Disco 2 2004 TD5 went to garage for some minor electrics - got call saying BCU has shut down

Ok, so just when I thought things were going well with the Disco - sorted the starting issue with new injector washers and seals - and having had a nice week in Devon towing the caravan without any issues, then things go wrong again!

Took it in to my local garage to get some additional lights fitted (front and rear strobes / beacons and rear work lamp - still making my mind up on a traditional tubular light bar with LED spots or one of those new type LED light bar things, so not done anything about that yet). So, you'd think it was nothing much - i'd have wired it up myself but I didn't have time and they offered to do it cheaply. I'd have thought it was a fairly easy job myself - i'd even bought a nice new dash-mounted switch pod and new illuminated switches which i'd pre-fitted to the pod to make things easier. Oh and the rear work lamp came with a full wiring harness - these were NOT cheap lights, the strobes were £30 each and the work lamp was about £45 + £20 for the harness, all properly chapter 8 compliant and CE marked, bought directly from Britalitez who are a UK manufacturer - chose there's as they're IP68 waterproof not IP67 splashproof - no point having the Disco set up for wading then not being able to get the lights wet!!

Anyway, dropped car to the garage the night before (we have any arrangement where that works best for both) so they had it first thing. I was expecting a "come and get it" call by early to mid afternoon. Come 5ish I drove round and found they were still working on it (I suspect it got put to one side when something else came in and they had another customer standing there waiting). "not to worry" says I, all accommodating and the like, "i'm in no rush, I don't really need it back before Friday or Saturday morning at the latest" (this was Wednesday evening). Thursday I hear nothing at all. Friday I get a text message from garage at 7.30am saying "please call us about your Discovery". So I ring at 9ish when they open and get told "it's been a pig, it's fought me all the way. don't know what's happened, it's nothing I've done, but the BCU has shut down. we've had the electrician come and look at it and he can't sort it so it's gone on the back of a trailer to Portishead this morning to a specialist" (that's about 20 miles away).

So, not only did I drive it in to the garage running perfectly and having just towed to and from and driven all round Devon for a week, but now I find it's dead and it's been taken away somewhere else without first speaking to me.

Then they tell me we're not going to know what's going on until Monday or Tuesday - i'm due back at work on Monday and now have to borrow a car to get there as there's no public transport that goes to where I work!

To say the least i'm absolutely bloody livid about the whole thing!

I'm also now expecting to face a significantly larger bill than originally anticipated (he'd quote £50 to wire the strobes and I expected that to go to an absolute maximum of £100 as he was doing the rear lamp and checking a pulley squeal that's recently developed and also supposed to be road testing it to see why the traction control seems a little over sensitive - not necessarily fixing either, just checking what it is and giving me a price, but I anticipated to allow an hour of labour maximum to check these out - they're a professional garage after all.

So the question I have now is, what would cause the BCU to shut down and it is likely to be a genuine coincidence or something the garage have done / not done right when they were doing the wiring for the lights? If it's likely to be something the garage have done then what would it most likely have been? I really need to know where I stand if he presents me with a huge bill for trailer transport and the charges from this specialist he's chosen to send it to.

And when this "specialist" (I don't even know at the moment where it's going so I can't call and ask what they've found and what they're doing about it) are they likely to do anything that will reset the ECU to factory settings? My concern here is that I paid £300 for Alive to remap it (makes a huge difference and runs really nicely on the modified map) and I don't want that to get messed up and have to spend out again (it was done 4 months ago and has run fine ever since).

Why would a BCU shut down? What can be done? Would it have had to go to a specialise or is this something that could have been reset with my Hawkeye (which i'm still learning how to use)?

So, after this is sorted, i'm considering buying a Series 1 - at least they're "brainless" and simple enough to mend! I understand points, plugs, etc. and if it don't work then keep 3 sizes of hammer to hand (small to test, medium to adjust and large to mend!).

Maybe, just maybe, this will all be sorted and it'll be running again ready to get us to Stanford Hall? Maybe we'll be turning up in the other half's Seat Altea (won't be laning in that though - it's not even the 4x4 version!!)? Maybe we'll get the bus (i'll have a go a laning in a bus if they'll let me)?

What did they do to it?

Who 'borrowed' it to go for a play?

To be fair to you, if it was running fine when they got it, it may be down to them, do not offer to pay for their muck up.

