Hi fellow P38 community.

I have an unusual issue with my relatively new to me UK 2000 4.6 Vogue, which I can't find anyone else has experience on this forum or the other inferior ones!

It's my second rodeo with a P38, having previously owned a 1999 DSE, so have good experience with them.

I have just bought a green dot receiver to attempt to prevent the BECM being woken up parked outside.

I removed my existing receiver with the car unlocked but key out of the ignition and connected the green dot receiver, including the aerial (which I usually have disconnected).

Once fitted, I went to start the car and was presented with the classic 'engine disabled press key' message. It doesn't however say 'enter code'.

If I then enter the EKA code, the engine can then be started on the key. However the remote fob would not sync to the car. I tried the older method of putting the key in the door and pressing the button whilst turning etc., but no success.

I then removed the green dot receiver and refitted the existing receiver. 'Engine disabled press key' was again presented, but on entering the EKA code and starting the engine, the remote fob would then unlock and lock the car.

Repeating the process again for the green dot receiver, same problem. No remote fob.

Finally refitted the existing receiver, entered EKA code, engine runs and vehicle locks on remote fob. Leaving it that way for now.

I suppose this presents me with three questions:

1) Does anyone have any suggestions as to why the green dot receiver would not sync the remote fob and yet the existing receiver does? The seller of the 4th gen is genuine, even taking photos of the inside to prove, and is adament it worked on the car he was breaking and even tested it on his own car.

2) Does anyone know why I have to enter the EKA code when swapping between the receivers? Surely it should be plug and play? Do I need a Nanocom to reset RF memory?

3) If the RF receiver is removed entirely, should the car ask for the EKA code every time it is locked/unlocked? If I drive to the shops, lock the car on the key, unlock again 10 minutes later, it wants the EKA code. This doesn't seem right to me.

Thanks in advance!

1.It sounds like the replacement receiver isn't working. Ordinarily you should be able to swap receivers and they will work and not need the EKA, I've taken the receiver off my car and fitted on a different one to confirm the one on the other car was faulty. One thing does come to mind though, what country market is the car from? European fobs and receivers use 433 MHz, while US and Japanese ones use 315 MHz. So if your car is a Japanese import, then that would explain why it doesn't work.

1. You shouldn't have to but clearing the RF memory may help. Simply swapping the receiver shouldn't cause it to be immobilised. However, if passive immobilisation is enabled in the BeCM (which it is by default), the immobiliser kicks in if the car is unlocked but not started within 30 seconds. What normally happens then is a coil around the ignition barrel causes the fob to transmit an unlock code which turns the immobiliser off. This coil is very brittle and known to fail so you either have to start the car within 30 seconds of unlocking it or press the unlock button on the fob to turn the immobiliser off.

2. If the car has been locked with the fob and unlocked with the key, you will have to enter the EKA. If you subsequently lock and unlock with the key, it will ask for the EKA every time you unlock. If locked with the fob and unlocked with the key and the EKA is then entered with a Nanocom, it will no longer ask for the EKA so can be locked and unlocked with the key without any problems.

Not asking for the code suggests someone has been into the BeCM and disabled the EKA setting. People seem to think that when they see a setting for EKA with the options of Enabled or Disabled, if they disable it then they will never need to enter it which is incorrect. What it does is not ask for it whether it is needed or not and should only be disabled on a car that has never had an EKA programmed from new (only for certain markets, notably the US).

Gilbertd wrote:

Not asking for the code suggests someone has been into the BeCM and disabled the EKA setting. People seem to think that when they see a setting for EKA with the options of Enabled or Disabled, if they disable it then they will never need to enter it which is incorrect. What it does is not ask for it whether it is needed or not and should only be disabled on a car that has never had an EKA programmed from new (only for certain markets, notably the US).

I don't know if it's different for diesels but there is a long-term user with a diesel P38 on Landyzone who routinely recommends that people disable EKA & immobiliser. I have tried pointed out that disabling EKA is not a good idea for a V8.

I've also realised why it asked for the EKA when you swapped the receiver. Passive immobilisation will be enabled, you unlocked the car but didn't start it and swapped the receiver. You then put the key in the ignition and the fob sent the unlock code but the receiver didn't detect it, so you needed the EKA.

Easy test to see if passive immobilisation is enabled. Unlock the car but don't start it. Wait a couple of minutes then put the key in the ignition. If the LED on the key flashes when you put it in the ignition, it is enabled and it is sending the code to turn the immobiliser off. If passive is disabled, it won't flash.

