2006 FFRR, 4.2SC.

Occasionally in the past we have turned the car off, removed the key, locked it, and noticed dash lights or the ICE is still on. Unlock it, ignition on/off, try again, and all is well.

Even more occasionally we don’t notice the car hasn’t powered down and so return to a flat battery. Annoying.

Yesterday we moved on to stage 3.

Parked at a restaurant, had lunch, came out, car dead. The central locking would not work from the key, so I unlocked manually and the ignition was dead as a door nail. A quick check of the car revealed the rear number plates bulbs were glowing faintly and the courtesy lamps on the tailgate were still on. .

Tried a jump from a small car. No joy. Tried one from a larger car. No joy. Tried one from the RAC. No joy.

By “no joy” I mean the starter motor would turn and the dash lights came on (along with a host of low battery related warning lights such as DSC, ABS, transmission faults). But the engine wouldn’t turn over. And the starter motor continued running for about ten seconds after the key was removed, and the dash lights stayed on after the key was removed, and the door had been closed and locked.

Almost as if the car thought it was on, even though it wasn’t. And the RAC guy posited that the starter motor turning without the engine firing seemed like an immobiliser was active.

Tried turning it off and on again (battery disconnected, wait, reconnect). Still the same.

It’s now waiting to be taken on a flatbed to our take Indy. Any ideas what might be the cause, other than that it’s possessed (which, TBH, I’m not ruling out). Range Rover L405 3.0 SC
AM V12VS
Porsche 991.1 Turbo S
Mini JCW conv

Range Rover L322 4.2 SC (RIP)

To close this off: the issue was with the/a mechatronic unit in the gearbox. Just over 4.2k to fix. Plus the car has needed new tyres for a year, so another 1k there, plus sundry other work in the pipeline for the next 12 months, plus an AC leak that I’ve known about for a while but the garage didn’t spot. On its best day with a following wind I would not have got more than 6k on a sale so the dreaded uneconomic repair became real.

Sold it for its scrap value to a guy at the garage who will take it as a project. A massive fat history file with that garage helped, and I’m happy it’ll live to fight another day rather than be taken to pieces. Range Rover L405 3.0 SC
AM V12VS
Porsche 991.1 Turbo S
Mini JCW conv

Range Rover L322 4.2 SC (RIP)

going to keep mine going love it to much