had this happen a month or so ago. changed the car battery (it was due anyways) and the key battery. neither worked. luckily i had a spare key at home that worked. no idea what happened but the original key seems to be shot.

 

That sounds plausible (although it's still a ripoff at $750 for a glorified switch with a keyhole...), low battery or other electronic problems - e.g. the immobilizer no longer recognizing your key - should not prevent the key from turning the ignition barrel to pos. I or II, even though the car may not start. Something mechanical must have broken inside the steering lock and ignition switch assembly to prevent it from turning. Sorry.

 

That sounds plausible (although it's still a ripoff at $750 for a glorified switch with a keyhole...), low battery or other electronic problems - e.g. the immobilizer no longer recognizing your key - should not prevent the key from turning the ignition barrel to pos. I or II, even though the car may not start. Something mechanical must have broken inside the steering lock and ignition switch assembly to prevent it from turning. Sorry.

I just received a key from the dealer for my 07 and tried it in the ignition before the key was coded to my vehicle. It wouldn't turn to any position.

 

I have a 2006 HSE The key would not turn so I was stuck and had to use the wife's car for a day. Run my usual local Range Rover mechanic and he told me to disconnect the negative on the battery wait 10 seconds and reconnect. Hey presto it worked however I now have to do this every time I take the key out of the ignition. At least it has given me the chance to drive it to the mechanic rather than paying the cost of a tow truck. If anyone has had a similar problem to mine and had it repaired please let me know. Thanks R

 

Do a search on this, its been covered a lot here. the steering column ECU freaks out and you need to remove fuse #18, wait 30secs. or so, reconnect and it will now work.
Welcome aboard!!! Where in the USA are you?

 

Hey Zubi! I tried your tip of removing fuse 18 and sure enough, it worked! However, after I turned my Rover off the same problem happened again. Do you know what is causing this? And, what the appropriate fix needs to be?

 

My 2004 RR HSE just did this today, and I'm not at all equipped to work on my RR! This is exactly what happens: I insert the key into the ignition, I hear a clicking noise in the steering column that clicks exactly 3 times, and I'm unable to turn the key at all. I called the nearest Land Rover dealer (2 hour drive away from me) and he basically told me the steering column would need to be replaced at at cost of about $6,000 USD to me! He said if I get it started to drive it straight to the nearest dealer. The vehicle has 173K miles and I'm definitely not going to spend $6,000 on it.
Any easy fix tips are greatly appreciated, or just a confirmation that I do not need to replace the entire steering column and spend 6 grand! I have a mechanic that works on it for me that I trust, but didn't want to have to tow it there if I didn't have to! Thanks in advance for anyone who can help this RangeRover newbie out, this is my first one and I love it!

 

Like I stated earlier, do a search and you'll find lots of post ref. this very comon Rover problem.

 

Thanks Zubi. I've tried removing fuse #18 for 30 seconds a couple times, but to no avail. I also read something about drilling a hole and spraying lubricant into the steering column, but I'm not at all equipped to do this, nor does it seem a good idea. Can you confirm that this should certainly not a $6,000+ fix? Thanks!

 

Within the steering wheel column ECM there is a small electromagnetic plunger that fails in one of two diff.ways, "in" or "out" . If it fails "out" the fuse removal will not work. You'll have to figure out another way of getting it fixed, like replacing it with a used unit from Ebay or similar or taking it apart and disabling the whole locking mechanism or similar.
Drilling the small hole on the side of the ecm only lubricates said plunger, its very tricky as you can destroy the windings to the plunger as you are drilling right next to it in confined space.

 

You can't disable the steering lock, it sends a signal to the BECM when it locks and unlocks, if it doesn't get one signal after another it won't start the engine. There is no fix known at present, if yours has failed then try the hole and lube, what have you got to lose.....

This only applies to pre 2006 cars after that RR removed it.... And no you can't fit a later one, it won't talk to the BECM....

 

So we drilled the hole today in the exact same spot as the pic the guy from blackbox-solutions posted titled L322 Steering Lock Problem & Cheap Solution. We sprayed a 1/4 can of WD40 in, but to no avail. We also tapped with a hammer all around the box that we drilled into where the clicking noise is coming from hoping to break loose the plunger or steering lock, but nothing happen.

It still clicks 3 times from the steering column, every time we attempt to turn the key.

I also noticed in some other threads related to this problem that someone posted a graph titled L322 Range Rover System Description and Operation, Ignition Switch and Locking Mechanism and it shows where the locking pin (labeled #6) is, presummably so one could remove it to get the key to turn. Would you all advise against this since it seems that these vehicles talk to all parts of the vehicle electronically, thus preventing you from "rigging" or removing parts and the vehicle still being operable?

