Locked out and bonnet shut

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marksmanuk

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Hello all, I'm in a bit of a mess with my '99 P38A.

The battery is dead and the bonnet is locked shut. The car is superlocked and the key just spins left/right and won't actually unlock the door.

I tried connecting an external 12V supply to the back of the solenoid and earth. This initially appears to work and I get two siren chirps followed by Key Code Lockout for 30 mins - as expected. However, after 30 mins the message disappears but EKA doesn't work. When doing the EKA procedure there's no sign of activity at all, no chirps, no lamp flashes, nothing.

I've performed EKA on this car many times successfully, the most recent back in April, which worked fine. I was thinking maybe the microswitch on the door lock is broken, but seems unlikely to have just failed now.

Is there any way to break in or open the bonnet from the outside? I had a poke around the front grill but couldn't even find the lock pin! Is it O/S, N/S or centre?

Any advice gratefully received!

Mark.
 
Last edited:
there are 2 lock pins, one either side of the grill. hate to ask the obvious but did you do a search? i think I read somewhere about how you can get to them from under the car but that its fiddly. alternative is that you might have to sacrifice the grill...
 
Get under the car and put your positive lead from your battery charger on to the positive FEED (Thick wire) terminal on the starter motor. Put the negative charger lead to a good earth point. This will charge your car battery up and hopefully allow you to get into the car.
 
I've seen posts suggesting it's possible to pop the bottom open from underneath the vehicle but I'm not sure what I'm looking for to release. I guess I'd need to release both sides. Will snapping out the grill really help get access to anything?

I like the battery charger idea, the problem is that the battery is disconnected. I knew the car would be parked up for a long time so I disconnected it and stupidly slammed the bonnet shut! Won't make that mistake again. Won't superlock it again either.

I'm providing a good external 12V supply on the main feed to the solenoid. It's enough to trigger the dash to show the Key Code Lockout and do the 30min countdown but I'm getting nothing when I turn the key doing EKA.

Is it possible to have absolutely no response when turning the key? I'm pretty sure it has always chirped or done something in the past, even when locked out.
 
How many amps are you giving it? Could be it's not enough. I would guess you are looking for around 5-6A.

There are two bonnet catches about 24" apart and they are not really accesible from the front through the grille slats.
People have posted on here that they have released the catches from underneath but it's difficult. You can do a search.

There is a microswitch on the lock assembly which sends a signal to the lock solenoid and also to the becm for the EKA.
Maybe the current you are providing is insufficient to power the ecu and solenoid.

P38's are secure....too secure at times!!
 
Use the charger as the power supply. The charger will deliver around 13-14 volts which is much the same as the alternator. A PSU, especially if it's regulated will be pushing out 12V and there will be some voltage drop in view of the load needed
 
To get the bonnet open you don,t have to remove grill,you need a long thin screw driver,you feed it through the grill and are able to pop the bonnet catches(both sides).If you need any help to get it going email me on [email protected]
 
Hi, Forgive me but I am right in thinking that if your battery goes flat, whether superlocked or not, the idea of the key hole is to be able to open the door to open the bonnet. If your lock is spinning surely this is nothing to do with superlocking, your key barrell has worn/broken. I don't think it matters how many volts/amps you put through it it won't let your key work.
I've had the flat battery probs loads of times and my key always works the barrell whether superlocked or not.
Just a thought! Someone with more knowledge may disagree.

jase
 
I still can't get the bonnet to open. I've poked around in the right place with a long screwdriver but it's just not happening on either side. Must be doing something wrong somewhere.

It would help if I knew what exactly I was levering. Can anyone take a picture of the offending bonnet release for me? Is it visible from the inside? I rang a couple of local LR garages, one of which had used the same method a few times and tried to describe the procedure but sadly had no P38s in today I could examine.

Getting really frustrated with this now!
 
OK, got the drivers side open, it's actually quite easy to do when you know where to push. Any hints for the passenger side? It looks like the mechanism is mounted the other way around.

Ta.
 
Marksman, I could use a few pointers myself. I'm in exactly the same boat and the best my local garage could come up with is try and break in with a coat hanger!! Could you give me a rough idea of where the releases are ? I can't see much through the grille at all so I expect its a case of prodding around and hoping for the best?? Would appreciate any pointers you can give...
 
I finally managed to get in.

It looks like there was more than one problem. Firstly the battery went flat with the bonnet shut. Secondly the drivers door lock was broken, the cam on the rear of the lock had sheared off and was flapping about in the door.

The best I managed to do was unlatch the bonnet on the drivers side, I never did get the passenger side to unlatch. In the end I was able to open the door by pulling the lever inside the door cavity and got in that way and pulled the bonnet release.

You need to be looking in the gap at the top left of the grill where the release cable to the passenger side exits. You can see the end of the lever where the drivers side release cable attaches. You're looking at it end on through the gap. It's actually visible if you shine a small torch in the gap. I used a long thin screwdriver to gently push the lever/end of the release cable and it popped open easily.

No idea how to do the other side, it looked like the whole mechanism was mounted the opposite way round on my car so nothing to actually push against. Sorry, can't help with that side.

So lesson learned, even super locked it should be possible to turn the key in the drivers door and get the door to unlock. Admittedly I did this with an external +12V power source applied and it was actually still in Key Code Lockout state.
 
hi all, just a quick one....i got the passenger side bonnet catch open on my rangey by using long nosed pliers . just grab the bonnet release cable through the grill and pull towards the drivers side and it will release, just for future probs !!
 
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