Since as you say it's the BCU that's shut down and not he engine ECU then they shouldn't have upset the remap.
One of the problems is that many garages don't appreciate that the diesel Disco 2 isn't OBDII tame and then they stick their own "all leapin', singin', dancin'" OBDII scanner on it and the start writing stuff to the BCU 'cos " that reading didn't look quite right".
I hope it all works out OK.

Give them a call Monday morning first thing and ask for the specialists number, ring them and ask what's going on! maybe the hawkeye will sort it
They should have called you before sending it somewhere else though

brian47 said:

Since as you say it's the BCU that's shut down and not he engine ECU then they shouldn't have upset the remap.
One of the problems is that many garages don't appreciate that the diesel Disco 2 isn't OBDII tame and then they stick their own "all leapin', singin', dancin'" OBDII scanner on it and the start writing stuff to the BCU 'cos " that reading didn't look quite right".
I hope it all works out OK.

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I've not actually seen it since it went in and I can't for the life of me work out what they would have needed to plug in for just to wire up some lights? I don't think they've even started to have a look at the T/C or the pulley squeal yet. Apart from that, they KNOW I've got a Hawkeye and it was in the glove box at the time - they'd surely have found it when then were taking the dash apart to run wires to / from the switches - can't see any reason why they'd have needed to run their selection of ODBII gadgets on it.

It's going to be an interesting conversation when if comes back and they try to bill me for it! The sad thing is that I've been using the same garage for over 20 years and thought I had a good relationship with them - depending on how they play this will decide whether I carry on using them or go elsewhere and make my reasons known to all and sundry!

Do you know the EKA code?

Sounds like they may have muddle about with the head lining possibly and disturbed the key fob sensor in the head lining?

Have they tried sticking the key in the door and locking and unlocking, leaving it about 5 minutes and then trying it? This is supposed to be part of the wake up procedure that sierrafery is pointing to. If you know the EKA code, you can enter this using the door key and barrel to get the car going and that will tell you if the BCU has totally failed.

Another possibility is if they have cut some cables that the BCU uses whilst installing the extra bits you've requested. Take a look at the RAVE manual for whats connected to the BCU.

The reason they have sent it away is because they have messed it up and are panicking, doubt it will cost you anything extra cash wise, but the garage will put td5 on their avoid list.
Years ago we have done same thing on customers truck, would have been better for me to give the customer 500 quid when he first came in and told him to fcuk off elsewhere as it would have been cheaper for us!

sierrafery said:

Do you know the EKA code?

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Yes, got the EKA code - but not been asked for it yet, gonna ring them tomorrow and ask if they need it.

Sounds like a right royal..oopppsie.
But as you do not know how they have defined a BCU failure, all you can do is make the calls in the AM and find out. keep us informed please.
I trust you will not have to pay. If they do need the EKA, make sure they know the correct way to enter it for the D2. As it is not the same as the D1.( the correct way is shown in the owners manual)

Hope you get it sorted.

Cheers

neilly said:

Sounds like a right royal..oopppsie.
But as you do not know how they have defined a BCU failure, all you can do is make the calls in the AM and find out. keep us informed please.
I trust you will not have to pay. If they do need the EKA, make sure they know the correct way to enter it for the D2. As it is not the same as the D1.( the correct way is shown in the owners manual)

Hope you get it sorted.

Cheers

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Cheers Neilly - will let you know the outcome once I've spoken to them tomorrow.

Well, after lengthy discussions with DBL Landrovers (where it was taken by my local garage) it turns out BCU had blown a chip and was dead - they couldn't pinpoint cause (suggested it's like anything electric and they just sometimes go pop and that's it, a bit like an old TV going pop and not working any more). Ended up having to have new BCU. Local garage obviously felt some. Responsibility as we agreed to split the bill (fair enough under the circumstances). Only issue now is that it's got to go back to have other key programmed as local garage didn't realise that would be the case so when I asked if key was needed they said no (they had the spare so it's the main keyfob currently not working - bit will sort that next week).

Most importantly - Disco is back on the road again

Got to spend today giving it a clean and fitting cb ready for some laning at Stamford Hall - it's almost ready to go then (just another ummm, error, £some to spend on accessorising and I might be happy - the time to start "repairing" little niggles like a seized rear sunroof motor, a couple of annoying rattles and squeaks - seeming 'normal' Landrover stuff

It might be different at the dealers but I know with the Lynx that I have, all keys have to be reprogrammed at the same time.

brianconwy said:

It might be different at the dealers but I know with the Lynx that I have, all keys have to be reprogrammed at the same time.

