Door unlocking question

[Alan M]

Have recently bought my first Land Rover, a 2000 D2 td. It seems to be in pretty good condition but I recognise that it's best to spend time learning about these vehicles before heading too far bush. My introductory posting, in a the Introductions section, explains how I ended up with the D2.


My question is whether anything needs to be done to reduce risk of being locked out of the vehicle - eg in a remote place. The vehicle has just one key lock - on the driver's door. It also can be unlocked via the handset/remote. At the moment, all locks/actuators work however the remote does not unlock the car if it has been left locked over night. Only the key works then. Once unlocked by the key, the remote works fine - it locks and unlocks all doors as it should for the rest of the day (one push for the driver's door and a second push for the others). This appears to be 'sort of normal' because the Owner's Handbook says 'If the handset does not operate after the vehicle has been parked for a long period, unlock the driver's door with the key and try again.'


1. Does being parked overnight constitute a 'long period' - ie is it normal for the remote not to work overnight? If not, is there some way of lengthening the period (eg do I need to replace a battery or something)?


2. If the driver's side door lock/actuator fails, can the remote (if working) unlock other doors or is the whole vehicle unlockable?


3. If unlocking depends on the driver's side door lock working, what precautions/mods have people done to reduce risk of a lockout, or is there not really a problem?


Any thoughts? Regards, Alan

[BKH]

Hi Alan,


I have had this issue once before and I had to change the car Battery. I don't know if this is the case with yours.


I would suggest that you get the car battery checked, as overnight is not a long period.


Regards
BKH

[Alan M]

Thanks for the feedback BKH, I think the main car battery is fine because the car starts no problem and the remote works immediately after I unlock with the key. Let me go back one step - is it normal for Disco 2 remote to not work if the car is parked overnight or is this unusual?

[PhilipA]

Let me go back one step - is it normal for Disco 2 remote to not work if the car is parked overnight or is this unusual?

Unusual.
Have you tried a new battery in the remote?
They don't work for a long distance either .

Regards Philip A

[singlecell]

I had a similar problem with my can not unlocking unless I was really close sometimes, turns out it was the car battery. The car was still starting strong, then one day I got it and it would hardly crank.
I replaced the battery and my unlocking woes went away also.

[sjane]

I recently had to replace main battery in my td5, and this was not one of the symptoms, so I think it's unusual.

You could try leaving the car on a trickle charger overnight to confirm if the problem is time related or battery voltage related.

Maybe just bad earth to the relevant module so the voltage it sees is too low, even though plenty available for starting.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AULRO mobile app

[sjane]

By the way, I was glad to get hold of a nanocom and be rid of the two stage unlocking. The number of times I went to the swing gate and it was locked drove me nuts..... You can also check and adjust some immobiliser settings in there which may have been corrupt as part of your ecu replacement?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AULRO mobile app

[sierrafery]

It's not very common but not uncommon either, there was a TSB for NAS specs on that but it's not public anymore ( LAND ROVER DISCOVERY II Bulletin - Vehicle TSB ID 102289 (http://www.allworldauto.com/tsbs/NHTSA_9999_LAND_ROVER_DISCOVERY_II_technical_servi ce_bulletin_102289.html) ), the gist is that the BCU has an internal timer which should put it in sleep mode after 72 hours, by turning the key in the lock wakes up the BCU and it works again... i've seen this not once that this timer gets mixed up by various reasons especially current shocks like welding on the body/chassis without disconnecting the battery or the BCU, alternator rectifier failures the AC gets into the circuit etc then the time untill the BCU ''goes to sleep" can get much shorter, the fact is that it's not fixable only by replaceing the BCU... untill then set the alarm in BCU on "always disarm with key" to be on the safe side.

[Alan M]

It's not very common but not uncommon either, there was a TSB for NAS specs on that but it's not public anymore ( LAND ROVER DISCOVERY II Bulletin - Vehicle TSB ID 102289 (http://www.allworldauto.com/tsbs/NHTSA_9999_LAND_ROVER_DISCOVERY_II_technical_servi ce_bulletin_102289.html) ), the gist is that the BCU has an internal timer which should put it in sleep mode after 72 hours, by turning the key in the lock wakes up the BCU and it works again... i've seen this not once that this timer gets mixed up by various reasons especially current shocks like welding on the body/chassis without disconnecting the battery or the BCU, alternator rectifier failures the AC gets into the circuit etc then the time untill the BCU ''goes to sleep" can get much shorter, the fact is that it's not fixable only by replaceing the BCU... untill then set the alarm in BCU on "always disarm with key" to be on the safe side.[/QUOTE]



Thanks. This seems to fit the symptoms. The Owner's Handbook does indicate that the handset may not work after the vehicle has been parked for a 'long period', and your comment about the BCU being programmed to switching into sleep mode after 72 hours is consistent with that.