Im into this 2004 Range Rover HSE with 173,000 miles for $12,500 now. Its very clean and very sharp, but I"m afraid that these little problems will keep arising and costing out the ass (I bought it for 10K and within 10 months had to spend 2,500 on new radiator, some belts, and an alternator I believe, which took a long time to even locate the right parts) and this is my daily vehicle.

Any suggestions are welcome and is there anything I should tell the mechanic to hopefully save him time and me money to get this fixed quickly

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you guys getting on here and trying to help people out with your knowledge, its very cool and very rare these days to have people just trying to help with nothing to gain. Thanks in again guys!

 

Hey there,
I have a 2003 Range Rover that let me down in Vancouver, Canada with same issue, had it towed to dealer up there. They were going to disable the locking mechanism for 750.00 but they would not guarantee this would work, it if didn't than I would have to spend between 3500.00 and 8500.00 for a new steering column, plus another 750.00 for installation. I had it shipped to my home in San Diego for 2K. Just arrived today, so I plan on taking it apart now that its in my driveway. I hope to be able to disable in the unlock position, because it won't stay in the unlocked position right now. If you search on Ebay u can find a steering column for under a 1000.00. I will keep u posted.

 

bobst2003, Did you get into your Rover yet? Let me know what you run into! Thanks,

 

Hello,

Yes, upper steering column is out of car, pretty east job for the most part. Believe it or not, the airbag kicked my butt, in the end I used a artist brush handle, the manual says 50mm or 2 inches long 1/8 in rod, its more like 3 inches once inside the column. The locking mechanism has a cover plate, but its held in by 5 very small allen or torq head screws and they all appear to be stripped, so I will try and drill out tomorrow. This is as far as I got today, if I can't under that cover plate I may have to buy the steering column, which I was hoping to avoid. This car is going to be the death of me.

 

Also, you need to download Rave manual, just google them, they are free and they give you all the breakdown of maintenance and parts.

 

Bob, they are not screws, they are pins, kinda PITA to get out, I drilled two out and used a punch on the two lower ones, pushed them into the casing.

 

Thanks for the Info.. I'm taking it to my shop tomorrow, I work in an Aviation Metal shop and we have some good drill bits and pneumatic drills, broke 2 bits yesterday at home. I have a bid in for one from ebay if I can't fix. Also went to 2 junkyards, it seems that damaged range rovers don't go to the junkyard, they are probably sold so they can be parted out and charge us big bucks for used parts.

Zubi, what did you see once you removed cover, is there a chance I can make a repair, it appears mine is stuck in the locked position, hense fuse 18 doesn't work for me.. absolutely no way I was able to get car started

 

UPDATE
Got the cover plate off, punched the 6 roll pins into the caseing. Found the plunger solenoid (Kuhnke) is the Company who makes it. It appears to be a little sticky, so I cleaned it with contact cleaner, and lubed with grease. Will take home this afternoon to see if this fixes the problem.

 

Hi, Did you notice if you could remove the plunger and the solenoid would just sit there clicking open and shut and tell the BECM to work?? maybe a permanent solution to a ridiculous problem!!!

Thanks

Pete

 

Just called (KUHNKE) for the Solenoid, guess what, Range Rover has sole rights to this part and the only way to get one is buy the whole steering column from them. What a bunch of (I won't say), will get removed from site if I do.

 

Its more like BMW has the rights to this. 99% of electronics and mechanics are BMW.

Just called (KUHNKE) for the Solenoid, guess what, Range Rover has sole rights to this part and the only way to get one is buy the whole steering column from them. What a bunch of (I won't say), will get removed from site if I do.

 

Took the steering column home... Its working, the car started on the first turn. Couldn't decide when to remove plunger so I would never have an issue again, but I think it was just a sticky shaft and with the cleaning and lubing I'm going to take a chance. Good luck all who run into this issue in the future, hope my post helped. Let me know if you have any other questions

Bob

 

Great it worked out thanks for the pictures

 

I had the same issued on my 03 RR. The fuse tricks does not work in my case. I drilled a small hole on the side of the steering lock mechanism and sprayed WD40 inside and it works for me. The plunger freed up after I turned the key a few times. I haven't had any issue since, been a few months now. I did buy a spare steering lock mechanism off ebay as a spare just in case. I now have a small can of WD40 in my car just in case. LOL

 

There is a member here that he is also a Land Rover tech. in Va. That has been working on this for some time now. Hopefuly he can come up with a solution. I bought a used one on Ebay for $700.00. So far so good!!

 

At the dealer the s.column cost in the vicinity of $6,000 new.

 

Bob how long did it take you to do all this?