P38 alarm issue with indicator lights on

Hi, I'm new to this forum and range rovers. Brought a DSE 2001. goes great but I have a problem with the alarm going off randomly at night. Presently working through the door locks,bonnet switch and tail gate. I know it is not a drained battery as I plug it into a Ctek battery charger when it is parked at night(only use it in the weekends). I have disconnected the Fob aerial so i won't get the BCEM waking up by any random 433MHz signals. When it goes off I can reset it it by unlocking it with the FOB and then locking it again. What generally happens next is that some time later all the indicators lights turn on (solid) and stay on until I unlock it. I have had times when just the the indicators lights come on and stay on during the night, no alarm and no messages and all else is fine. It can be fine for a 3-4 days. What is happening with the indicator lights coming on solid? what is the fix?
Any help would be appreciated

Check the underbonnet fuse box for sign/smells of burning.

I bought a 97 DSE a couple of months ago and the garage that did a service on it prior to me buying it fitted an isolator switch under the rear bumper.
I didnt bother about it for the the first couple of days of ownership. That is until I had exactly the same symptoms as you have.
Now when I park it up for the day I flick the switch and it it goes to sleep if you like.
A couple of times when I have forgotten to flick the switch back and tried to start the car the display tells me that the engine is immobilised.
I'm thinking it must have had the same problem and the easy option was to fit the switch.
It'll do for now

Do you know what part of the circuit that they isolated? I am doing some trials with the vehicle unlocked and the battery charger hooked up. So far no alarms or indicator lights on. From some threads they say it might be condensation in the BECM. The thing is I don't get any message of alarm trigger or fault on the display when it happens, so that must rule out perimeter switches door, tailgate,etc.

update on alarm issue. Recently I have been leaving the RR unlocked to see if the alarm and indicator lights come on. Will the indicator lights haven't been on but the klaxon sounder has been going off. I have had to disconnect it.
It seems now that when the BCEM is a sleep the klaxon sounder is off, but once the BCEM is awake the sounder goes off. I have disconnect the RF receiver unit totally as I must still be getting 433MHz signals with the aerial disconnect and waking up the BCEM. The other thing I have noticed is that the bonnet can be up and the BCEM will go to sleep and you can set the alarm with the bonnet open and the alarm will not go off either.
I have read a few threads and other people seem to have the same issue of the Klaxon sounder going off randomly or all the time. The temporary fix seems to be disconnect the klaxon or get the alarm disabled, but has anyone found the actual cause and fix?

kiwi4 said:

update on alarm issue. Recently I have been leaving the RR unlocked to see if the alarm and indicator lights come on. Will the indicator lights haven't been on but the klaxon sounder has been going off. I have had to disconnect it.
It seems now that when the BCEM is a sleep the klaxon sounder is off, but once the BCEM is awake the sounder goes off. I have disconnect the RF receiver unit totally as I must still be getting 433MHz signals with the aerial disconnect and waking up the BCEM. The other thing I have noticed is that the bonnet can be up and the BCEM will go to sleep and you can set the alarm with the bonnet open and the alarm will not go off either.
I have read a few threads and other people seem to have the same issue of the Klaxon sounder going off randomly or all the time. The temporary fix seems to be disconnect the klaxon or get the alarm disabled, but has anyone found the actual cause and fix?

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I have had this problem on and off, I have noticed I only get it on cold/damp nights. If the weather is warm or dry no issues at all, so I can only come to the assumption that moisture is forming and is shorting 'something' somewhere.....I know it's not much help, but another thing to consider...

kiwi4 said:

Do you know what part of the circuit that they isolated? I am doing some trials with the vehicle unlocked and the battery charger hooked up. So far no alarms or indicator lights on. From some threads they say it might be condensation in the BECM. The thing is I don't get any message of alarm trigger or fault on the display when it happens, so that must rule out perimeter switches door, tailgate,etc.

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I don't know what they did. The garage who fitted the switch was "Gemm 4x4" in Larbert. It might be worth giving them a ring.

You need to replace the RF receiver unit; aerial disconected helps but I still had same probs for ages, taking out door locks, all sorts!!
New uprated (shielded) RF unit £170 at Island 4x4 and probs all gone!!

Update: I thought I better given a final update on what I have done to solve the problem of the alarm randomly going off with indicator lights staying on solid or the klaxon sounding and other varies things. I have fitted a manual switch on the back bumper that isolates the RF receiver power supply. This allows me use the FOB to lock it then switch the manual switch on the back bumper off. To unlock I just switch the manual switch on which supplies power to the RF receiver then use the FOB as normal. To date which would now be 3-4 month the RR has sleep soundly all night, an so have I and the neighbors! I think some how even with the RF reciever aerial disconnected so the FOB range is only 2 metres max it was still getting signals and waking up the BCEM and then getting it to do random things.
Hope it is of some help to others.

kiwi4 said:

Update: I thought I better given a final update on what I have done to solve the problem of the alarm randomly going off with indicator lights staying on solid or the klaxon sounding and other varies things. I have fitted a manual switch on the back bumper that isolates the RF receiver power supply. This allows me use the FOB to lock it then switch the manual switch on the back bumper off. To unlock I just switch the manual switch on which supplies power to the RF receiver then use the FOB as normal. To date which would now be 3-4 month the RR has sleep soundly all night, an so have I and the neighbors! I think some how even with the RF reciever aerial disconnected so the FOB range is only 2 metres max it was still getting signals and waking up the BCEM and then getting it to do random things.
Hope it is of some help to others.

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I think what you have is actually a faulty RF receiver, a 2001 car should have the latest version which is not prone to the spurious signals problem.

Datatek said:

I think what you have is actually a faulty RF receiver, a 2001 car should have the latest version which is not prone to the spurious signals problem.

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According to RR.net, Land Rover produced another two versions of the RF receiver after discontinuing the P38A. The one available on Island-4x4 is the latest.

RangeRovers.net said:

Note also that Land Rover belatedly recognized this problem and has had two attempts at curing it. A partial official fix from Land Rover became available in 2004 from the UK dealer network whereby the stock RF receiver (Part # AFR1953) was superceded by a new one (YWY500010). Gunnar Arthursson reports that this receiver was less subject to interference, but did not completely cure the interference problem. Accordingly, it has since been superceded by an even newer design, part number YWY500170. Gunnar reportst that Owners with this latest update have not reported any further problem.

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