Pulling my hair out. Vehicle is a 2006 XJ Super V8 Portfolio. Sent it out for paint. They let the battery go flat. Gave it back to me that way with a dead rear electronics module. On a late VIN 2006 this means no fuel gauge, no trunk release, trunk soft close, tail lights, etc. I know the module was bad because nothing could communicate with it. My Autel wouldn't see it and SDD said it was not responding. Yesterday morning I went and grabbed an REM out of another 2006 Super V8. Popped it in and boom: got my fuel gauge, tail lights, etc. All is well in the world, until...

I lock the car with the key fob. The car will not unlock with the keyfob. If I unlock the door, the alarm stays on. If I start the car (yes it starts fine) the alarm just keeps going. I try doing the old "pull the headlight stalk 5 times" trick to no avail. I'm assuming this is an issue with the REM not being programmed to my car and/ or the original key not being identified as valid by the REM.

I'm running SDD in IE mode on Windows 11/ Edge. It gives me a communication error if I attempt to program any module. So I can't program the module but when I try I get a communication failure error. If I attempt to program a new key I get an SDD software error (4-34). I can't seem to do any kind of programming of any sort. I'm not sure what to do at this point but to say this is frustrating would be the understatement of the year. This was an abandoned Portfolio with no engine that I spent the last 6 months bringing back to life, upgrading, painting, etc. I literally put the AC lines on yesterday and charged the system. It's a running, driving car 99% of the way complete. This stupid REM is the last thing in between me and happy Sunday drives.

Any assistance would be super appreciated. If you're in SoCal I'd pay you for your time if you want to come out and help me. I'm pretty sure the REM module just needs to be coded.

 

Bumping this. Kind of desperate.

 

Hi Mike,
Sorry so few views and answers. Why do you think the REM is dead? What codes were there? Do you have a scanner such as iCarSoft LR V2.0? They are great for reading and scanning codes but can't program modules. There are lots of threads here on using SDD in all sorts of ways. What could the paint guys have done to kill the REM? How far was the car stripped down? Is there any damage to wiring etc. Water damage, rodent damage corrosion? Have you looked at the earth points associated with the REM, the earth points are a known problem. Chicago, is that part of the 'rust belt' with similar toxic environment to UK?
There are lots of great contributors here, and I'm sure we can help you with your problem!

Best wishes
Pete M

 

Was your SDD working properly before the REM episode?

 

Are you sure the REM needs to be coded to your car? I have replaced a FEM without having to code it to the car and I don't believe that the REM requires key recognition, though I could be wrong. Do you know the history of the donor car? When you say you did the headlight stalk trick, do you mean the car successfully relearned the remote? Did the horn beep five times to confirm that the remote was successfully relearned? Also, the lock function still works on your remote, but the unlock function does not work, correct? Do the trunk release and head light buttons work?

 

Unfortunately I don't know. I bought it before replacing the REM to see if it could communicate with the REM because my Autel wouldn't.

 

Am I sure? No. But from everything I've read, it needs to do a handshake with the DDM and other components with security access and if there is a mismatch you'll get codes for invalid security code response and indeed I have that code in my driver's door Module.

It didn't work at all. It was as if I wasn't doing anything.

Funny enough, no the lock function doesn't work either. If I double press the lock button the mirrors will fold in. The doors never lock or unlock.

The most frustrating part of all of this is that the wiring all changed in mid-2006 and the REM's functions are different from 2006 on. So the failure symptoms of a 2004 are different than say a 2007 which makes it hard to get consistently accurate information.

 

@Mike_K , Any luck?

 

not yet. I gave up. As I get older, I’ve started to learn to just spend the money to have the person that knows the thing do the thing versus trying to become an expert on that thing. SDD appears antiquated and finicky enough that there seems to be a lot of benefit to having experience with it. I literally cannot get it to program any module.

I was going to go out and buy a dedicated Windows XP computer, but I can keep throwing money at this and failing or I can just give it to people that do it for a living and let them take care of it. So it is going to go in Monday for programming. I will report back here to confirm that that fixed the issues just for anybody that might have the same problem in the future.

 

What does your SDD actually show after starting? Do individual modules report correctly or are you just unable to flash them? Maybe it is just a matter of your interface or even only drivers.

 

Post some screen shots of SDD and it's problems.
.
.
.

 

One more question: which version of SDD are you using, and what interface (Mongoose,or else)?

And are you using a stabilzed power supply, capable of delivering at least 50A at 13.8V, when trying to reprogramme the REM?

Best regards,

Thomas