My Range is having an electrical wobbly!

The joy of having a Land Rover is presently being marred in my case by the electrical crisis my P38 4.0 is having today.

The car will run, all is well, except that all ( and I mean all!) of the dashboard lights are on all the time - and none of the instruments work. The indicators, external lights air suspension are all fine, the V8 is purring away, but all the lights remain on the dashboard, even when the ignition key is off and removed from the vehicle. That drains the battery, naturally, and caused a bit of a crisis yesterday, but that is another story. I am having to disconnect the battery every time I park it to ensure that there is any juice there next time I come to start it up.

There is no sign of life from any of the instruments or the written display ( but it beeps a fair bit). Two RAC men have scratched their heads, one suggested that a relay was stuck on.

Any suggestions about what it could be, a simple cure would be great; driving it over a cliff is not an option today.

Hello Mate,
Afraid I don't have a fix for you but it sounds like a Body ECM (BeCM) problem to me. Have a look at www.rangerover.net go to 'fixes: maintenance&repare then common problems&fixes, then Body ECM probs. there may be some answers or at least pointers there. there is loads of other tech info on this site aswell.

Best of luck, Aye, Chris Archer,

Thanks very much, will try your suggestion.
Derry

I checked out Chris Archer's suggestion, and learned a lot about the BeCM, thanks very much for that advice. I went to Guy Salmon Land Rover in Stratford on Avon who said they would be happy to look at it the following day, but then asked if the Range is gas converted. Yes of course, I replied, happily. The answer was a polite, " then get it off our forecourt, its a danger to the entire populace of the West Midlands".

Ok, that is not what they said, and they were polite, but it was made clear they will not touch an lpg model. I am told this is not the case with all Land Rover dealers, but anyone taking this line must be losing a lot of business. One of their staff did tell me of a guy who has the diagnostics and the experience to twiddle with it or replace it, so with a bit of luck everything may be wonderful next week.

Briefly, the Becm is under the driver's seat, it controls almost all the internal electrics, and runs stuff. www.Rangerovers.net sets out lots of useful info and encourages ( well, not encourages you, but does not scare you into running away whimpering) you to look at it as a thing that maybe you can understand and deal with.

All i have to sort out is the radio, which has also chucked a strop!

Hello i speak to much i feel but i think you will find the fault is with the dash itself i have had this before with lights staying on,you can check out all the feeds to the becm and dirty green conections in the kick panels,the instument pack remains live from the becm all the time anyway its just the processor in the dash thats gone wrong must be a cheap fix some where as you can get becms fixed cheaper than new.

i found a guy called Keith Baker in Wooton Wawen, near Stratford on Avon, who has the diagnostic gismos, and was calm. This helps a lot, i find. He pointed out that the heater matrix o rings were leaking coolant, one drop of which can b up your becm, and fixed it all. Then he re-tuned the radio! Everything is fine - happy rangey owner!