Another immobiliser problem (I think)

[Metoikos13]

I know there are endless threads on this but I can't find one with exactly my circumstances. Please bear with me as this goes on a bit.

I'll start by saying that I buggered my back yesterday and had to go to A&E so I'm unable for the moment to do anything on the Disco myself. This morning I got my wife to take me back to the hospital in the Disco since getting into it is a lot easier than her little Mazda. Although I've got a new key and fob that I programmed with the Nanocom, I've been using the old key on which the fob buttons don't work. However, it locks and unlocks the car and starts the car so, although I've never checked with the Nanocom, I assume that the immobiliser has been disabled. Never had any problem until this morning. I'm in the habit of leaving the Disco unlocked but yesterday my wife had to move it to let the ambulance in. She says she locked it then and I assume she turned the key clockwise which, at least on mine, unlocks it.

This morning she opened the driver's door, which would have been unlocked anyway, and I assume she turned the key anticlockwise and then clockwise but she can't remember. Anyway, the driver's door opened but the passenger door didn't unlock so I told her to turn the key clockwise again which unlocked the door. Car started no problem but the aircon and windows wouldn't work. Came back out of the hospital, she turned on the ignition and, although all dash lights came on, nothing happened with the starter motor. Door locked and unlocked on the key but, as I said, the fob buttons don't work anyway so pressing them had no effect. I managed to get out and check the battery terminals but that was all I could do so I called the RAC. The RAC guy got it started by bridging the starter motor terminals and we drove home with no warning lights on.

At home I got out the other key with the working buttons and could lock and unlock doors with the fob but still no start. As I say, I'm not going to be fit enough to do anything on it myself until mid-week, not even plug in the Nanocom, so if anybody has any ideas in the interim I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers

Lawrence

[SPROVER]

Check you're battery volts on the nanocom to see if you're battery is ok. Could be the starter motor on the way out as well. Td5 or V8?

[Metoikos13]

Check you're battery volts on the nanocom to see if you're battery is ok. Could be the starter motor on the way out as well. Td5 or V8?
Thanks for quick reply. I’ll dig out the Nanocom when I can stand up long enough to use it[wink11] Td5 by the way.

[thai_tiger]

possible starter motor solenoid

[discorevy]

possible starter motor solenoid

x2

check the immobiliser light on the dash goes out with ignition on, also ( if your back will allow ) check the pigtail lead to starter is making good contact.
Also with nanocom make sure key disarm ( always ) is selected
Depending on where you got the key from you may need to disable the passive coil in key program settings as some don't have that chip

[4bee]

This is the least of your problems if you have a crook back. [bigsad]

You are buggered doing most things if your back is giving you pain from experience, so I trust you can get on top of it sharpish.

Picture this scenario, 25-ish years ago, me sitting in the gutter outside the sturgeons rooms crying my eyes out with pain while 'er indoors went to fetch the car. Me with a supposedly high pain threshold too.
Also me wishing I had a pistol in my pocket as on that day I could have gladly topped my self.

Obviously I didn't, & after a small surgical Op I mended ok. Lucky me eh?

Bon chance.

[Metoikos13]

Thanks all for suggestions and sympathy. With the help of some strong painkillers I can at least move a bit today, but not enough to crawl under the Disco, that is likely to be some time away[bigsad]. However, I gave my wife instructions as to where the starter relay is, accompanied by a diagram, and she replaced the relay with a new one from my spares kit with no result. So, I guess we can rule that out.

Now, looking at other things, the immobiliser light on the dash has never come on since I got the car. If I use the fob to lock the doors, it only locks and unlocks the doors, nothing else. I presume, as I said above, that this is because passive immobilisation has been deleted. I was told this had been done when I bought the car but I've never bothered to check with the Nanocom. If so, I suppose we can also rule this out which leaves me with one of (a) starter motor, (b) starter motor lead, or, (c) solenoid.

However, just one other thing comes to mind. As I said, when it started first thing yesterday, neither the ventilation system nor the windows would work even though the engine was running. I couldn't check anything else since I was frozen in the passenger seat with my back and that was all I could see/touch. Everything now working when ignition is on. Any comments on this?

Anyway, given the state of my back, I'm going to call the RAC tomorrow and get the Disco trucked over to the local auto electrician who is a mate of mine. Just hoping the starter motor doesn't need replaced. If it does it will be worth paying him to do it up on the hoist!

Cheers again.

Lawrence

PS. Re my back, seems to be soft tissue damage so going to the Physio tomorrow.

[discorevy]

glad your back's a bit better, it may be possible that the turning of the key in the door has armed the immobiliser to a degree , have a look in nanocom to see if key disarm has been set to ( always ) if not , write that setting in .
with the drivers door only unlocking also check that ( no spe ) is written in as well
These can be done with a crook back[thumbsupbig]

[Metoikos13]

glad your back's a bit better, it may be possible that the turning of the key in the door has armed the immobiliser to a degree , have a look in nanocom to see if key disarm has been set to ( always ) if not , write that setting in .
with the drivers door only unlocking also check that ( no spe ) is written in as well
These can be done with a crook back[thumbsupbig]

Thanks Craig. I'll plug in the Nanocom tomorrow as it's raining here and the Disco is outside. I'll see what comes up and, if necessary I'll write these 2 commands to the BCU.

Cheers

Lawrence

[Metoikos13]

glad your back's a bit better, it may be possible that the turning of the key in the door has armed the immobiliser to a degree , have a look in nanocom to see if key disarm has been set to ( always ) if not , write that setting in .
with the drivers door only unlocking also check that ( no spe ) is written in as well
These can be done with a crook back[thumbsupbig]

Plugged the Nanocom in and nothing relevant (or even irrelevant) showed up. Called RAC again, tech crawled under it and bridged starter motor again, started first time so it's gone off on the slide tray to the auto spark. Bugger having to pay for something I could, under normal circumstances, do myself.

