9 replies to this topic

[looperboy]

HI,

This might be one of the strangest mini stories ever. I posted on here a while ago, saying that my battery went flat, and reactivated an alarm and immobiliser I didn't know I had. Having bought the car second-hand it didn't come with a key fob.

For a month I tried various avenues. Contacted auto electrics people to see if they could remove the alarm system.

No-one would touch that, and in the end it was clear that the only solution was to have the mini towed to the rover dealer so's they could reprogram the alarm and give me a new keyfob.

I had it towed there, and then it turned out that the rover dealer's machine for reactivating the alarm was broken. They had to send the machine to england to have it fixed, and then it turned out that the company who deal with the reactivating machines don't deal with machines as old as the one required for the mini anymore.

A lot of the problem seems to have come from Rover not really exisiting anymore.

My Rover dealer tried again to get an auto electrician to remove the alarm system, but were told that because it was factory fitted it couldn't be done.

And now, at the moment, no-one knows what to do with my car. It only has 18,000 miles on it and was running perfectly. Hardly even a touch of rust. And it appears to have been killed by a flat battery.

Has anyone else ever had a similar problem, or does anyone have any advice?

Stuart

[TOMMO0302]

Wow, thats some story, just started typing but went back to see where you were from. Your from Scotland, i was expecting somewhere further afield.

Anyway, no, i don't believe your mini is dead at all, but very surprising that a Rover Dealer can't sort it. You must be able to bypass it and being a factory fitted unit im sure someone on here will be know how to, although i wouldnt expect them to post the answer in here.

Aren't there any other Rover Dealers in Scotland with a working machine?

[minimadjonesy]

Do you have your user manual? there is a way to resync a rover handset to your existing system. so all you need to do is get a new remote and sync it again!

[Guess-Works.com]

Even in the manual it says....

"The system can only be armed and disarmed by using the hand-held radio transmitter"

however, do you have the metal tag on your keyfob with a number on it... this has the number of the ignition key and the number of the handset (maybe possible to get a replacement)

[minimadjonesy]

Emma's spare rover alarm fob went dead due to a flat battery and it took ages for me to find the right type of battery. When we tried it again it would not switch the bloody alarm off. there was a card with the handbook that tells you how to resync handsets and add new handsets to the system. followed the instructions and all now ok

[Guess-Works.com]

just found that bit in the manual...

"unlock the car then operate the RH (lock symbol) button at least FOUR times, to resynchronise the handset to the car. The handset is now ready for use."

Whether this will work for a handset from another source is a different matter ?

[looperboy]

hi,

i don't have the handbook, just the haynes one. but it doesn't tell me how to do that stuff in there.

i don't have the little metal tag with the number on to get a replacement either.

stuart

[looperboy]

rover said that when i get a new handset it has to be reprogrammed, and i think it is their machine for reprogramming it that is broken. An other auto electrics guy told me the same thing; get a new hadset then get rover to reprogram it with their machine.

stuart

[Silicon Skum]

rover said that when i get a new handset it has to be reprogrammed, and i think it is their machine for reprogramming it that is broken. An other auto electrics guy told me the same thing; get a new hadset then get rover to reprogram it with their machine.

stuart

I dunno if this is any good to you, but a quick google search gave me:

http://www.apnaservi...f=data_home&a=6

http://www.remotekey...ver/rover-mini/

http://www.alarmremo.../new_page_4.htm

It is also possible to dissable the alarm using the rover EKA (Emergency Key Access) code. This is a 4 digit code that enables the owner to disarm the immobiliser, and is common to ALL rover alarms. Normally on rover alarms this is done by turning the ignition key in the driver's door lock the require number of times, however the mini does not use this feature of the the ECU, BUT it is still present in the ECU and a DEFAULT factory code can be used by "shorting" the respective connecections on the rover ECU!
I cant go into details about this feature on a public forum, but have a word with the rover dealers about using the EKA factory code by accessing the ECU "optional extras" "feature" connections. They *should* understand what that means.

I do know of a Rover "null" code that may or may not work with the Mini Alarm, PM me *after* trying the above, because this code might not work and could lock out the system on an ECU that did not use the EKA by default. Though I *think* it should reset after a specific time period has past.

SS

[Sprocket]

http://www.bba-reman.com/index.aspx

Give them a call, they should be able to help.