Disco 2 1 out of 2 of our keys has stopped opening / locking the car and disarming the immobiliser

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rjsdavis

Active Member
Posts
135
Location
Herne, Kent
Hello to all

We have a Disco 2 (2004), which we've had for a long old time now. We've always had two original keys, that have always both worked without fault.

Yesterday, for some reason, one of the keys decided to stop working. Battery was still good, red light still came on when a button was pressed, but a new battery was tried regardless in case this cured it. It didn't. My wife and I each have one of the keys. Hers stopped working, and when I got back, mine was still working perfectly. Therefore, I believe we can rule out the battery in the key, the receiver in the roofline and so on.

As an aside, my wife's key plastics were replaced a few weeks ago (not that I believe this to be relevant, but mention it all the same). The main LR logo button cracked and failed from use - therefore, replacement plastics were obtained and I swapped over the blade and the ECB inside. Upon having swapped over the plastics, this key continued to work perfectly until Saturday.

Therefore, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do to resolve it, or even why it would just stop working like this? Please don't tell me that this is a MD only fix! Is there something I can do at home to re-learn the 2nd key back into the alarm/immobiliser system to have them both working again?

Many thanks in advance for any replies

Oh, by the way, I've tried the "press the padlock button down at least four times to re-sync the key to the car" which I found in the technical manual. It didn't work for me. I've tried four times on the trott, six times, nine times each interspersed with opening and locking the car with the working key. I can't get a reaction from the non-working key at all at the moment.
 
A Nanocom will let you programme a new key to the car so it's not necessarily a MD job, search on here for the detailed how to and there's a locator map somewhere for Nanocom owners.
 
that second key might have lost syncronisation... either way a tester is needed to resync it and if no joy it means that even if the red led comes on it might not transmit the signal... dont torment your fob with that many button push cos it's completely useless for D2, it's for other kind of rovers... that scanner thing is a good ideea though cos you could rule out the transmission issue
 
that second key might have lost syncronisation... either way a tester is needed to resync it and if no joy it means that even if the red led comes on it might not transmit the signal... dont torment your fob with that many button push cos it's completely useless for D2, it's for other kind of rovers... that scanner thing is a good ideea though cos you could rule out the transmission issue

If you drop them you can break a solder joint, this cound end up with a red light but no transmission
 
Do you have a radio scanner, if so listen in on 433,920 and see if it makes a noise

Thanks for the reply - sadly, no I don't. The key hasn't been dropped either, but I fully accept that if it had been, that that could have been a cause as you suggest.
 
Ok - thanks for the replies. It looks like it's not a home-fix issue then? I'll wait until my usual LR specialist is back from holiday then. Just didn't particularly want to be down to one for any period of time!
 
Okey dokey - I've made some progress, but only in terms of ruling some issues out:

1 - I kindly enlisted the help of a D2 boys club member who has a Nanocom. I went to him, and we tried to re-sync the key, with the nanocom following the instructions that we posted on the D2 site. Sadly, this didn't work, and the Nanocom rejected the key. I figured that this might have meant that the key was screwed and would need either repair or replacement.

2 - Having spent some time looking for key repairer's - I found this guy on Fleabay who promised to be able to fix any LR key - solving soldering joints / issues etc or your money back. I decided that I still wasn't 100% on him, so decided to pop in and call on his workshop the next time I was in London. Before starting any work, he brought a transmission tester, and clearly showed me that the key was "working" - i.e. the red light comes on, and his tester demonstrated that a signal was being broadcast. He said, that I simply needed to have my key synced with the car again. He couldn't do this, so I left with it having cost me nothing.

Therefore, I'm still in the position of having only one of our two keys working. The "faulty" key is apparently still working, and broadcasting a signal when the fob is pressed. The receiver in the car clearly still works, as the other of our two keys still works and disarms the car just fine.

What to do next????

Would rather avoid a main stealer - as I'm sure that they'll just tell me to buy a new key for £120 and have it coded to the car. Does the main stealer have the capability of getting my old key, that apparently still works coded / sync'd back to the car to get it working again?

Many thanks...

IMG_20150921_141825.jpg (This was the error presented by the Nanocom when trying to program the key!)
 