Regarding other suggestions, I don't think the handset is the culprit because I have 3 and all fail to work overnight (and work fine before that). The suggestion of checking that it is not an early indication of a battery on the way out by putting it on a trickle charger is a good one. Will do so tonight.


If it does turn out to be the BCU, is the fix simply a matter of switch the old unit for a new one, or is there more to it - eg reprogramming it and, if so, is that difficult? I'm still new to this vehicle and still getting my head around a lot of stuff.

[Alan M]

By the way, I was glad to get hold of a nanocom and be rid of the two stage unlocking. The number of times I went to the swing gate and it was locked drove me nuts..... You can also check and adjust some immobiliser settings in there which may have been corrupt as part of your ecu replacement?

You are right. The 2 stage unlocking is already driving me crazy. All of the security stuff in this vehicle looks like overkill now that it is 15 years old vehicle and no longer a thief magnet. My main security concern is not how to stop others getting into the vehicle but how to stop myself getting locked out (especially when far from home). But am having fun learning about these odd ball vehicles called Land Rovers.

[Tombie]

You are right. The 2 stage unlocking is already driving me crazy. All of the security stuff in this vehicle looks like overkill now that it is 15 years old vehicle and no longer a thief magnet. My main security concern is not how to stop others getting into the vehicle but how to stop myself getting locked out (especially when far from home). But am having fun learning about these odd ball vehicles called Land Rovers.

If you worked in some of the regions/areas I do you'd appreciate it..

Not uncommon for someone to try and open your other doors as you open the vehicle.... :eek:

And nothing odd about them at all actually... Had worse electrical behaviour from domestic vehicles than any of the LR...

[sierrafery]

If it does turn out to be the BCU, is the fix simply a matter of switch the old unit for a new one, or is there more to it - eg reprogramming it and, if so, is that difficult? I'm still new to this vehicle and still getting my head around a lot of stuff.

A replacement BCU needs serious programming by someone who knows what he's doing

[Alan M]

A replacement BCU needs serious programming by someone who knows what he's doing



Point taken. I won't rush into it unless really needed.


Would appreciate some feedback on whether, in my case, the risk of lockout is high (and I need to something soon) or low/lowish (in which case I can proceed as is and just monitor things). In particular, would like feedback on whether door lock/unlock failures are more commonly switch or actuator failures (see my train of thought below).


Update: Sierrafery's prognosis seems to be right - ie the BCU is going to sleep too quickly. The other suggestion of the battery being low doesn't seem to be the culprit because I connected a trickle charger overnight and the handset failed this morning.


From what I can work out, the BCU normally gets and responds to lock/unlock signals/currents from two sources:

a receiver in the roof that responds to the remote, and
a switch in the driver's door.
In my case (once parked overnight), it's just one source - driver's door. Thus I'm totally reliant on the door switch working. By the same token, as long as the driver's door switch is working such that, on turning the key, a current is sent to the BCU and the BCU wakes up, I should be okay and not be locked out. That is, I should be okay even if the driver's door actuator fails (provided the switch works).


Assuming the above is broadly correct, I'm interested in feedback on whether door locking/unlocking problems are commonly driver's door switch problems or actuator problems. (There seems to be a number of posts on actuator failures but haven't read them in detail to see how many involve switch failures.) My thinking is that if there are a lot of switch-related problems then I need to be careful, but if most are actuator problems (and switches are pretty reliable), then I can be a bit more relaxed.


Any feedback much appreciated.


ps - how do you put a quote from a previous post in a text box? Looks good but haven't figured out how to do it.

[sierrafery]

... I'm interested in feedback on whether door locking/unlocking problems are commonly driver's door switch problems or actuator problems....
The switch is part of the actuator;)

[Alan M]

The switch is part of the actuator;)

Sorry if I confused things. Have not seen an actuator to know what all the bits are and how they work. What I am trying to work out is whether actuator problems are mainly due to or result in failure of the switch to be able to open/close the circuit to the BCU. If that is the case, actuator failure will leave me locked out. If, however, actuator failure is commonly due to other things - eg the locking mechanism itself braking in a way that doesn't stop the switch opening and closing the circuit to the BCU, then the risk of lockout reduces. This is because opening/closing (not sure which way) the circuit to the BCU should wake up the BCU (even if the driver's door itself won't unlock due to other problems) and bring the handset back into play. That's my thinking anyway but could be off the mark. Comments most welcome.