I'm sorry but it's being weird. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it!

Symptoms:

1. Car fails to lock sometimes when out in France in 37degrees. RH-F open. I put it down to heat.
2. Car happy when it cools down, seems OK in the UK.
3. Car locked on the fob in the evening, the next morning the fob lights up but the car doesn't unlock. or lock.
4. I unlock with the key, as expected the engine won't start so I put in the EKA (using Nanocom). Everything happy exept the fob still won't lock/unlock the car.
5. Car now locked/unlocked/starts on the key.
6. This morning, Mrs M unlocked the car with the key and the alarm went off/ engine disabled. I had to EKA unlock it again.

Could anyone tell me why the alarm would go off if you lock/unlock with the key?
For bonus points, what do we need to do to restore remote locking? :)

Apologies for the tedious and repetitive subject of this post :(

Miles

If you lock with the key, and the micro switches are all working as expected, it will set the alarm. If when you then come to unlock with the key, the key micro switch isn't feeling like working, it will appear to have been unlocked via the sill button, and the alarm will sound.

I've found that a microswitch that is on it's way out will fail more often in hot weather. Probably something to do with thermal expansion. Until I changed the microswitches in my drivers latch I used to get dancing locks but only when it was very hot.

Doesn't explain problems in Yorkshire though.....

Hmm that makes sense. I should have realised when unlocking the driver's door and none of the others unlocked. I'm guessing it's the same switch for the central locking?
Marty, how's the weather in Swindon? :)

As for the fob... is it failing to sync? I checked the BECM and the immobiliser is set (which was a surprise, I thought I'd turned it off) so shouldn't it sync automatically in the ignition at position2 - or is that just to start the engine, not the remote locking?

Try syncing fob using door lock method. Prob won't work if you've got a duff microswitch though :(

Three switches in the driver's door latch - door ajar, CDL (locked/unlocked), and the key switch. The latter two are used together to determine what way the key is being turned. The key switch one is activated in either direction, and the BECM combines this input with whether the CDL switch changes to the locked or unlocked state, to figure it out. If either are playing up, hello problems.

The fob should sync as soon as you put it into the ignition - insert the key and even before you turn it, you should see the light flash. Requires the RF coil around the barrel and the 'key in' switch to also be working, or it won't know the key has been inserted, and (I believe) passive immobilisation must also be enabled. That's why sometimes you may put the key in and turn to start very quickly, but nothing appears to happen for a second, or you get 'engine disabled' immediately followed by the starter engaging, if the car has re-immobilised itself after the time out period. It takes a second or so to tell the fob to transmit, sync the fob etc, and mobilise the engine.

I think that will all only happen though if the car has re-immobilised itself, or when its having a grump. My other fob is currently not synced.. I might go tempt fate and unlock with the blade, and see if it will do the friendly syncing thing straight away. It has in the past.

Thanks folks - all synched and working! Obviously that's not going to last with a wibbly microswitch. Time to visit Marty and get a replacement I guess. I wish I'd asked about the Driver's side at Summer Camp as well because the passenger side has been flawless since he gave it a good talking to!
Hey ho.

Land Rover in Pickering want £183 for a new fob (plus VAT I assume). Is that about par? I'm slightly freaked out by only having one fob on a car that won't start without one. My Jeep could be started with a screwdriver if necessary, luckily no-one wants to steal them :)

His anyone got a source for the microswitches? I have a spare latch I could mess about with.
I think Marty said the replacement he found was not quite the same physically.

I'm away at the moment, Morat :( Back in October for a few days though... I can work on a latch when I'm back and send to you though if that helps?

Microswitches - they're a pain on the later ones. I use Cherry DC series switches, but they require pinning I use M2.5 rod) and a couple of new holes drilled in the casing for them to fit properly. Since, typically, the later ones with the moulded microswitches have their locating tabs in different places to individual microswitches (which the earlier types used!)

Dave, if it's an early latch with the three separate switches, CPC Farnell do them but, as Marty say's, if it's the later one with all three potted together as a block, then you'd need to improvise. If it's a drivers latch you have, one from an MGF is the same and interchangeable. The Ascot had burnt out central locking motors on both front doors and I got a pair of latches from an MG to cannibalise. Passenger one is different and only has one microswitch but the drivers one is only slightly different (one extra wire which you can snip off and ignore) but will fit and work fine.

Understood Marty, we'll get through :)
Weekends are going to be very busy again soon with the Christmas rush (we're opening our Christmas market from October 21st for reasons too ridiculous to explain) so I might have to make a lieu day visit during the week if that suits. I don't know what availability I'll have yet, though.

You've watched your latches being fiddled with often enough Morat. You should be an expert by now :)
Save heaps on fuel (and a lieu day) to swap the latch yourself? Opportunity to polish the inside of the door while you're in there too...
You know you want to, secretly

The actual secret is that I really like driving a Range Rover a couple of hundred miles :)

Morat wrote:

The actual secret is that I really like driving a Range Rover a couple of hundred miles :)

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Perhaps you could borrow one?

lol:)

I've not read up on my question so i'll just ask.

Can't you use any Rangerover keyfob and recode it to your vehicle using a Nanocom?

blueplasticsoulman wrote:

I've not read up on my question so i'll just ask.

Can't you use any Rangerover keyfob and recode it to your vehicle using a Nanocom?

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Don't go there :)
No

Main Stealer only I'm afraid.

You can,

BUT

You need to know the fob code that's being transmitted from the key fob... which unless you have a fancy fob reader like myself, you can't extract the ID from the data stream.

And even then, the BECM will only accept 4 sequential fob ID's (which work out as key 1-4 of a locket funnily enough). So you can't use 1 key from one lockset, and one key from another lockset to give 2 keys. As only one lockset can be programmed at a time.

If you found another lockset which had 2 keys in it, then could program them to work, so you'd have a second key. But your original one for the vehicle would cease to work...

It's actually easier and a lot less hassle (and probably nearly cheaper when you take into account buying another lockset to use) to just get another original fob from Land Rover.

and of course you aren't programming the fob to match the car but programming the car to match the fob(s) so you'd have to swap the blades over and you'd never be able to get a replacement fob if you ever needed one as it would no longer match the VIN. As Marty says, it can be done but is probably likely to cause further problems down the line.