First let me start with I am not very knowledgeable on Land rover. Long story short, my son has a 95 disco and an 88 Range rover classic. The Classic 3.5 engine is low on compression and he was looking for another engine that he could swap into the classic. He found a 97 disco locally that he purchased because it had relatively good compression. Once it was towed home and I had a chance to look at it, I realized that it was a 4 liter with distributorless ignition. Upon further research it appears that we could in fact use the 4.0 block but we would need to change out the front housings, the CAM and the manifolds to make the swap (any thoughts on this would be appreciated). In the interim, however, we have decided it would be interesting if we could get the engine to run prior to removal just to verify how it runs. With that thought in mind we have been going down the process of trying to get the engine running which is the reason for the post.
First of all we don’t have the original keys or a fob. We don’t have the EKA number for the unit as well. With that knowledge in hand, I have removed tumblers out of the driver’s door lock so that we could use his current rover keys to use the universal 1515 EKA number. That process seems to work as the red light will quit flashing but we are still unable to get the engine to run. So I have a few questions that I need clarified.
First of all we don’t have the original keys or a fob. We don’t have the EKA number for the unit as well. With that knowledge in hand, I have removed tumblers out of the driver’s door lock so that we could use his current rover keys to use the universal 1515 EKA number. That process seems to work as the red light will quit flashing but we are still unable to get the engine to run. So I have a few questions that I need clarified.
- What happens when the engine goes into immobilization? Is the fuel pump supposed to be cut off or is the engine supposed to not crank. I can’t seem to get the correct answer on this in my searches. This unit always cranks no matter what and it seems to always have fuel pressure.
- How does the Alarm system affect the starting/immobilization? There are random times that the Alarm will go off but we have not been able to pin down if this issue is related to the inability to start the engine. Does the red light on the dash indicate alarm or immobilization or both? I ask because there are time we have done the EKA number with the light not flashing but the alarm will still go off.
- Does the immobilization affect spark control and injector control? When cranking, I do not have spark nor do I have the injectors firing. I have used a scope and I am getting Cam and crank signals, but I am not getting any control from the ECU to the coil pack or to the injectors. In my past experience, I would expect that cam and crank would be minimum for getting the spark and fuel but I am thinking there must be something else that I am missing. Any thoughts on that??
- Does the electronic door actuators play into this in any way? At this point, the door actuators don’t automatically actuate when I lock or unlock the driver’s door. Again based on the light I think the EKA functionality is working but I wonder if the fact that door locks are not operating if there is something with that.
- Lastly, I have way more experience with Mercedes immobilizer systems and they had the chip in the key with a coil reader that went over the ignition switch. This unit had the whole ignition switch system removed prior to purchase so I can’t say if there was supposed to a coil reader and my initial inspection of the wiring diagram has come up empty.