[Lemo]

Starting problem (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/discovery-2-a/274160-starting-problem.html)

here's my thread re starting problem, i've deactivated the passive coil and all good.

Check the earth for the BCU it's at connector header under carpet just above the left foot rest, drivers side.

Also get your auto eleco to check volts at the starer motor solenoid supply from the fuse box or at the starter? (red wire connection at front of engine fuse box) this will rule out BCU not closing earth path to operate the starter relay.

I'll try and get some diagrams posted later today

Cheers Lemo

[Metoikos13]

Thanks for this Lemo, had a good read through your previous thread. I just wish I could get into the thing myself but that's not going to happen for another 2 weeks or so.

Your thread got me thinking about the strange behaviour when it was running, i.e. climate control/ventilation completely inoperative and windows not working. Likewise passenger door not unlocking. All of these seem to work at the moment when the ignition is turned on but it still won't start. Passive immobiliser is turned off by the way. So, from your troubles, it sounds as though it could be the BCU. I HATE modern auto electrics because I really don't fully understand things so can I ask one simple question: if it's a BCU problem, should it still be possible to bridge the starter motor to make it function?

Very reluctant to have the sparkie testing everything and costing me a fortune to find out the problem is the BCU. I'm going to ask him to check the starter motor and solenoid and earthing and if these are OK then it's probably easiest to replace the BCU. I can get a fully reworked BCU from Turners in the UK programmed exactly the same as the current one for £190 exchange plus postage. I can buy one for around £40 from Fleabay in the UK for the exchange unit. Not bothered about current AUD/GBP exchange rate as I have a source of sterling so don't have to convert currency. This is likely to be a lot cheaper than trying to get the thing fixed here.

Will keep story updated as things progress.

Lawrence

[Lemo]

Could be the BCU but really need to test things to rule that out? Could also be the internal fuse box with the IDM thats the problem?

If you can't wait, I'd have the auto eleco test some earth as I've mentioned in previous post, check if powers getting to the starter motor solenoid supply wire?

If you read in my post sierrafery notes how to test the fusebox/IDM - quote - (if the symptom occurs again turn on manually the courtesy lamp and if it comes on the interior fusebox is ruled out but if not there's your problem) I didn't get this far as I found that turning off the passive coil was my problem, so either fob or passive coil at fault?

I did remove my internal fuse box and gave it a good spray/clean with contact cleaner as there was traces of corrosion etc. Maybe get that looked at as well? there's a few post on the forum noting corrosion and bad solider joint causing issues???

Really hard finding intermittent problems!!!!

Hope the back settles down!

Cheers Lemo

[Metoikos13]

Thanks for all the help everybody. Sparky has just sent me a message to say that the starter fuse had blown. No further info. Tomorrow's job is for him to find out why! I've passed on all the info from Lemo to him. Just have to wait and see what he comes up with.

[4bee]

He may never find out why. Fuses can fatigue & add to that it may have been a bit dodgy from new.

Bon Chance.

[Metoikos13]

He may never find out why. Fuses can fatigue & add to that it may have been a bit dodgy from new.

Bon Chance.

Well, Disco is now back on the road and my sparky can find nothing obvious that could lead to the fuse (or more correctly, fusible link) blowing. Starter motor and solenoid are both OK which is good. I'll now make sure I have a spare 30A fusible link and a spare relay on board

Also, I've been having physio for my back and it's all coming good so I should be able to get back to working on the car in a couple of weeks. However, while the sparky had the car I decided just to pay to get some work done as I'm not up to crawling around under the dash or under the car. See "What I did to my Disco" for info.

[4bee]

Well, that is a bit of a bummer because one would prefer to find something positive so you don't get caught out again.


Let me tell you about a "Captain Mainwaring type wrinkle" that may help if & when that happens again.

Shown to me by an RAA Service bloke when the Starter fuse on the D1 let go.


He had me press the two ends together with a screwdriver or some such while he cranked the engine over. Voila, instant spot welder, which I reckon would have been ok for a while but it did enable me to get to an Auto Sparky to get another 30A fuse.

I could have cranked it but he wanted me to see what happens for future ref.


In my case I knew what caused it to blow, ie. me arsing about with something electrical is what.

You just have to get your back right now, Bon chance with that too.[bigsad]



All is well that ends well.[smilebigeye]

[Metoikos13]

Well, that is a bit of a bummer because one would prefer to find something positive so you don't get caught out again.


Let me tell you about a "Captain Mainwaring type wrinkle" that may help if & when that happens again.

Shown to me by an RAA Service bloke when the Starter fuse on the D1 let go.


He had me press the two ends together with a screwdriver or some such while he cranked the engine over. Voila, instant spot welder, which I reckon would have been ok for a while but it did enable me to get to an Auto Sparky to get another 30A fuse.

I could have cranked it but he wanted me to see what happens for future ref.


In my case I knew what caused it to blow, ie. me arsing about with something electrical is what.

You just have to get your back right now, Bon chance with that too.[bigsad]



All is well that ends well.[smilebigeye]

Thanks for that tip, I'll file it away under the "just in case" heading. In the meantime I'll make sure I've always got another 30A fuse[wink11]

[4bee]

I would. From that day forward I never had to do that or replace a fuse. And now I don't own a D1 & it is not necessary on a 2A.[smilebigeye]