Anyone got any ideas? Come back to the car after a day out in Watford and it wouldn't fire the central locking

Don't have a working remote

Opened the door and alarm went off.

Now it says engine disabled.

Any ideas? I have a nanocom but can't seem to display the alarm info. It says unable to connect.

Have you tried sticking the EKA code in? Have to be via the door lock as don't think you can put it in via the nano on the early ones.

Time for the EKA dance on the driver's door. I hope the microswitches are good in that door or you'll need to get the BECM to Marty :(
Cut and Paste from another forum for an early model P38:

Well, ile tell you all how i did mine.
lets say my code was 2 4 6 8 ok.
Your actual code now becomes "1 2 4 6 8 1"

Take your time entering the code, there is no rush at all, just make sure that you enter it correct.
Ok, lets go.
First, enter the first postion being number 1, enter this by locking the rangie ( to the left ) none of this four times stuff, it is not needed.
Then enter the second number. being no 2.
so two turns to the right.
Enter the next to the left, so 4, left 4 times.
Enter the next to the right, so 6, right six times
Enter the next to the left, so 8, left eight times.
Enter the final number 1 that will activate your C/L and open all doors to the right & disable the alarm system, you are now in.
So, ile break it down.

The code is 1,2,4,6,8,1 we enter it like this.

L1, R2, L4, R6, L8, R1

on the range rover I sold a few weeks back I had to do the EKA after having the battery off for charge. took me 90 minutes to sort it. When entering the key code, the indicators flash after each key turn to indicate it's accepted that key turn. If you make a mistake, or it doesn't register, open the door, close it and start again.

From recollection, you have to start with the car locked.

Once you sort the EKA, stick the key in the ignition and start car. Key should then have re-synced itself.

Is it possible, it's the old story, rf signals have stuffed it up, get it out the car park and all systems go ?

Well immediate panic over. It magically fixed itself.

Took battery off. Reconnected and lock and unlocked the door a couple of times and the locking fired and the car started.

It's now developed a fuel leak to compensate

I don't have the eka

Tried to get it out of the bcm after it started working and it just displayed ----

Well i'm certainly no expert but I think you might want to get it looked at PDQ. lol. No good nipping to the shops for a loaf of bread and getting randomly locked out. That's if you have enough fuel to get to the shop. ;-)

On a side note, this has to be the worst anti theft system of any car I've ever come across. The faff to get back into your own car beggers belief and all the while people glaring at you as the alarm toots away.

Hope you get it sorted.

oh, one more point of potential interest.

The p38 I sold had a new engine back in 2006 but the BECM wasn't changed. Every now and then when you'd open the car, get in and try and start, it would come up, "Engine Disabled" and youd have to press the remote to lock it and then unlock it again. Then it would start.

Maybe look into getting a remote.

Engine Disabled on the later ones usually means the passive immobiliser is active and kicked in before the vehicle was started. Usually the immobiliser coil around the ignition will pulse the key to automatically send an unlock code, but if the coil doesn't work, and the BECM doesn't receive a code when you go to start, then you get the message on the dash to press remote button.

---- in the BECM is normal for EKA and fob codes - nanocom won't read them unless the BECM has previously had the electronic programming lock set to 'UNLOCKED' in it's normal (as shipped from the factory) state, EKA and fob codes will just show '----'

glad it's started and running again though...

Pleased you got it working.
Be an idea to get to your favourite local main LR dealer PDQ and get the EKA for the car. Use the Nano to check that all of the switches in drivers door latch are OK as well, then you'll have disarmed the ticking time bomb. If it's happened randomly once, it'll happen again.
If the dealer EKA doesn't work and BECM's been replaced at any stage there should be a sticker on it with the VIN or read the VIN with Nano and get the dealer to give you the EKA for that VIN.

If I could get the remote working that would help I think. It's a 1994 car so no key coil thing.

When I got it the remote didn't work. I replaced the battery door and tweaked the contacts and now the red lights come on with buttons, but no response to anything from the car.

What's required to unlock the becm and read the eka if I can't get it from the dealer?

Marty's the locking guru so will have more in depth insight into digging into BECM to extract fob info.
Let's assume that your fob is the correct one for the BECM. First of all your receiver needs to work. This lives under the RH loadspace cap. These are prone to random RF interference problems and so could be either unplugged completely, or have their aerials snipped to reduce the range/ susceptibility to interference. Once you've checked that...
Drivers door latch- all microswitches need to work as you need them to sync the fob to the vehicle. Once you've checked that...
Sync the fob to the car. Press and hold lock button, insert key into door, turn to lock, turn to center, remove key from lock, release lock button. Press and hold unlock button, insert key into door, turn to unlock, turn to center, remove key from lock, release unlock button.
If the entrails are all in the correct alignment, the remote will now work.
I wouldn't mess with locking/ immobilisation without having the correct working through door latch EKA for the car though. Your Nano won't rescue you if things go wrong on the early cars.

Martyuk wrote:

glad it's started and running again though...

Any pointers on what i should do now?

I can check the door lock switches with nanocom, and will do that at the weekend.

I guess i can check the VIN in the BECM is original and if so i can call the landrover dealer for the EKA?

When i look at the security info for the engine ECU, everything shows up as zeros and i seem to recall seeing something that said the immobiliser was disabled, but not sure if thats related.

If my experience with my Land Rover dealer is anything to go by, you will need to go in with a V5 in your name and your driving licence to prove it is your car. Although some might, they won't normally give it to you over the phone.

It's entirely possible that the early ones didn't have an immobiliser strategy in the engine ECU - I wouldn't be surprised if a 1994 is like that to be honest.

Yes, check microswitches with Nanocom - and read VIN in the BECM, and see if it matches what's on the plate in the windscreen

I'd also see what version RF receiver it's fitted with - see if it's ever been upgraded from the crappy MK1 version to at least the second generation one - will give a bit better filtering of signals, which might help in future scenarios...

Let us know what you find!

well i had a thaught last night, and had a look thru the history that came with the car, Sure enough i found a printout from landrover with the lockset code and EKA stapled to the front of the service book.

Its dated 2000, so i'll still need to check and compare VIN's to see if its correct for the car, but its a good start! I also found a printout from 2016 from this website: http://www.reset.rover-tech.info/rangerover_keyfob.htm, with the same EKA written on the top of it. So that sorta implies the previous owner used it to get the car working before he put it up for sale...

I can have a look for the RF module as well see whats going on there.

So i twisted at the door lock and prodded the remote buttons and eventually managed to get the remote paired up. Range is hopeless, so i pulled the trim cover off for a look.

Its an original spec receiver and the antenna was unplugged.

I guess i need to keep my eyes out for a newer one, and in the mean time leave the antenna unplugged to minimise the false wakeups/battery drains...

Does it do false wakeup and battery drain or are you assuming because it was unplugged that it's had that problem in the past?

The early version receivers, are notorious for waking up the BECM for pretty much anything. The second version is better with it's filtering, but still not great in today's society where so much is wireless.

Definitely the best (and most expensive) fix is the 3rd gen receiver, which as far as I can tell filters out JUST the P38 remote transmissions to send to the BECM to wake it up.