Hi All,

First of all, this is my first post so just saying hello! I took delivery of a 97' Range Rover 4.0 SE last week for use as a towing vehicle for a 2000km drive....

I have to say that the car did the job fantastically, was very suprised at just how smooth it was and very happy with it.... although, as told by many, electrical issues are now apparent and really frustrating me.

The car did the 2000km no problem, no issues. We parked the car up on the driveway overnight and headed for a well deserved rest. Next morning, come down to the car, remote unlock all fine, key to ignition and switch over to II and all fine, all lights on as usual.... go to start.... nothing, just a click under the break pedal but no attempt the turn over.

Ive searched and read all over the net to find out possible causes - most pointing to a dodgy key fob battery.... so we change all the batteries on the key, resync it and try again..... nothing.... then try a method somewhere that suggested taking the battery off with in II, again nothing......

A message came up at one point in the many tries saying "engine disabled" - only once, not since, but all the methods we have tried have ended in failure and our neighbours must be thinking im a bit of a nutter standing in the driveway trying a method of unlocking the door once to the right, then 5 times to the left, once unlocking and another 5 times to lock.... all to no avail.......

Just some more info if its relevant to anything - its a UK spec car, 94k miles on the clock and generally in all round good condition. It started up and stopped with no issues across all of Europe numerous times on the journey, it was just when we stopped and left it overnight it started doing this issue.

A warning sign came on of "transfer overheat" which is still there, but having read a few pages it led me to believe that this was just a switch giving in rather than something more serious, and as mentioned, we drove another 1300km of faultless motoring after that......

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated as this new Range Rover owner, who is very happy with his purchase and praised the car for the entire journey, is feeling a little bit miserable about it now!!!!

Thanks again.

Paul.

 

a friend from another forum suggested that it could possibly be the faulty switch that is disabling the engine.... I considered this before but as we started and stopped the engine on numerous occasions throughout the journey thought that it hadnt had any effect on it....

is this a possibility?

 

Check all of your battery cables for loose connections/corrosion.
If the starter is not getting enough power it will not turn over.
As for the t-case temp light, check the fluid level first, I'm sure its fine, but check it anyway.
Better yet change all of the fluids in the driveline and see if the fault comes back.
Worn out fluid wont hold up to heat as well as new fluid.

 

hi Spike,

thanks for the message.

Ive checked all the terminals and connections and all seems fine. We originally ignored it as a possible battery issue as the key fob battery went as well, we couldnt jump start it and everything inside worked fine with no 'dimming' of interior lights or stereo when trying to start up as with every other car ive ever had........ but we've hooked the battery up to another car and it wouldnt get a mondeo going so either our jump leads are not up to the job or the battery is dead.... just waiting for new one to arrive to try that... really hope its something this simple!!

 

So we've changed batteries for a 100% new with full load and its still the same issue.

Possibilities? Starter motor?, Immobiliser?, Key Programming?

Seems the key is set to open unlock and lock all the doors etc, but just nothing is ticking it over - ive kind of thought that it cant be the starter motor after having 50+ faultless starts in a week of ownership and 2000km.....

Really has put a downer on the first week of ownership!! :-)

 

another update - we have narrowed it down to being the imobiliser and the key not sending the signal... again have tried all the options for listed in various sites to get it working together again but still nothing.

are there any diagnostic programs floating around the internet anywhere? we have all the connections.

 

The key does NOT talk to the ECU, so it is NOT a key issue.
Remove the starter and bench test it.
Then look into the immobilizer if the starter checks out.

 

starter motor is fine.

have the EKA code now and that hasnt given any luck starting as yet.

Is there any way to just simply bypass the immobilizer and remove it from the system entirely? Im not concerned about the security side of the car, just want to get it running again any way possible!

Also, the "Transfer Overheat" warning message, would that disable the engine from starting?

 

I do not know how to by-pass the alarm.
No a transfer case overheat warning would not keep the engine from starting.

 

Hi all,

just thought that I would come back and update this now that the problem has been fixed.

Turns out it was quite a common fault after all - the ECU and BECM not being in sync together, ie, immobiliser code was not being sent between the two. Found this out through a lot of searching on the net and when turning the ignition to position II, the "check engine" light didnt illuminate - this apparently is a common sign of the sync problem.

€120 and a 24 hour wait later, and the nice black box solutions tool arrives from Cyprus thanks to DHL express delivery - 15 seconds later the car is running like new. Just plug it in and if its unsynced, it does the job....

So, anyone who has similar symptoms to this, and cant get to a dealer - its worth a shot.

https://blackbox-solutions.com/

sync mate tool - make sure you get the right engine model too.

all the best and thanks for the help along the way guys. will be around more for sure now its going again!!