Hi guys,
I just got an offer to take and rebuild L405 2015 5.0sc it only had 50k mileage but unfortunately fun gone wrong and puddle which seemed not deep appeared to be up to windows which resulted in engine failure and most component failure. Now previous owner got new engine, new sc, new interior with wiring loom and all components. However he couldnt find anybody who could program all computers back together. He is talking about some component protection which nobody knows how to remove.

Now i am very tempted to take this adventure as it is definetely very nice example. Full spec 5.0sc with very low mileage.

But very worried that its impossible to code all computers together.
So if anybody could explain what could be the problem to code it and how to figure it out i would greatly appreciate before i make mistake of my life

Just my 2p

Walk away, very fast....!!! Pete

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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
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But you know that feeling of challenge
Also most of the mechanics are checked inspected or replaced

I’d agree. Unless you are stripping it down to every last bit, then it’ll come back and bite with problems. Plus it’d need to be super cheap … not just a few £k less than book.

My in-law’s car hydrolocked trying to drive through deep water. When reading up about some potential consequences and similar, there were some good comments around factors I hadn’t considered. Things like the crash sensors rusting inside over time and failing years later etc etc.

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Regarding the actual task … I suppose it should be possible to replace any part of a car.

The thing is that the car has a VIN, and that VIN will be coded into a good number of the main components of the car …each of which themselves will like have a unique serial number, and each of which will know what the other component serial numbers of the car should be.

Many of them will also store core car data on them … like mileage of the vehicle. So if you come along, and replace with a component that’s been used in a different car, the mileage from the new part will differ.

I know from Mk2 Range Rover ( P38’s ), the mileage worked on highest mileage rules. For example, suppose you had a 50k miles car, and it needed a new instrument cluster, and bought one from a car that had done 80k miles … Whilst it’ll likely plug in, and display … it’ll immediately flag the mileage discrepancy … and the only way round coding the new cluster in would be to re-code all the units in the car to whatever component has the highest recorded mileage … so you 50k miles could end up 80k miles. ( I suppose this is protection against clocking cars )

It might be possible for an LR garage to re-program the new stuff. Only way of finding out is asking them. V8 or else ...

Walk away...

If a large number of the ECUs are second-hand replacements then I think there is no way a dealer would look at this. The only way to be reasonably sure of success would be if all the replacement ECUs were virgin unprogrammed units.

Most ECUs have areas of one-time-programmable memory which contain vehicle specific data and the only way around this is to replace and reprogram the relevant chip in the ECU - this has to be done off the vehicle and is not trivial.

………. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” -where’s the fun in that?

Last edited by Gremlin500 on 18th Apr 2024 11:26pm. Edited 1 time in total

the only way i'd take it on is if you had a like for like donor sat next to that had been smashed with similar but higher mileage so as not to flag a mileage discrepancy, that way the only ecu in theory that would need resetting is the airbag.

You would have one problem though which I don't know if you'd get round....the car stores it's VIN somewhere and is viewable on the dash display and when connecting diagnostics.

If you can find out which modules then you might be able to find someone that can go direct to the chip on the circuit board and edit the saved data (how extra keys have to programmed to a KVM) Current
2013 Range Rover Autobiography SDV8
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There's a reason the car is a total loss write-off. It should be broken for parts only I'm afraid.

This is not a project to take on. The reason the car is being sold becuase he couldn't get all the ECUs to programme is a big flashing warning alarm that they have tried and failed.

If the water was that high, the 2x diff, 1x transfer case and 1x transmission breathers will all most certainly have been blocked and let water in, so all of these major mechanical components could also be totally ruined.

Water ingress gradually rots wiring looms away or sends them high resistance and several years down the line you can get very random and difficult to diagnose electrical faults / issues. And the various ECUs (of which there's around 35 of them) would be a total minefield. Some may re-program, some may not. In which order, a main dealer or even people who built it in the factory wouldn't know.

Walk away very fast unless your plan is to break the car as salvage. 2015 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 SDV8