Greatly appreciate it if any one can help. I have a 99 Range Rover and went in to start it yesterday and would not start. Got a warning message saying "engiine deactivated" followed by "press remote"It appears the alarm systemiswon't allow the truck to start (the redalarm light continues to flash even when thetruck has been unlocked and key in the ignition. When I turn the key, the power (lights, radio,air, etc) are working, butthetruck won't attempt to turn over.The dealer was no help, suggested locking and unlockingkey several times, but to no avail,engine is still"deactivated."

 

I had this happen to me the other night on my '02 Disco II ... although, I don't get any audible or written mesasge about my engine being deactivated ... In fact, I just kinda figured this one out on my own...

Thing is, I went to start my truck and nothing happened ... I tried everything I could think of, but nothing worked. After a while, I sat there noticing all the little subtle things going on ... like, I noticed when I hit my brake pedal with the key in the ignition, I can hear the little "click" that unlocks my gear selector so that I can put it in drive. I also started noticing the red blinking lights on both my radio and the crazy little LED style light in the middle bottom part of my instrument panel.

Anyway, for some crazy reason, it just hit me that perhaps my truck was not low on battery power, but instead, something might be acting as an "anti-theft" which disconnects the relay to the engine/starter. Now, I can't tell you what made me think of that, or what made me think of what I did next ... I just decided to take my key out of the ignition, shut all the doors, and lock the car back with the remote keypad. When I did that, the LED on the dash blinked like crazy fast for about 5 seconds, then turned off. At that point, I unlocked the vehicle, got in, and attempted to start it. Guess what? Started like a champ!

Now ... I don't know what kind of electrical or electronic glitch I've got, and I don't know if it's going to happen again ... and I don't know if I'm in danger of having mine do what yours did, which is cut off and not turn back on for anything. Perhaps someone knows what causes this, and how to make sure that the engine deactivation switch only turns on when the alarm is activated, and that it turns off when you unlock the vehicle (turn the alarm off) ... ???

 

Sounds like you need to have your remote reset which Rangie Rovers sometime have to have done when they experience a glitch and I don't know how to do it. Do you have your owners manual, it should be explained in there.
Mike

 

I have my owner's manual ... I'll take a look soon and see ... I also think I need to have my battery replaced because I have to be about 12-15 feet from my truck (or closer) for the truck to react to the remote buttons being depressed. Perhaps that has something to do with it as well?

 

on mine, it does something funny when the keypad battery is low. I think the lights don't flash when I lock the truck. I would start by changing the remote battery, if you haven't. Cheap and easy start.

 

The light on my key's remote still lights up, and the lights on my truck still blink when I lock and unlock the truck. All in all, everything still works fine ... I just guessed that my remote's battery is low on power because of how close i have to be to the vehicle to make it 'work' ...

The reason I say it's just a guess is because A) I haven't tried changing the battery yet to see what improvement(s) I may get, and B) The truck I had before (GMC Yukon) had a remote (keyless) entry as well, and I could be VERY far from the truck and still have the keypad lock/unlock the truck ...

Either way, what I want to make sure of is that I don't end up in a situation where the "engine kill" is engaged and I have no way to start my truck. I feared that's what happened the other night, but as I already explained, I was able to get it started again and haven't had that issue recurr since then ... Wish me luck ... LOL

 

THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM... FIRSTLY REMOVE THE EARTH STRAP OFF THE BATTERY FOR AT LEAST TEN MINUTES...
THEN RECONNECT THE BATTERY... PLACE THE KEY IN THE DRIVERS DOOR AND TURN IT TO THE LOCK POSITION AND HOLD THE LOCK BUTTON ON THE REMOTE CONTROL UNTIL THE LIGHT ON THE REMOTE FLASHES FAST... NOW TURN THE KEY TO THE UNLOCK POSITION HOLDING THE UNLOCK BUTTON ON THE KEY UNTIL THE LIGHT ON THE REMOTE FLASHES FAST....... ONCE AGAIN UNLOCK THE DOOR WITH THE KEY...OPEN THE DOOR AND INSERT THE KEY... TURN THE KEY WITH THE UNLOCK BUTTON PRESSED AS THE IGNITION LOCKNEEDS TO RECONISE THE KEY.. NOW TRY AND CRANK IT.. IF THIS FAILS TO START THE CAR SEND ME YOUR CHASSIS NUMBER AND I WILL SOURCE WHAT THEY CALL AN EKA CODE.. THEN YOU WILL NEED TO GO THROUGH THE PROCEEDURE THAT IS IN YOUR HAND BOOK IF YOU HAVE ONE.. THIS SHOULD START YOUR CAR WITHOUT FAIL... IVE SEEN THIS PROBLEM ON NUMEROUS OCCAICIONS