The battery on my 99 4.6 Thor has been weak for months, I finally got around to buying another one (big 130ah chap) from battery megastore and came to fit it tonight.

As per usual the battery was totally dead, its happened a few times and I've had to jump start her from my van. In these cases its been no problem, my usual procedure is unlock drivers, door, open bonnet, shut drivers door and lock it. Connect jump leads. Unlocking using the button on the key and then start her up. No need for EKA code or anything.

Now I followed the same procedure above apart from I took the old battery of and put the new battery on. On connecting the new battery she gave a chirp from the alarm and I went to press the unlock button on the key and nothing.

So I unlocked it using the key in the door and the alarm went of and its come up EKA code on the dash display. Only way I could shut it up was the remove the battery cable. I tried again and put the key in the ignition to try and resync it but no joy.

I dont have the EKA code and I only have one key (which does light up when the buttons are pressed) I attempted to change the key battery for a fresh one just incase its that and I cant get the back of because a previous owner has rounded the slot of.

Where do I stand now? What's the next job? I was thinking try and call Landrover tomorrow and get hold of the EKA, even if I have to go down with my documents etc and try entering that or is there something else I can try?

What's worrying me is the fact that the key has decided it won lock and unlock the car anymore. Ive left the battery connected and it locked front he key to see if it sorts its self out.

Try unlocking with the key whilst pressing the unlock button on the fob

First job is to get the EKA.

I got mine over the telephone from a dealer, so you might not have to visit in person.

Once you've got it, follow the EKA entry procedure and see what happens next, hopefully that'll sort it.

Your fob has very likely gone "out of sync" and that's why it's not unlocking the doors, once you've entered the EKA, just put the key in the ignition and it should resync itself....

This is a long shot but could you try disconnecting the battery, going inside for a cup of tea and then come back out again and reconnect? Might want to leave the driver's door open when you reconnect.

Rave:
BATTERY
Service repair no - 86.15.01
NOTE: From ’96 MY, vehicles maybe fitted
with a back-up battery, the purpose of
which is to power the anti-theft alarm if the
main battery is disconnected. If the main vehicle
battery is to be removed it is essential to adopt
the following procedure before disconnecting the
terminals in order to prevent the alarm sounding:
1. Turn the starter switch ’on’ and then ’off’.
2. Disconnect the battery WITHIN 17 SECONDS
(if the battery is not disconnected within 17
seconds, the alarm will sound).
Remove
WARNING: Always disconnect negative
lead from battery first. Disconnection of
positive lead with negative lead connected
risks short circuit and severe sparking through
accidental grounding of spanner. Personal injury
could result.

Cheers for the advice guys, that's quite interesting the procedure saying you need to turn the starter switch on and then off. Obviously I didn't do that!

I've been out and had a look and the eka lock out message has gone from the dash, I'm really tempted to try and press the unlock button on the fob and see if it works but I dont want it to set the alarm of as its getting a bit late now lol

She lives!!!! I tried unlocking with the unlock button pressed on the fob but to no avail.

So I got my self ready for an argument with my local landrover dealer, put on my best panicked/slightly breathless this is going to cost me a billion pounds voice and called up... Turns up I neednt have bothered, I was on the phone for 3 minutes most of that was chatting about the issue. The guy even offered me the radio code (different OEM radio so no use)

Tried the EKA proceedure, must have looked a right muppet with a laptop in one hand and the keys in the other, and it worked first time. Jumped in, started her up and of we went.

What is quite strange, when the battery has been dead but not disconnected (I mean dead as in wont unlock, no flashing red light on dash etc) I have never had to do EKA code or set the windows and sunroof etc. After disconnecting and changing the battery I had to set all the windows and roof etc. The dead battery must have been doing something!

quavey said:

She lives!!!! I tried unlocking with the unlock button pressed on the fob but to no avail.

So I got my self ready for an argument with my local landrover dealer, put on my best panicked/slightly breathless this is going to cost me a billion pounds voice and called up... Turns up I neednt have bothered, I was on the phone for 3 minutes most of that was chatting about the issue. The guy even offered me the radio code (different OEM radio so no use)

Tried the EKA proceedure, must have looked a right muppet with a laptop in one hand and the keys in the other, and it worked first time. Jumped in, started her up and of we went.

What is quite strange, when the battery has been dead but not disconnected (I mean dead as in wont unlock, no flashing red light on dash etc) I have never had to do EKA code or set the windows and sunroof etc. After disconnecting and changing the battery I had to set all the windows and roof etc. The dead battery must have been doing something!

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Sudden loss of battery voltage to the ECU i.e. disconnection is fine, they exepct that....but a slowly reducing voltage can cause alsorts of issues as the BeCM is still drawing some current even when asleep....so a dying battery will upset and confuse the BeCM (and others) and it will cause issues...

Saint.V8 said:

Sudden loss of battery voltage to the ECU i.e. disconnection is fine, they exepct that....but a slowly reducing voltage can cause alsorts of issues as the BeCM is still drawing some current even when asleep....so a dying battery will upset and confuse the BeCM (and others) and it will cause issues...

Click to expand...

Thats the exact reverse of what I have experienced.

When the battery slowly died and it was jump started (from battery totally dead) I had no problems apart from the radio code.

When disconnecting the old (flat/dead) battery and reconnecting the new one it caused me the problem.

However, much less stressed now I have the EKA so if it happens again I know I can sort it. Next issue is getting a spare key for it as I only have the one. That particular dealer quoted me £164.94 inc vat which is enough... Have others found there is much variance in dealer prices?

£126.00 from williams main dealer in manchester ,,, you must stress that key 4 is required unless you have the number on the one you have ,,, there made up in huff germany so take 4 days to get to your dealer ,, no diagnostics needed plug n play cheers mozz.

quavey said:

Thats the exact reverse of what I have experienced.

When the battery slowly died and it was jump started (from battery totally dead) I had no problems apart from the radio code.

When disconnecting the old (flat/dead) battery and reconnecting the new one it caused me the problem.

However, much less stressed now I have the EKA so if it happens again I know I can sort it. Next issue is getting a spare key for it as I only have the one. That particular dealer quoted me £164.94 inc vat which is enough... Have others found there is much variance in dealer prices?

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Your dead battery was maintaining some BECM functions, when you jumped it the voltage went from low to normal, when you disconnected, the voltage went from low to nothing, I suspect the BECM could not shut down correctly because of the low volage.
I've had the battery off and on many times, never needed the EKA code.

quavey said:

Thats the exact reverse of what I have experienced.

When the battery slowly died and it was jump started (from battery totally dead) I had no problems apart from the radio code.

When disconnecting the old (flat/dead) battery and reconnecting the new one it caused me the problem.

However, much less stressed now I have the EKA so if it happens again I know I can sort it. Next issue is getting a spare key for it as I only have the one. That particular dealer quoted me £164.94 inc vat which is enough... Have others found there is much variance in dealer prices?

Click to expand...

That's about what I paid. They said it'd take 4 working days but I ordered it Friday night and picked it up Monday lunchtime!