Rover emergency key access problem

Mine cost me £83 from a Citroen garage for my car car (N-Reg Rover

Mine hasn't ever given a honk on the horn, mind you, I haven't put the wrong code in via the key.

Are you sure you're doing it EXACTLY how the manual says? I mean, putting it back to the middle and then turning?

--Nick.

Interesting. I'm trying a couple of other sources who claim to be a lot cheaper than the Rover dealer.

Right, it seems precision is required. I find about 1 in 5 attempts results in a honk.

Yes, exactly as the manual says, and I've tried tens of times definitely using the EKA, not the in-car stereo activation code or any other code. I allow the key to come back to upright centre after each turn. Have also tried tweaking it just slightly beyond. As I said, there's seldom a short honk of the horn to tell me I'm entering the code incorrectly, so I assume I'm doing it right. I know there's a 10 minute delay if you enter the code wrongly 3 times, but I've never got it wrong three times on the trot.

Strangely, I found a web page that says a blast of the horn tells you you've entered the code correctly. I prefer to believe the owner's manual. Whatever happens, the engine will not start. All I get is the immobiliser bleeping when I try the ignition after entering the EKA.

I'll see who can sort it out in the morning. Thanks, Nick.

Yours bleeps?

--Nick

Yes, a kind of quiet ambulance-type siren noise. This happens any time you turn the ignition to position 2 and the immobiliser is active.

Problem still not solved. I've been too busy at work. Still a mystery to me why the EKA is apparently accepted, yet the immobiliser stays active. Anyway, tomorrow I'll get the RAC to cart the offending vehicle to the local Rover garage and get it sorted.

Let me know how you get on. I have the old shape 214Si (N-Reg) what is yours?

--Nick.

Thanks for your interest, Nick. The news: Yesterday I called a local service garage and a good man made a rendezvous with me at the railway station where my car was in suspended animation. He turned up in a TVR, no less, though it turned out he was only test driving it after a service. Happens to be an MG Rover and TVR service garage. Anyway, first he had a go at the EKA trick with the key in the door, and got the same non-result as I had. He plugged a electronic gizmo into my car and in a jiffy I had a new remote. Problem solved, but at a price of £94 price. In terms of weight, the remote is worth more than gold.

At work today a colleague with a 214Si said he had a similar problem. His remote was buggered and he couldn't start his car. Naturally I asked if he knew his EKA. Nope, he said. Just out of interest I tried a few random numbers for an EKA in his driver's door lock. None of them invoked a blast of the horn. The horn is supposed to sound if you get the code wrong, right? My car was equally capricious: I tried the correct code a number of times, then a few random codes. It made no difference. The horn generally stayed silent but did honk occasionally, whether I was using the right code or not. This makes no sense. Whatever, the engine would not start.

The colleague's 214Si is an N-reg new shape, mine's a P-reg. So what the Hell is going on with the ECU's? This would be a bummer if your remote failed in the middle of nowhere and you couldn't get your car started with the EKA.