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I've already got a "2nd hand key" that I know broadcasts. Why would I spend money on a key that I know nothing about when I've got one here that I know everything about?[/QUOTE]

it don't work thou! does it! i did mine with my hawkeye, cos it had a fob 1 and a standard 1

did you say you had a 2nd hand key? no!!!! most cars come with 2 keys, also it has took you this long to reply!
so i ain't a mind reader!
 
Okey dokey - I've made some progress, but only in terms of ruling some issues out:

1 - I kindly enlisted the help of a D2 boys club member who has a Nanocom. I went to him, and we tried to re-sync the key, with the nanocom following the instructions that we posted on the D2 site. Sadly, this didn't work, and the Nanocom rejected the key. I figured that this might have meant that the key was screwed and would need either repair or replacement.

2 - Having spent some time looking for key repairer's - I found this guy on Fleabay who promised to be able to fix any LR key - solving soldering joints / issues etc or your money back. I decided that I still wasn't 100% on him, so decided to pop in and call on his workshop the next time I was in London. Before starting any work, he brought a transmission tester, and clearly showed me that the key was "working" - i.e. the red light comes on, and his tester demonstrated that a signal was being broadcast. He said, that I simply needed to have my key synced with the car again. He couldn't do this, so I left with it having cost me nothing.

Therefore, I'm still in the position of having only one of our two keys working. The "faulty" key is apparently still working, and broadcasting a signal when the fob is pressed. The receiver in the car clearly still works, as the other of our two keys still works and disarms the car just fine.

What to do next????

Would rather avoid a main stealer - as I'm sure that they'll just tell me to buy a new key for £120 and have it coded to the car. Does the main stealer have the capability of getting my old key, that apparently still works coded / sync'd back to the car to get it working again?

Many thanks...

View attachment 97541 (This was the error presented by the Nanocom when trying to program the key!)

I may be wrong, but I thought you only got that error if the key was in the wrong ignition position when you attempted to communicate with the ECU.

Cheers
 
it don't work thou! does it! i did mine with my hawkeye, cos it had a fob 1 and a standard 1

did you say you had a 2nd hand key? no!!!! most cars come with 2 keys, also it has took you this long to reply!
so i ain't a mind reader!

Sorry Disco Driver from Cumbria - I simply can't understand what you are trying to type. If you could type it in the Queen's English for me, I'd be happy to have a look at whatever your suggestion is.... You might also want to read what I've written in earlier posts first before attempting to write more.
 
Thanks Neilly - Gremlin and I followed this video here:



It makes no reference at all to where the ignition should be, or whether the key should even be in it / car running / car not running - it's anyone's guess from this particular video.
 
PM sent to you RJS. Hope you received it.

The picture you posted showed an error code, which you should not have got if the video was followed. Which is what I find is strange.

I followed the nanocom video from their website over the weekend and it worked for me, but it was with a key and car I knew were working correctly.

Cheers
 
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PM sent to you RJS. Hope you received it.

The picture you posted showed an error code, which you should not have got if the video was followed. Which is what I find is strange.

I followed the nanocom video from their website over the weekend and it worked for me, but it was with a key and car I knew were working correctly.

Cheers

Thanks - we couldn't understand it either. Obviously, I drove the car to Gremlin's with the working key, so, in theory, there shouldn't have been any forseeable problems either. This was also with a key and car that were known to be working correctly. Therefore, in theory, we were simply trying to add in a new car to a working system. The fact that the key we were trying to associate was actually "known" to the car, being one of the two original keys, seems to be neither here nor there, or at least, no use to us whatsoever in getting the damn thing working again!
 
i had read through your posts, you do not mention anywhere that you got a 2nd hand key!
we had a problem years ago on a w reg disco, 3 months old and the key stopped working, 2nd key all ok! we worked out that the key was left in the house ontop of a radiator, this caused it to malfunction, open the car somedays, then not others, start some, but not on others, then we twigged what had happened, new key and all was ok again,
the currant car i have now came with 1 fob key and 1 blade key, i got a new key/fob push button off ebay, and re programed it, worked straight away!
 
Hi RJS,

following on from our conversations, I have just been out playing on my Nanocm.

I found the communication error code you had a problem with appears to be caused by the key not being put into the ingnition in time so the immobiliesr re-engages.

I got around this by putting the key in the ignition and turning it to position 2.


Cheers

Neil
 
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