Excellent, thanks kindly both for your detailed replies.

That would make perfect sense and does explain the issue. Passive immobilisation is switched on, as the key does flash when put in the ignition and a couple of times I've received the engine disabled message after 30 seconds, although this is quite rare (I assume most of the time the coil on the ignition works fine).

I'm glad to hear this is all expected behaviour, and it's likely that the receiver is faulty. The seller has offered for me to return it and will confirm if it works successfully on his vehicle, just for our interest.

I may consider buying a new replacement instead, if they are still available, but likely a price worth paying for avoiding the hassle that comes with a BECM constantly waking up.

Marty does have a limited number of his RF filters in stock. This plugs into the receiver and updates a Gen 1 or Gen 2 receiver to Gen 3 (Green dot) spec and is cheaper than most sellers ask for a secondhand genuine Gen 3 receiver. See www.p38webshop.co.uk. The Gen 1 and 2 receivers woke up the BeCM as soon as it received a signal, irrespective of what they signal was from so things like wireless doorbells, weather stations, kids toys, etc would wake it up. The Gen 3 only wakes the BeCM when it has received a valid P38 code and the filter does the same.

I've got a prototype of his original design on my car, and have had for about 6 years, and one of the latest versions on the other car and neither suffers from battery drain. As Marty is now in New Zealand, you're looking at a week to 10 days for one to arrive.

I did actually send Marty an email yesterday asking if he had any available, as I bought one from him several years ago for a previous P38. As you say, it was plug and play and solved the issue immediately. An ingenious solution.

Yes, I read he was now full time in NZ, very nice!

I must say the battery drain on my example isn't too bad. At one address which oddly a busy town location, it will happily start after a week, and is down to 11.5v with ignition turned on and accumulator running and turns over fine at freezing temperatures even with 20w50. I can't see the gearbox park light on. At another address which, counterintuitively, is a sleepy village it is dropping down to 11.2v after two days, any longer and it struggles to crank. The BECM wakes up every few minutes. I'm chiefly worried about the potential door switch issues / immobilisation / damage to BECM that being permanently awake could cause.

Hopefully Marty can help with a filter.

Rural locations can be worse. My day job used to involve going out and finding the sources of interference and common ones in rural areas were remote weather station senders and oil tank level senders. Others were wireless burglar alarm sensors and wireless central heating controllers. Both the former will make a transmission every 10-15 minutes so can keep waking the BeCM.

RF interference will flatten the battery but won't affect anything else. Admittedly if the battery goes completely flat, than can result in it being immobilised when recharged but as long as the microswitches in the latch are good, all you need do is enter the EKA. It won't damage the BeCM by keeping it powered, it is powered all the time the ignition is on anyway.

*nigelbb wrote:
Disabling eka on a v8 is absolutely fine...it does not prevent the EKA from being used, just reduces when it is requested. A few years back I tested this out v carefully, and have had eka disabled ever since

W4, where are you based? Chiswick? Put the nano on it before you spend more money on it. if you're SW London I can help

romanrob wrote:

W4, where are you based? Chiswick? Put the nano on it before you spend more money on it. if you're SW London I can help

Thanks romanrob - I'm actually in Northamptonshire, the username is my reg plate rather than postcode. Mine is a Thor, so assuming a GEMS Nanocom wouldn't be much use, or is it simply that it works for everything else apart from the engine module?

As a bit of a plot twist, the seller of the green dot receiver has received it back, plugged it into his, and it worked instantly.

Really odd.

Whereabouts? I'm just outside Peterborough (Stilton) and my Nanocom has licences for all 3 variants of P38.

w4ftr wrote:

romanrob wrote:

W4, where are you based? Chiswick? Put the nano on it before you spend more money on it. if you're SW London I can help

Thanks romanrob - I'm actually in Northamptonshire, the username is my reg plate rather than postcode. Mine is a Thor, so assuming a GEMS Nanocom wouldn't be much use, or is it simply that it works for everything else apart from the engine module?

As a bit of a plot twist, the seller of the green dot receiver has received it back, plugged it into his, and it worked instantly.

Really odd.

Nanocom license only affect engine ECU type. All other ECU's work with any Nanocom, so you can sort the BECM settings..

Gilbertd wrote:

Whereabouts? I'm just outside Peterborough (Stilton) and my Nanocom has licences for all 3 variants of P38.

West Northants, but more than happy to head over to you. I'll drop you a PM.