to a locksmith...... Bless him, been there nearly 2 hours and he's just left having been defeated.. So, I've now managed to pop the bonnet by removing the inner wheel arch and pulling the bonnet cable so I can now get power to the battery, still can't get in to the car though.. Tomorrow morning I'm going to try and gain access via the boot by removing the number plate lights and boot handle, the screws have ben rounded off but I've managed to remove 3 of them tonight before it got to dark, likelihood is that I'll end up breaking the handle but if it gets me in to the car.... If this doesn't work, what else can I try before resorting to smashing a window??? Had a good look through the forum and this seems to be a common problem.......
Thank you in advance peeps....

I can't help with the entry into the car, but the battery drain could well be just a dying battery.

The physical key doesn't work in the door lock? Does it turn at all? Have you tried the tailgate button?
I don't know if it would help in this condition but have you tried a hard reset? I've seen others have success with key related issues

Datatek said:

I can't help with the entry into the car, but the battery drain could well be just a dying battery.

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I thought the very same Data, fitted a new battery 2 weeks ago.... I was hoping to investigate today... I'm going to replace the alternator as my jump pack is telling me its only producing 13.6v on tick over, I read somewhere that they can fail and cause a power drain so seems a good place to start..

kermit_rr said:

The physical key doesn't work in the door lock? Does it turn at all? Have you tried the tailgate button?
I don't know if it would help in this condition but have you tried a hard reset? I've seen others have success with key related issues

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No, the lock turns both ways and springs back so I don't think its a lock issue, probably the motor or a thingumabob behind...... Tried the tailgate and all other doors, she's deadlocked... Not sure what a hard reset is Kermit?

Hard reset is disconnecting the battery and leaving it for 30 mins so the modules lose all residual charge.
Some people speed things up by disconnecting the battery and then connecting the 2 cables together for a few seconds, that's ok so long as you're well clear of the battery terminals. You don't want to go anywhere near the battery when you're doing that though!!!

Have the engine running at 2000rpm. Turn all the heater fans, fog lamps and high beam on along with all heated screans and so on. The alternator should still knock out over 13v. It should charge at 13-14v at idle but the full load test will show you if the alternator is doing it's job properly.

Mark Piercy said:

Have the engine running at 2000rpm. Turn all the heater fans, fog lamps and high beam on along with all heated screans and so on. The alternator should still knock out over 13v. It should charge at 13-14v at idle but the full load test will show you if the alternator is doing it's job properly.

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Thanks Mark, I'll try that as soon as I can get in to the bloody thing..

kermit_rr said:

Hard reset is disconnecting the battery and leaving it for 30 mins so the modules lose all residual charge.
Some people speed things up by disconnecting the battery and then connecting the 2 cables together for a few seconds, that's ok so long as you're well clear of the battery terminals. You don't want to go anywhere near the battery when you're doing that though!!!

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Thanks Kermit, I disconnected the battery this evening before coming in as the alarm kept going off once I managed to get the bonnet open, may be I'll have more luck tomorrow..

Rallymantony said:

Thanks Mark, I'll try that as soon as I can get in to the bloody thing..

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Good luck matey

In! .. So yesterday, I removed the drivers side arch cover to gain access to the bonnet pull cable, needed to use the dogs lead to wrap around the cable and give it a good yank, bonnet popped open, so had power to the battery but still couldn't gain access to the cabin due to lock out. So this morning, I removed the number plate light and boot release handle, bent the security plate which gives just enough access to the lock, bit of fiddling and open she popped , car now started and unlocked... Its caused a slight bit of damage to the boot where the handle fits but I can reshape most of that, it gets covered anyhow so I don't feel it's an issue really. Got the locksmith on his way to make a replacement key... he broke the spare one I had, which made me laugh, should have seen his face bless him.
So now that she's started, stuck the jump pack on her and this morning its telling me she's charging at 14.8v and has gone as high as 15v! The last few weeks its been around 13.5v ish.... The battery was disconnected through the night, would that make a difference in any way?
Just want to say a huge thank you to you all for your help and taking the time, genuinely very much appreciated..

Mark Piercy said:

Have the engine running at 2000rpm. Turn all the heater fans, fog lamps and high beam on along with all heated screans and so on. The alternator should still knock out over 13v. It should charge at 13-14v at idle but the full load test will show you if the alternator is doing it's job properly.

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Turned everything on at tick over, lights, mains and fogs, a/c, heated screens, heated seats.... 13.2v, turned it all off and went to 14.2v. So seems the alternator is charging ok now......... Could it be feeding power back though?

Did you try the fob this morning after reconnecting the battery?
You need to check for a drain, could be a number of things including the alternator going bad.
Also need to check the battery is holding charge, ideally charge it while disconnected.. once it's full, leave it at least an hour then measure the voltage, should be 12.7v

Mark Piercy said:

Have the engine running at 2000rpm. Turn all the heater fans, fog lamps and high beam on along with all heated screans and so on. The alternator should still knock out over 13v. It should charge at 13-14v at idle but the full load test will show you if the alternator is doing it's job properly.

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Sorry Mark, I have to disagree, after starting the alternator should be putting out at least 14 volts probably more like 14.7v at idle. At 2k rpm with everything on it should still put out 13.8 volts if the battery is fully charged.

Rallymantony said:

Turned everything on at tick over, lights, mains and fogs, a/c, heated screens, heated seats.... 13.2v, turned it all off and went to 14.2v. So seems the alternator is charging ok now......... Could it be feeding power back though?

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There can still be leakage back through the alternator if there is a dodgy diode, the voltages do seem a little on the low side.

Datatek said:

There can still be leakage back through the alternator if there is a dodgy diode, the voltages do seem a little on the low side.

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Mine reads low 13.2-5v) with everything on and thats a new ish alternator with the mobiltron regulator. But, i haven't checked for voltage drops across 20 year old cables and connections, drop will be more pronounced at high load

Datatek said:

Sorry Mark, I have to disagree, after starting the alternator should be putting out at least 14 volts probably more like 14.7v at idle. At 2k rpm with everything on it should still put out 13.8 volts if the battery is fully charged.

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No worries Keith my good man I agree, only as a guide to our lad here. The alternator will behave also according to the batteries health as well.

kermit_rr said:

Did you try the fob this morning after reconnecting the battery?
You need to check for a drain, could be a number of things including the alternator going bad.
Also need to check the battery is holding charge, ideally charge it while disconnected.. once it's full, leave it at least an hour then measure the voltage, should be 12.7v

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I did kermit, didn't unlock unfortunately. My plan is to spend the day on RR and try to sort the key lock and then the battery drain, I'm a little out of my depths when it comes auto electronics if I'm honest but will have a look anyways

By chance a friend has just popped in for a cuppa, plugged in his diagnostic box and its listed a HUGE number of codes.... The car has always behaved itself and other then the lock out, all electrics have been fine. One thing that stands out is the light control module, I mean there's other modules listed but the LCM stands out to me, it listed as faults on nearly or maybe every light on the car, they all work so could it be that the module is bad?? I haven't researched this yet so I may be asking a question that I will find the answer to on here......
Quick edit, I just remembered that the CD player stopped working earlier this year... Where is the LCM located? wondering if the rear corner has got damp?

Need to know if the faults are current or historical and not been cleared. Low battery can cause all sorts of spurious fault codes in working systems