Just had LR Assistance out.
Couldn't get into the car, even when I tried both fobs.
Didn't want to use the 'real' key as I had visions of the car alarm going off and not being able to stop it!
It turns out that the receiver is on its last legs and the guy has seen 3 other Freelander 2's with the same problem.

Off to the garage tomorrow I think! Just my luck, when snow is due to arrive I may be without my car.

Just so you know, if the range at which you can open/lock the doors starts reducing over a couple of days then get down to the garage quick.

Otherwise you have to stand around like a t t with the fob about 2 inches from the car pressing the button for about 5 minutes until something happens!

{Otherwise you have to stand around like a t t with the fob about 2 inches from the car pressing the button for about 5 minutes until something happens!}


I had similar problems with another make. If I was parked in an area with high RF, I had to hold the remote close to the base of the front windscreen, because that was where the receiver was hidden up front under the centre of the dash.

Did the LRA chap show you where our receiver is on the FL2?

He said it was in the front of the rear view mirror.

The car goes in on Monday for the fix and I am having the service done as well (15,400 miles already!)

When I went to Australia for just over a month I left my FL2 in my garage, and locked it with a double press of the key fob.

When I returned I found that the vehicle refused to respond to increasingly frantic pressings of either of the key fobs!

Well, this is why LR provides a physical key, I thought, but why do they put it on the opposite side to the driver’s door? This might be OK out in the open – but not in my 1960s garage (cars have gained bigger waistlines since then).

Taking a deep breath, I managed to squeeze alongside and open the passenger door. Alarm sounded; lights flashed – but I could only just get my arm and shoulder in. Closed door, and soon the noise stopped, but the lights kept flashing for a while. Time to think again.

Maybe I could use a stick and a hook to open the driver’s door? Tried that – more noise and lights – but no result (all doors had been double-locked by me before I went away!)

Obviously the car battery was OK, so it must be the key fobs. Yet why would they both run down totally? Time to look on the FL2 Forum. Found that I needed to put a key into the dashboard slot and then press the door unlock button to open the other doors.

What I needed was a 2 metre long arm or my 5 year old granddaughter, who could probably just about get in the available opening. As I didn’t have a 2m arm, and my granddaughter was in Australia this line of thought came to an abrupt halt.

OK, need to call LR Assistance. Nice man arrived in his Disco3 full of all sorts of gear. He used his own hooked stick to open the bonnet (is that why the bonnet release is by the passenger’s feet?). Tried various things with the fuse boxes under the bonnet – to the accompaniment of the alarm and lights – but to no avail.

Conclusion – we need to get into the vehicle through that passenger door. We therefore either knock the wall down or move the vehicle. I thought we’d better try the latter first, so we used a trolley jack under the rear. With several attempts, managed to slew the vehicle across the garage until the back bumper was close to the other wall. With a very deep breath I then managed to get inside and unlock doors.

What a relief!

What had happened? Apparently both keys had lost their codes. This can apparently happen if they are kept together – but these keys fobs were hanging in a key cupboard at least 15cm apart. Fortunately the codes are reinstated once the key are in the dash.

So, the mystery remains. But I will certainly remember this if I am not using the vehicle for a time (two weeks was recommended by the LR Assistance man). I will leave more space on the passenger side, and not double lock it. Apparently if I had just pressed the lock once when I locked up before I went away I would have been able to open the driver’s door with my stick and hook.

Hopefully this will alert other Forum members to be wary of this and take the necessary precautions.

PepperPot wrote:

When I went to Australia for just over a month I left my FL2 in my garage, and locked it with a double press of the key fob.

When I returned I found that the vehicle refused to respond to increasingly frantic pressings of either of the key fobs!

Well, this is why LR provides a physical key, I thought, but why do they put it on the opposite side to the driver’s door? This might be OK out in the open – but not in my 1960s garage (cars have gained bigger waistlines since then).

Taking a deep breath, I managed to squeeze alongside and open the passenger door. Alarm sounded; lights flashed – but I could only just get my arm and shoulder in. Closed door, and soon the noise stopped, but the lights kept flashing for a while. Time to think again.

Maybe I could use a stick and a hook to open the driver’s door? Tried that – more noise and lights – but no result (all doors had been double-locked by me before I went away!)

Obviously the car battery was OK, so it must be the key fobs. Yet why would they both run down totally? Time to look on the FL2 Forum. Found that I needed to put a key into the dashboard slot and then press the door unlock button to open the other doors.

What I needed was a 2 metre long arm or my 5 year old granddaughter, who could probably just about get in the available opening. As I didn’t have a 2m arm, and my granddaughter was in Australia this line of thought came to an abrupt halt.

OK, need to call LR Assistance. Nice man arrived in his Disco3 full of all sorts of gear. He used his own hooked stick to open the bonnet (is that why the bonnet release is by the passenger’s feet?). Tried various things with the fuse boxes under the bonnet – to the accompaniment of the alarm and lights – but to no avail.

Conclusion – we need to get into the vehicle through that passenger door. We therefore either knock the wall down or move the vehicle. I thought we’d better try the latter first, so we used a trolley jack under the rear. With several attempts, managed to slew the vehicle across the garage until the back bumper was close to the other wall. With a very deep breath I then managed to get inside and unlock doors.

What a relief!

What had happened? Apparently both keys had lost their codes. This can apparently happen if they are kept together – but these keys fobs were hanging in a key cupboard at least 15cm apart. Fortunately the codes are reinstated once the key are in the dash.

So, the mystery remains. But I will certainly remember this if I am not using the vehicle for a time (two weeks was recommended by the LR Assistance man). I will leave more space on the passenger side, and not double lock it. Apparently if I had just pressed the lock once when I locked up before I went away I would have been able to open the driver’s door with my stick and hook.

Hopefully this will alert other Forum members to be wary of this and take the necessary precautions.