That's why I've been getting PMs on the subject. I'm about to try out the front-running idea right now, actually...

Yes they did and yes it was! This guy also told me that when the actual ECU itself blows, there's no diagnostics out there that will tell you. It's the one failure they're unable to identify, it seems.

Is that for real?? I can't see being able to do that without the glass breaking!:confused:

I'm also considering unbolting the door hinges. Even though the doors are locked, I would imagine I should be able to prize open the hinged edge enough to get a bit of hooked piano wire around the keyring and draw the key out. But as it's simpler, I'll try your PM suggestion about the coathanger...

I did examine that option, but the rubber seal that surounds that glass is a real bitch to get out. There's probably a clever technique to this (and replacing it later) that I am unaware of.

Hi guys, What's the 'best way' to break into a Defender 110 with the safari body? I've locked my keys inside. I'm told I can get a new key for 30 quid from a place 20 miles away, but if there's a simple way to get in that anyone knows about then that would certainly be preferable! And before...

I finally got the 'ender back today. Final bill for the new ECU was 233 quid inc VAT and fitting which was a pleasant surprise. Shame the first thing I did when I got it home was to lock myself out of it, though! :mad:

Sadly not. It was supposed to be ready on Wednesday but the new ECU hasn't turned up in the post yet, they've told me. Monday on this island was a bank holiday so that didn't help matters much. This is something you just have to get used to living out here in the middle of the Irish sea...

I don't expect to find anything obviously wrong with the old ECU and don't plan to waste very much more time with this issue. It stopped being fun when I ran up against the roadblock of the coding problem. I'll test those capacitors and visually inspect for anything which looks like it might...

There are few things, if any, worse than intermittent faults to try to track down. It's usually something dirt cheap to fix, like a bad connection of some sort, but finding it can take so much valuable time up that I've often wished something expensive had gone kaput for certain. Time=money.

The nonsense codes were probably due to the various tests I carried out. I'm sure the unit was 'thinking' WTF????!! while I carried them out; it would be more than its brain could handle so it's hardly surprising it's stored stuff that makes no sense.

Of course they do! It might not happen every day but none of these intricate components, especially in an automotive environment, has an indefinite life-span.:rolleyes:

Oh, I fully agree; not a suitable environment for ****ers. But do please remember I do this kind of thing for a living. Almost all the tests I carried out were very light-touch and couldn't possibly have damaged the ECU. The loading an oscilloscope places on a circuit is feather-light (30pF ||...

Oh, I'd have bought a Hawkeye or that other one you use IF I felt I had a future with TD5s, but since they use these computer management systems, it ain't gonna happen. I plan to sell my TD5 later in the year and get something simpler and more true to the ethos. A Series 3 for example. I kind of...

Sorry, it does appear I was gloating on re-reading it. Seriously, I'd like to thank everyone who chipped in here regardless. Any of those suggestions could have been the money one. I just got lucky. :)

Bloke just rung up: are you all listening? ECU!!! I was right! You lot were all WRONG!!!:D Better still, he said they couldn't get any sense out of the old ECU; it wouldn't communicate with their diagnostics, so they swapped it over with a known good one, reset the codes and bingo! Fired up...

Yup. Still waiting to hear back on it. I'll give 'em til the end of today and if nothing still heard I'll phone 'em tomorrow. I don 't want to push it as they've kind of given me to understand that it will be cheaper if they simply fit it in when they can rather than prioritize it. BTW, this is...

You came to this rather long thread late in the day so you probably missed the post where I stated that the conflicting information I was getting from different sources was leading me to suspect that this vehicle was a bodge-up that been made up from disparate stolen parts from other models. Not...

Ah, well you're probably from the low countries, then. They typically speak 5 languages. I'd never have known anyway. Well done!:)

Right, then. My bet is that the ECU has packed up; a view I took some time ago. Anyone else like to make a prediction as to what the problem will eventually turn out to be? I thought I saw a 'poll' feature on here somewhere but it must have been some other site. Pity; could have come in handy.