The Rover-Landers of BC

OK, here's one for you;

1999 Discovery I with the 2 button key fob. I parked it and it sat un-insured for about 8 months. When I parked it, the key fob worked and the central lock worked. When I re-insured, the battery was dead flat. I got it going...but the key fob is not working, and the central lock is not working, not even from the driver's door. To lock it, i need to push the manual button at each door, and use the key to lock the drivers.

Usually this works. Occasionally, the car horn/alarm will make a series of rapid chirpings/pauses/chirpings etc., combined with flashing of the red dash LED. If I try to start the car like this, the alarm sounds, and the car is immobilised. When this happens, I can usually disable it by locking/unlocking the drivers door with the key...but sometimes not!

Anybody every seen anything like this, or have any information on troubleshooting the security system on this year? (PS...I LOVE vehicle immobilisers!) (PPS, by love, i mean hate)

Thanks for any suggestions.

Devin Biln

Hi Devin,

Probably a no-brainer, but have you tried changing the battery in the remote fob? They tend to die quickly when laying around for long time.

Failing that I would remove the interior door panels and give all moving parts and electricl connections/contacts a good spray of electricl contact cleaner.....always works wonders!

Cheers,
Andy

Have you re-synced the fob to the vehicle? Check the owners manual but I believe you do this by holding down both buttons at the same time with-in close proximity of the vehicle and I think the door locks will cycle once the fob is recognized.

The battery in the fob is new, but I will try the re-synch. What gets me is that the central lock is not even working from the door...and I'm still dealing with the immobiliser/alarm business. I think my neighbors are going to go crazy if I sound that alarm one more time!

When the alarm starts chirping, a small yellow relay inside the drivers kick panel is also fluttering. I tried swapping it, but same effect. I don't know enough about relays to know why this is happening, or even what relay that is. Removing it seems to immobilise the starter. How extensive are the wire diagrams in the shop manuals?

Could a bad battery be causing this? It is showing 12.5V and seems to hold its charge. When the car decides it wants to start, it starts not too badly.

Thanks for the quick reply and the suggestions!

Devin

I would say for sure a bad battery could be your problem. If the re-sync doesn't work I would swap out the battery for one that you know is good and see if all your gremlins go away.

Voltage can be a little misleading when figuring out the health of a battery

Andy

Update for those interested...

I left it disconnected overnight with the battery on charge. This morning, I hooked everything up. No alarm/immobiliser issues yet, but only half a crank as though the battery is bad. Cleaning and checking all the connections got me started, but there was a definite delay between key turn and starter crank. (cranking didn't sound laboured once it got going, and it fired up nicely) I will also verify all battery lead connections.

I think I'll pick up a new battery right after work, and try that. Could this explain some of the electrical/alarm issues? I think the security system has some sort of voltage drop alarm?

I still get no luck on the central lock...I'm starting to think its possibly a separate issue. Does anyone know if there is a way to verify the keyfob operation if the main door actuator is bad order?

Quick update, and request for more ideas:

The central door lock actuator in the door is OK, but not getting voltage. Fob buttons not working at all. Therefore, I have NO central locking ability at all, and am doing it manually.

Every so often, (intermittantly), I will get stuck in immobilise/alarm mode. This seems to happen all on its own, when I've left the car. It emits 2-3 seconds of quick horn flutters, then silence, then another 2-3 seconds of horn flutter &c. &c. This only happens when the doors are closed. Open a door, and the horn fluttering goes away. turn the key to position II and it goes away. When this happens, the vehicle is immobilised, and turning the key to start puts it in full alarm mode (horns blasting).

The only way I have been able to get it out of this mode is by fiddling with the key in the drivers door. Open/close and holding for 5 seconds to disable the alarm works intermittantly. It takes me anywhere from 10 seconds to an hour to fiddle enough to get it out of immobilse mode. I can find no pattern to what I'm doing, but once I get it, I can tell--the alarm light in the dash goes out. and stays out, and the horn fluttering stops.

I'm starting to suspect my Alarm ECU is done...or could this be a "spider" problem? My dad and brother, bot electrical engineers and very clever with wiring have had a look, but have told me they would need wire diagrams (or about a year) to get much further...Are full wiring diagrams available?

Down load manual here:

http://www.landroverresource.com/

locking and unlocking your drivers door 3 times should reset the alarm. I have mine go off once a wwek or so when I unlock. As far as I can tell it is the dreaded "spider". I am waiting to buy a new stereo so I will only have to rip apart the dash once. So far this has been the most annoying problem with my disco.

A small success!

I seem to have success in disarming the alarm and immob. by using the generic NAS EKA code 1515 via driver's door key as specified in rangerovers.net
http://www.rangerovers.net/repairdetail ... tml#naseka. Now I just have to sit there keying the driver's door for 3 minutes every time I want to start the thing. No problem! (Or maybe this seeming to work is just a sick joke a-la-Lucas)

Does anyone know if I can swap in a used alarm ECU unit for mine? I'm going to dig out the spider this week and have a look at that as well.

Thanks for the suggestions and moral support!

Update to (hopefully) close the thread:

I have central locking back. The Key fob is once again working. It's sat all evening without the alarm arming itself! I have no idea how it happened, but here's what I did:

1. Checked all connections and ground near battery. lots of corrosion & poor contact between battery and engine compartment fuse box.

2. Manually reset the alarm ECU inertia switch via a jumper on the card itself, as suggested by another thread on another site.

3. Physically and verbally abused the alarm ECU.

4. checked all connections related to security system at all points, and found a suspect connection at the satellite fuse panel under the dash.

In my stupidity and frustration, I did this all at once, not one after the other, so I have no idea which solution did the trick. I strongly suspect I had voltage problems getting to the Alarm ECU. Here's hoping that's an end to that.

Thanks again to all above who offered suggestions.