I bought this car about 6 months ago, as a cheap run about, it was going for crushers when I rescued it from a mate who instead offered it to me me for a scrap value. I have been driving it with few problems, one being HG leaking and so will need a new HG soon.

The other being a serious one, I left the car for 3 weeks and battery drained flat, I managed to open the driver's door with the key and removed battery for charging.

After charging battery, as soon as I connected the leads the Alarm comes on and won't reset from the key fob, (Rover 214 SLI, 4 door 1.6 Honda engine)

Alarm stops after about 30 seconds thereabouts

No amount of fiddling with the key fob buttons does anything, I checked various sites for as much information and all failed to restore the alarm deactivation.

The only thing I didn't try was the EKA as I do not have a code

I also noticed that when I use my ignition key to open or lock the driver's door (Passenger door has no key locking ) the central locking does no longer function on any of the 4 doors, there was a fault on the driver's door where the central Locking did not function but on 3 other doors it functioned Ok, I used the Fob to disable alarm and then unlock the driver's door with the ignition key.

The previous Owner told me that if I unlock all 4 door locking buttons, and reconnect the battery, and press on the "LOCK" button on my Fob 5 times in a quick succession it should sort it out, but it hasn't. I tried all possible tricks mentioned on various sites, but none to any avail.

1. Could it be that because Central Locking doesn't work, hence the problem why it won't disable?
(I haven't checked the CL fuse in case it is blown, will do this tomorrow)

2. I suspected that it may be the door micro switch (central locking switch) which is operated by turning the ignition key in the driver's door,
I checked it had two wires connected to it, (A black with yellow marker and a black which later on connects to another connector with two different colours i.e. black/red and black/yellow) and I checked with my Multimeter and it buzzes when the pip on the microswitch is pushed in, so making a connection and goes open circuit when the pip is out. (Door key upright vertically the pip is out so contacts are open, when key turned contacts close)

I also got Rover 216 & 416 Haynes Manual, the circuit diagram shows a two way switch i.e. single pole change over switch with 3 wires, whereas on my 214 Rover it only has two wires, hence why I think turning the ignition switch on the door to locking or unlocking position would make absolutely no difference as the cam on the door switch simply kicks the pip on the micro switch with just two wires to make or break and would not indicate which direction the switch is being turned, so putting in the EKA code may not work on this car as there is no way the switch would know if it is being turned to left (unlocking) or to right (Locking)

Sorry for being a long post but better to clarify and provide as much information available.

Please kindly suggest what my options are? can it be rescued, can I rip out immobiliser from the car if assuming it is not integral part of the ECU as in many other cars which uses a transponder, I do not think there is any transponder in the Fob.

I have also tried all the tricks in the Owners Manual , like re-synchronising etc, but absolutely nothing, the red light in the dashboard flashes on off as if armed, and each time I open the door the horn starts sounding and engine is immobilised., If i leave the door open, the red light goes steady after alarm stops 30 seconds later.

Thanks in advance.

OK I haven't tried this from another post on this forum by
Postby 1234dist » Mon May 16, 2016 8:38 am

put your key in the door with all other doors, bonnet and boot locked.

Turn the key to the lock position and hold for 10 seconds

remove the key and sequence the buttons on the fob until it unlocks. (open, close, open, close ect.)

It usually takes more than 5 times and make sure you are close to the car to make sure its not a weak signal from the fob itself.

go through the members section and send a message to bobbybrown. He'll be able to program you a fob and get your eak code for you.

Might be way off the mark, but try new batteries in the remote, and also stand really close to the car when you press the fob buttons - these cars never let you unlock them from afar like other cars I've had - you have to be literally stood next to it!!

Ok thanks everyone, I am at work and will be leaving early so I will be able to try later on this Evening.

But what puzzles me is that when i looked at the door micro switch, there is only one Micro switch that operates by a cam fitted to door locking barrel, so it does not matter which way you turn the door lock i.e. to left for unlocking or to right for locking, the same microswitch gets tripped by the cam, therefore I am at loss to understand how can then one Input the EKA since the Microswitch wouldn't know which way it is being turned since the Owners manual says turn x number fo times to Unlock position representing first digit of your code then number of times to locking position representing the 2nd digit of EKA code and so on, but i cannot see how that single microswitch with just make or break contacts can define the direction of the key switch, unless of course central locking does something as well, which in my case does not work on the drivers door but does work on other doors before this happened, but now none of the doors respond to central locking using the driver's side door key.

Paul_1978_yorks wrote:Might be way off the mark, but try new batteries in the remote, and also stand really close to the car when you press the fob buttons - these cars never let you unlock them from afar like other cars I've had - you have to be literally stood next to it!!

Checked battery with multimeter it was showing 3v soon after pressing one of the buttons, therefore I ruled it out, on top of that I have an RF field meter that detects RF from 418 and 433Mhz radio waves used in my job, that shows healthy signal, full scale deflection on the RF power meter.

Still no luck with it, I need to disconnect the horn as the neighbours are getting uptight about constantly trying to deactivate the alarm and once tripped the horn blasts for 20 or more seconds, I am not sure where it is located, my ears cannot pin point its location, and i can't see it anywhere, is it under the front wheel arch? any one please? or is there a fuse I can remove?

If its the rf alarm you have (early type) you can still get these from rimmers but they are £80+

The key barrel microswitch is there to tell the system that the key has been used to unlock the door (as opposed to somebody smashing the window and lifting the lock button)

The driver's locking motor itself will send a signal to the system to tell it whether it has done a 'lock' or 'unlock' : that's how the EKA code gets entered and of course how the other doors know when to lock or unlock. So, with that part of your car no longer functioning, an EKA code will not be a lot of good to you.

It would be worth carefully checking all of the wiring to the central locking in the driver's door and also the multiplug where the door plugs into the car wiring loom (remove the rubber boot where the wiring passes into the door from the A-post)

The horns are mounted below each headlamp, so it might be easier to pull the horn fuse.

Good luck......

Oh, and

220 GSi turbo wrote:The key barrel microswitch is there to tell the system that the key has been used to unlock the door (as opposed to somebody smashing the window and lifting the lock button)

The driver's locking motor itself will send a signal to the system to tell it whether it has done a 'lock' or 'unlock' : that's how the EKA code gets entered and of course how the other doors know when to lock or unlock. So, with that part of your car no longer functioning, an EKA code will not be a lot of good to you.

It would be worth carefully checking all of the wiring to the central locking in the driver's door and also the multiplug where the door plugs into the car wiring loom (remove the rubber boot where the wiring passes into the door from the A-post)

The horns are mounted below each headlamp, so it might be easier to pull the horn fuse.

Good luck......

Oh, and

Wow! Thanks Bud. That was what I was looking for some extra ordinary information that made sense, as everything else has not worked, so after all it is the door solenoid tI need to first tackle and find out why it is not working, as that would enable and disable the alarm.

As for alarm fuse you could save me a heck of a time if you could kindly indicate where it is located, or what fuse number it is if you know mate, or is it part of the Central locking fuse?

I guess as I have been fobbing around with the fob buttons and the receiver may now require re-synchronising as well after i had fixed the door solenoid .
Many thanks again!
you are

Look for the flap marked 'fuses' on the panel below the steering column.

There's a label showing which fuse is which.

The horns are awkward to get to for obvious reasons....