Static Electricity and Puma Immobilised !

This forum is Awesome!!
Only I wish I had of read this post before I pulled in to the south bound servo at wallan this arvo...
The exact problem described happened to me, of coarse I had no idea why. Disconnected the battery, checked all relevant fuses, messed around for a while, then rang land rover and they sent old mate tow truck driver. Who explained that it happens regularly and hopefully if he towed me out it might start and so it did.
Luckily we made it to the spirit of Tasmania on time and we are on our way south. Phew!

Cheers Lucas

Had this happen on the Puma at Sandfire road house twice, got so paranoid I used to leave it running any time I got fuel up there.

Allan

folks - Wallan BP southbound claimed me a couple of weeks ago.
my deefer is a MY13. I was on my way (from Canberra - first fuel stop = 650 km = 10l per 100km) to catch the ferry from Melbourne to Devonport. Engine immobilised at bowser, tow truck driver pulled me down the driveway and hey presto, engine came to life. the interlude to my journey lasted only about 30 mins - luckily I made it to the ferry.
I have contacted LR for their response, particularly since I have found out after the event that it's a common occurrence at Wallan with these vehicles.
if the Wallan enigma happens regularly, why not let owners know so they can avoid the area rather than to find out the hard way.
After all, roadside assistance under new car warranty is a cost LR Australia would want to avoid.
My unit's done 7000km now. only problem has been Wallan - otherwise extremely happy with performance etc.

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Originally Posted by n plus one

Rumour on the street is that if you jam the fob under one of the front wheel arches (can't remember if its drivers or passenger) you can normally overcome this.

It's hasn't happened to me yet, but this was a tip from a tow company that had hauled a couple of Deefers.

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What's the logic for this?

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Originally Posted by spudboy

What's the logic for this?

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Guesswork but ... The receiver is below/behind the instrument cluster so I can only speculate that this gets the fob tx/rx nice and close (driver side wheel arch) while at the same time offering some shielding from the EM that is causing the interference. Maybe.

My guess would be perhaps a rather lot of steel in the way to help interrupt frequency from other sources but you would still be very close to the immobiliser on the car as its situated up under the dash near the fire wall on the drivers side. So your frequency is more direct with a shorter path

I think we have two winners!

I haven't had to do it, but the tow service I used (for trailer issues) was pretty confident that this works.

Very common in the UK, Subarus seemed badly affected. There's a military listening post in the North that claims cars on a frequent basis if they stop, sometimes they need towing a couple of miles to get th started.

Have any of you emailed BP to tell them they are losing business and to fix the Wallan fuel outlet?
Regards Philip A

Hi Bavo,

I had a similar thing happen to me in my MY12 defender (radio interference stopped the key fob from working, then afterwards the fob still didn't work)

When the fob failed to unlock the truck I immediately went and purchased a new battery. I did not realise that by changing the battery I had "un-synced" the rolling code between the fob and the immobiliser. The immobiliser runs a unique set of codes for each fob which is why the other would still work.

To get it working again I had to follow this procedure, which I found on a UK forum.

1. Take out the fob battery
2. Hold down both buttons for about 30 seconds
3. Put the fob battery back in
4. Keep pressing the "Lock" button until the fob syncs with the vehicles immobiliser. You will know it has worked because the indicators will flash. I personally had to press the lock button about 6 times before it worked.


It should also be noted that the vehicle can be started without the key fob by using the Emergency Key Access (EKA) code. This is input by turning the key a select number of times to represent each number (this is a tedious procedure which can be found in the factory manual). The EKA code is difficult to obtain. Land Rover assist told me they don't have access to the codes and that I need to contact the dealer I bought the vehicle from. The dealer told me they can't give out the code unless I come in to the dealership with ID. It may be worth requesting a copy of the code next time you are at the dealer.

Hope this helps.
Regards,

DRB

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Originally Posted by Bavo

Heading home to Keilor from Seymour yesterday, I stopped to get fuel at Wallan, yep, southbound on the Hume, and the immobiliser locked up.

Initially I bought a new bettery for the key fob, but no joy there.
Called LR Assist, they dispatched a tow truck.
Servo staff said it happens all the time there, suggested I push it out from under the cover.
Tow truck arrived from Wallan, first thing he said was "happens all the time, we'll just drag it out a bit and it should be fine".

But it wasn't fine. Still no go. Apparently about 1/2 start OK when pushed out from under the roof and mine was in the other half.
When I finally got home (via tow truck) I tried the spare key. It works fine. Original key still not working though. Seems to affect the key not the car ?

Has this happened to others?

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