[ghur]

I bought a 1997 4.6 HSE yesterday in beautiful condition for an absolute bargain. (That makes four Rangies cluttering my driveway). But with some issues.
It seems to me like a BeCM problem but I have my doubts. Nothing shows up on the instrument binnacle when the key is turned on except the SRS light comes on for around 3 seconds. Everything else in the car works OK. Lights, elec windows, central locking, radio, HEVAC, etc. etc. Engine not running yet as I dont have the EKA code and the remotes will not synchronise but it does crank. Dealer is closed for the weekend. When the key is inserted in the ignition the small red led on the remote flashes continuously.

I have swapped the top board in the BeCM for one off my other car and the problems dont change. Same with the fuse box. Checked as many earth points as I can find and re plugged every multi pin plug I have come across. The wiring in general appears sound.

Unfortunately I dont have the BeCM module for my Rovacom.

Any ideas?

 

[lrscott]

Could just be a bad instrument array?...

 

[John W]

I would try swopping the instrument binnacle as well,(not one from the GT40 though ).
I f that doesnt do it ,it is probably the logic board in the BECM.

 

[ghur]

I am nervous of swapping things due to the odometer mileage reading or lack of. I have no idea what the mileage is on the new car and would hate for it to end up with too many miles on the clock after it syncing with whatever new components I test with. I had a good look at the insides of the instrument binnacle and it all seems ok. No sign of any damage but you never know, Time to buy the Rovacom BeCM module I think.

John. I think there is more wiring in the cigarette lighter circuit on a Range Rover than there is on my entire GT40 so cant use anything from there.

 

[ghur]

Master plan. I will swap both the BeCM and instrument binnacle from other car. No need to worry then about mileage. I wont be able to start the car but it will help with diagnosing the snag.

 

[viperover]

Fuse box issue maybe, worth swopping out to see.

 

[ghur]

Did the BeCM / binnacle swap and everything worked. So now I know where the problem lies. I pulled the boards out of the BeCM and lo and behold someone has had a go at repairing the bottom one. A tiny bit of non standard soldering that I only noticed using my jewellers eye glass.

Off to the breakers tomorrow to try and find a new BeCM, lock set, key fobs and whatever else.

Dam. I was hoping for something simple.

Viper. Do you know of any broken Rangies up in Joburg? Maybe Phil has got something.

 

[viperover]

Yes Phillip has 2 in with with clock clusters but is waiting for keys, odd this should come up as Im about to tear into one I got from him for investigation purposes.

The reason Im investigating is to see if the main chip can be removed and transplanted to another module, thereby solving alot of problems with Km's and security issues.

 

[John W]

Did the BeCM / binnacle swap and everything worked. So now I know where the problem lies. I pulled the boards out of the BeCM and lo and behold someone has had a go at repairing the bottom one. A tiny bit of non standard soldering that I only noticed using my jewellers eye glass.

Off to the breakers tomorrow to try and find a new BeCM, lock set, key fobs and whatever else.

Dam. I was hoping for something simple.

Viper. Do you know of any broken Rangies up in Joburg? Maybe Phil has got something.

Hopefully that means the instrument binnacle is ok and just the board in the BECM faulty.
I think you may be able to get around the mileage issue by using the Rovacom to set the mileage in the BECM to 999,999 and then driving the vehicle.My thoughts are that the mileage would then revert to zero and start counting again.You could then set the BECM mileage to anything higher and the instrument binnacle would automatically sync to that.Just a thought,dont know if it would work.have thought about trying on mine as an experiment sometime :roll:
maybe someone could blow the theory up in smoke or confirm it :shhh: :shhh:

 

[john-sussex]

As mileage goes in my experience i had a clock problem in an se. I changed the whole speedo pod for a known good one.
This had a lesser mileage on it than my RR. Each time i started the display would tell me that the was a mileage problem.
It did this for a week or so until one no beep beep beep! The new pod had changed to match the BECM.
Bare in mind that the Becm will alway revert to the higher mileage be it pod or BECM.

 

[Rick-the-Pick]

That no lights is a classic becm problem. Not a cluster problem.

Keep the old becm as it holds all the coding data & settings & you'll need that to program your next becm.

 

[ghur]

Car is mobile. Swapped BECM and ECM. Running like a dream which makes me laugh as the "experts" told the previous owner that the car will never drive again.
A bit of TLC and it will be a fine vehicle.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Now to get a new BECM and ECM and keys so I can get my other car back on the road. I just hope that the faulty BECM is not to badly fried to retrieve the data for the re-program.

 

[viperover]

Just teared into BeCM, lower board is what holds all the info, upper board does all the donkey work such as lights etc.
Instrument cluster though is controlled by lower main board ( call it the mother board) if no dash lights then seems like mother board is gone though on the one I teared down you could see breaks in the fine circuitry and not impossible to bridge (repair)

On the mother board side the components are well sealed for etended life but the flip side its bare and Im a bit concerned on this area, my bet is vehicles situated near the coast wont last as the ones far inland so a solution to sealing up the main track side needs investigating and if so will it cause problems.

All I can add so far to my findings is that messing around on electrics on these vehicles is a no no unless a understanding of how this system works ie certain circuits are negative switching vs positive switching and using a metr correctly
as they say "You've been warned"

 

[ghur]

I have no idea of the mileage on my car. If I re-fit the original instrument binnacle to the current BECM how long will it take for the values in the binnacle to change to match the BECM or vice versa. I only need it connected for a couple of seconds to read the mileage. The serviceable BECM I have fitted is from a fairly high mileage truck and I would hate to end up with its numbers on the new beast which I suspect has a much lower figure.