Starts By Itself

[SECURED]

I HAVE A 1997 ROVER 4.0SE after going to the car wash today i pulled into the garage and to my utter unbelief the car started by itself while the key was in my hand any ideas of what to look for. I have undone the battery and let it set when i try to put it back on the car trys to start. crazy

[John C]

You sure you don't have an automatic starter and you pressed the button on the remote by mistake? My 88 RR had this feature, it was great, I could start her up on cold days from inside my house and walk out to a toasty warm vehicle.

[SECURED]

no auto starter also all the fault lights are now going on. can not even conect the battery do to the car trying to start. if i turn it to the on position it will run but every once and a while the starter will try to engage

[130CC]

Does the car actually start or does the starter just turn over?

[lonestarrover]

Your fuse box behind the battery got wet, same thing happened to mine after I had my engine washed. You need to remove the cover and indiviually dry out the relays and fuses. Blow light compressed air in the fuse and relay sockets.

[OkieRover]

I think I would put some dielectric grease on them when I put them back also.
Wow! Thats crazy stuff. Our Aerostar minivan did that when my wife got out of it after the kids noticed smoke coming out of the vents. The ignition shorted and the van started itself. Scared the kids pretty good.

That sucker burned to the (brand new) tires. Kid in the convienience store grabbed the phone book when my wife told him to call the fire department!!!! She said "just dial 911". Maybe thats why he works at a convienience store instead of at NASA as a rocket scientist.

Seriously, get some dielectric grease in there.

[SECURED]

The car just turns over. I have taken the intire fuse box behind the battery off all fuses ot and the cover off and blowen it out. I put it all back together again and it still does it. I am so frustrated

[OkieRover]

Check the wiring around the starter and make sure there is nothing funky down there. After that I think I'd look in to my ignition switch.

[130CC]

Once the car is running ( after you start it) check to see if the starter is not coming on then as well if it is then the problem will most likely be the solenoid, or the wire that feeds it. An easy way to check this is to remove the feed (solenoid activation) wire if the car tries to start then it is in the solenoid. if it does not then use one of the 12v light pencil or a multimeter and check to see if there is voltage on the feed wire when the ignition is turned off if there is then this is your problem. Sorry I don't know on a range rover but on the defender ( and most other cars that I have seen) the ignition wire runs from the key to the fuse box from the fuse box to the starter (feed wire) armed with this bit of knoledge if you find that fuse and remove it and (using your light pencil) there is still voltage on the feed wire then the problem is in the fuse box. if there is no voltage on the feed wire then this has removed the fuse box from the equasion and leaves us withe the ignition, the ignition is normaly a hard switch so if this has failed then you will normaly to see an auto electrician but this type of failure I would say is very rare. All of this I hope makes sense but it will only help you diagnose the problem. but once a problem is found it is generaly easy to fix.
Adam

[SECURED]

I went to the local dealer and grabbed a new fuse box rehooked it up and it is ok now exept the srs airbag fault and the sunroof will not set to the sealed location any ideas

[troverman]

Does check engine come on at all, just briefly, or not at all? (Assuming there is a working bulb in the slot) Typically, the SRS light comes on only if one of the yellow connectors was unplugged and the key was turned to any position, or the airbag is too old (not your case) or there is an actual fault. Does the message center say something like "AIRBAG FAULT"? or is it just the light? Unfortunantly, the only way to reset it is the dealer. With your sunroof not setting itself, just do what the book says run it all the way back and forth, etc, do it a few more times then the book says. It probably still won't be set--but give it a couple days and my guess is one time you'll try it and the one-touch will be working fine again. This is how the front windows in my 95 4.0SE are--the back windows always set, the front ones and the roof never do right away. Another way to get rid of the SRS light (maybe) is leave the battery disconnected for awhile. Might work-might not. BeCM is a very unpredictable computer.

Good luck--just went through 2 weeks of problems with mine not starting at all--had to have it towed 100 miles to dealer where they did a magic computer procedure, all is well again, etc...