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Thanks for the heads-up, that might make for another interesting conversation then - as I asked them 2 or 3 times if they needed the other set of keys and was told absolutely not (but then again, they also said that the other set of keys would work, which they don't).

I'm still not 100% convinced that the garage didn't do something when they were doing the wiring that caused the BCU to blow. I've looked inside the old unit and there's clearly a couple of chips that have quite dramatically gone pop and left a nice bit of soot on the board and up the neighbouring capacitors (so they're probably fried too from the heat). Could be coincidence that it just blew when it was with them, could be something they did. Not sure what happened with the wiring they were doing but had a good look over it and found some various issues today - so i'll be going back there next week anyway (front strobe / beacon lights have 1 flash pattern which is correct, rear left has another, rear right has a 3rd with both rears being the wrong pattern!), connected to wrong switch - but that's easy to swap round. Another switch seems to be dead (brand new switches so not sure what they've done here). Looked under the bonnet and found long coiled up wire that feeds back through the bulkhead (no idea what it's connected to but it's just cut off at the end under the bonnet) - don't know what this is for and doesn't seem to be connected to front lights. Carpet in front footwell and in boot was covered in little trimmings of copper wire - wouldn't have been good if they got into dog's paws! (spend 2 hours hovering it today to get rid of it all!). Found several broken trim clips scattered round the car. A short length of wire with a terminal on the end which was partly melted - no idea where that came from.

Of course, I know what reply i'll get from local garage "that wasn't us, must have been DBL Landrovers" and I know DBL will say "that wasn't us, must have been Hatley Garage" so not sure i'll get anywhere with raising the issue of the state of the car. But they're certainly going to put the keys right, sort out what on earth this spare wire is and sort out the flash patterns on the beacons to ensure they're all the same pattern and synchronised.

And never use them again, but to be fair Im sure they are just fine at servicing etc, special stuff will be outside their area of speciality hence the problems.

So sorry to read about your problem, hope it's on it's way to being a bad memory now. It's one of the reasons why I like to do stuff myself, there is no real way you will ever know the full truth, and odds are they will always say it just happened while we had the vehicle total coincidence.
Finding bits of burnt wire must just make it more frustrating as you feel it must be part of the story, but can't prove it.

Thanks for the comments and support - I've spent all day cleaning it, tidying up, replacing missing screws and bolts (fuse box under steering wheel wasn't even bolted in, they'd taken it out and lost the bolt somehow - lucky I've always got a box of nuts and bolts spare!! )

Anyway, after sorting the inside I took it down to the local hand car wash (or the Polish bumblebees as my kids call them - there's about 15 of them at work at any one time, usually all wearing black jeans and hi-vis vest and they chat to each other and sing in Polish) - they're bloody marvelous and for £8 it got a hand wash, chamois dry, door shuts done windows cleaned then the paintwork got polished - and it was all done in about 15 mins! So with the inside all hovered and cleaned, the outside shining and having decided to fit a CB ready for the lanes at Landyzone 13 I'm now feeling a little happier about Disco ownership again.

Of course it's still going back to get the lights flashing in sequence and the keys sorted (they can do the suspension fob I got my hands on too whilst they're coding the keys) and if it ends up back at the Landrover specialist for the keys then I think i'll ask him to pop in the replacement rear sunroof motor rather than let the local garage do it.

So, what next?

Well maybe a lift kit (i'm thinking 1 inch body and 2 inch suspension - what do others think? Don't want to make it too high 'cos my missus is only a short-arse and if it goes too high then i'll end up having to carry a caravan step so she can get in and out )? I've also got my eye on some heavy duty bumpers, but haven't quite decided which style yet and whether or not i'll bother with a winch (need to decide that before I buy a front bumper really I guess!!). But do I do those bits before or after the intercooler upgrade??? Decisions, decisions

Bumper before the i-cooler as you will be right ****ed of if your new bumper fouls your i-cooler, with bumper first you can measure to confirm cooler will fit in the actual hole you have.
Winchs are awesome but tbh very rarely if ever needed unless you are into heavy off road stuff?