BeCM

[Gus Veness]

Recently I had some wierd problems with my 98 4.6 HSE .Whilst the missus was driving , the horn started blaring and the wipers began to wipe. She manged to get it home, and I disconnected the battery hoping that it may need to be rebooted. When I reconnected the battery, to my dismay, the engine started to crank, the horn and alarm klaxon sounded, and the wipers ran. after about 15 sec. the engine stoped cranking, along with the horns. The only way to stop the wipers was to remove the fuse. Being late in the evening, and bloody cold, I decided to do some research and look in the morning. Next morning I replaced the ground cable thinking it may be a ground fault, and viola! problem fixed, untill she warmed up. I had found a web site (http://www.rangerovers.net/repairdetails/becm/index.html) going into detail the BeCM. Figuring I'd need to buy a new one and reprogram it, I thought what the heck, and pulled the old one out and following the info I'd found pulled the BeCM apart. Turns out to be a resonably simple operation, though I can't begin to understand the logic behind it. What I found inside it was some liquid laying onto top of a ribbon connector, along with more of the stuff all over the lower half of the board. The liquid turnd out to be coffee. 3 guesses as to how it got there. After drying and cleaning the boards, I re assembled the BeCM, and re fitted it. Every thing now works fine. Makes me wonder how many of these have been replaced at a very high cost, when a simple drying out and cleaning will do the same job. The BeCM is quite poorly designed as far as sealing goes, and any thing split from the cup holders, can run straight into it. God forbid ever doing a deep river crossing.

[Frank84]

glad you were able to fix it so easily and cheaply. recently the sunroof on my dad's DII leaked and flooded the radio. i took it out and disassembled - cleaned everything up inside with "electronic parts cleaner" and a small screw driver to scrape away the corosion. worked like new when i put it back in.

i forget what the stuff is called, but there is stuff you can spread over electronic boards (like inside your BeCM) to water proof them. at work the electrical boards in a heart pump we are designing must be water proof. the stuff works well and doesn't allow too much heat build up either. i bet it isn't much different from dielectric grease (available at auto parts stores).

[rvrsrvc]

I had a P38a customer once that had all kinds of issues after having the carpets cleaned! They must have run a hose under the seat to get the BeCM that wet!