When you entered the EKA through the Nanocom, you turned the ignition off and on again, did you try starting straight after entering EKA, without cycling the ignition?

Ignoring the fob... the EKA reallllly should have let you start the car... you were definitely entering the right one? :)

It's a nasty system however you look at it. Why they didn't use an inductive chip key from the start or change to one later... who knows. Too easy.

I might not have the details quite right but its along those lines. Mine works as it should (for now...), and if you put the key into the ignition, before you even turn it, the light flashes without pressing any buttons.

Now and then my fob loses sync with the car, so I have to open with the key and the central locking doesn't work. Pop the key in the ignition and without even turning it, it flashes a couple of times, the locks all go up and all is well again.

davew wrote:

Yes, I did not mean and you need EKA to remove the former but "you can only enter EKA once the former is removed"

Still don't understand what is happening here either unless it is something (physically) intermittent though...
(or the system was already 'got at' somehow ?)

Ahh :) I get you.

Might need to recap what its currently doing - messages, locking etc. It should be possible to start the car with a fob with no/dead batteries, that's the point in the EKA, so something must be amiss somewhere.

Edit - Dave beat me to it!

Though I'll add - the P38 system isn't like other cars in terms of the inductive coil around the ignition barrel. On a P38 this coil tells the key to transmit as if you'd pressed a button. So the key does need working batteries and the RF receiver in the car needs to work. So if the key isn't working for whatever reason, the car won't receive the code and won't start - leaving you with the EKA.

If you disable the 'passive immobiliser' through a Nanocom etc, what actually gets disabled is the re-immobilising of the engine 60 seconds after stopping it, unless you lock the vehicle with the key, which does immobilise it. Unlocking then re-mobilises it again, assuming the door latch switches work properly.

On other cars, the key has a standalone pickup and chip in it that is powered by the inductive coil and transmits back the immobiliser code. Generally very reliable. How I wish the P38 had such a system.

davew wrote:

Sloth wrote:

If the central locking is working on all doors, then it shouldn't be needing the EKA... do you actually still get the 'engine disabled' message?

• Think this might be some confusion between "Key Code Lockout" and "Engine Disabled" Sloth (?)
  (ie. you can get into the car OK but it still won't let you start it... and you need EKA to remove the former)

Key code lockout prevents you entering the EKA. If all the central locking is working on all doors, then, so far as I am aware, the EKA should not be required and the engine should start.

Unless of course the BECM and engine ECU have lost sync. Then, in the case of a Thor/Bosch, it will happily crank all day and not start. It won't display any 'Engine disabled' message either. Though if it is still displaying that, then... weird.

If the central locking is working on all doors, then it shouldn't be needing the EKA... do you actually still get the 'engine disabled' message?

Ahaha, that's a perfect description of the life of most P38s!

Luck of the draw really finding out whether things have been taken care of properly, regardless of mileage, number of owners etc. My first one had 3 previous owners, and was utterly shagged by the time the third owner laid his hands on it. In the end it was just too much work to continue with and I got my second - which has had 13(!) previous owners, and was in very respectable shape for a car built in 1998, having done at that point 126k. It has had a replacement engine put in it at some point, naturally.

I have since done most of the usual P38 jobs on it too to get it near perfect - door latches, head lining, air conditioning, heated seats, water pump, all the cooling system hoses, heater box flaps and matrix, blend motors, rear brake lines. Various other bits and pieces...

I think the EAS only wakes up every 6 hours (?) - once its out of air and on the bump stops it won't have any more adjusting it can do.

As you say, get them to put it in access mode to get it as low as possible to start with and get them to pull the timer if they're willing. It'll still be on a trailer with some kind of suspension (I presume?), so even on the bump stops it should be fine. Mine survived a drive across the A31 on the stops (after not so gracefully dropping to them at 70), uncomfortable as hell, but it didn't seem to care.

The rear doors also have a third speaker - seen a few Vogue SEs with that setup. Be interesting to hear it, before it all inevitably dies, anyway :)

I've thought about Piano black in mine - still unsure. I wonder if that is original in the car or someone has done it later.

Arse, done her research then. The battle appears to be taking a civil turn.

In unrelated ramblings, my first car was a first gen Matiz! Mine was gold, an SE Plus top of the range edition! 800cc and three cylinders of pure power.

The best bit was, when the air conditioning worked (for the upcoming reason, it was never used and thus leaked), if you turned it on while coasting, the drag from the compressor made the car slow down quite abruptly and you'd lurch forward in your seat! If you actually ever managed to be going at a decent speed, you could almost use it as an emergency brake... you probably needed a cliff to get to any decent speed, mind you.

Wrong time of year for laying turf, surely? ;)

Mine goes from max to min in about 700 miles last time I took notice. I know a bit is leaking out of the rocker cover, and some appears to be escaping from somewhere underneath, but not enough to drop on the ground when parked. So I presume despite the lack of any blue smoke or smell from the back, it must be burning the majority of it. Plugs look fine though too. It's just vanishing :)

That and the annoying clattering at idle when hot are my main reasons for considering a shiny new engine next year.

Presumably someone (last post by Gilbert?) posted something that the web server is taking offence to.

Bahaha, excellent!

Martyuk wrote:

Oh well... rant over... At least the engine will be nice and shiny when finished..

Till you drive home from the workshop :)

The enamel paint has quite a smooth finish to it, so hopefully the dirt won't get quite as easily stuck to the otherwise rough casting finish, making it easier to clean.

Plus, why not!

Check the foam under the carpet, and cut it out to wash/dry it if its soaked :)

If you're thinking of looking at the blend motors or flaps, it's worth checking how stiff the distribution flaps are. Marty reckons you can get the distribution motor off without removing the dash - so if you do that, and the flaps are really stiff, it may be best to get a used heater box and modify it to loosen the flaps up. That's what I've done with mine, as well as put a brand new set of motors in it. Adds to the list of things to do... but worth it in my opinion.

Morat wrote:

Sloth wrote:

simply opening a door - this will stop it raising or lowering itself.

I can see why you would think so....
Marty and I did a classic Hollywood double-take when mine gracefully lowered itself while the FL door was open :) But hey, what's another door latch between friends?

Well, yes, but then we could also break into your car through either front door without it noticing at camp :)

Well you could establish if it were leaks or the system doing something odd by simply opening a door - this will stop it raising or lowering itself. Leave a door or the tailgate open with or without the engine running and see if it sags.

Hopefully yours will go a bit quicker than mine did :) To be fair.. changing the matrix and putting the dash back in went about as well as you'd hope, it was everything else under the bonnet that took its time :(