Escape

I would check the timing of the injection pump. If you are getting diesel to the injectors, the injection pump is working but timing could be out. I feel your pain, I went through similar with a DSE last year...

Often it's a bad microswitch in one of the doors. This causes the BeCM to think the button is pushed, so it reacts by activating all the locks. Easy to test, but you do need to take off the door cards.

We've done a couple of P38 diesels, I usually try to take out the engine separately. There is no reason not to split them, but some of the bolts on the bellhousing are hard to get to. We've had one box that just couldn't separate from the engine, despite a few good tugs with the forklift (used to lift out the engine). So in the end we did resort to taking both out together, which does complicate matters. Especially if you plan to leave/refit the gearbox. It is easier to refit a manual gearbox outside of the car, less problems getting everything aligned. Your 2001 DSE will be auto, so shouldn't give much trouble getting out or back in. Good luck! Filip

H46 would be my oil of choice, but not everyone has that. ATF you're likely to find in any workshop, will do the job and for the small amount needed price wont matter much. As for cheap bottle jacks, those don't have a telescopic piston like the LR ones, so I'd happily spend some time and resources fixing a LR one.

I completely agree Simon, the more electronics, the more potential gremlins. And with everything connected, it is more likely to cause serious problems. Or immobilize the vehicle for safety or security reasons. At the same time, this is what adds another level to the possibilities in modern cars. I do appreciate the Sport for what it is, it's just not my cup of tea so I'll stick to older cars. The reason I'm redoing the elektrickery on my P38 is more because I can than because I don't trust the system as is. And because I have nothing else to do to pass the time. 🤓 Filip

As above, the air suspension is not that complex and really sets the P38 apart from the Range Rover Classic (which got the same EAS by the end of it's run). So I would (and will!) definitely keep that. Immobilization issues can be largely avoided by disabling passive immobilization in the BECM. I know of several cars that operate happily with no working fob, for many years without a single issues. Your main fear would be if something breaks in the mechanical latch. That can happen to any car, but the P38 only has one door with a key barrel, so no redundancy unlike the classic. Also there is logic in the claim that the mechanical lock was never designed to be used all the time, but only for emergency use so may not last. But while I have seen some locks fail, I certainly doesn't seem more likely than on any other car. The one elektrickery bit I did replace on my P38 is the ECU to control the transfer box. It seems unnecessarily complex (but fail safe) and the older version have a tendency to fry the transistors. So I made an all-relays replacement that is plug&play. For my project Phoenix P38 I've been going over all the electronic systems to maximize survivability. The BECM controls mostly comfort functions, so those are of no importance. Main exception being the lights, no accessible relay to easily bridge. The manual box has no electronics and even the ZF has a good fail safe that still allows reverse and third, enough to get you home even without the ECU. That just leaves the engine. Unless you fit an old diesel or something on carbs, you'll always need electronic control. The P38 does have an very good security system that is nigh on impossible to overcome. The obvious downside being, if the system acts up, you can't start your engine. There are ways to run the GEMS as stand alone (involving more electronics), I've gone a different route and fitted MegaSquirt (for other reasons than just the security). Starter motor and ignition pass through the BECM but can easily be bridged. There was someone on RangeRovers.net who had the idea to replace the entire BECM with a set of switches and relays. That would be a massive task, with a lot of things to go wrong and you'd invariably lose some functionality. I don't know how far he got, but I don't see the point, I just focus on begin able to get home even if things fail. And to be fair, even a standard P38 will survive being drowned, as long as you dry out and clean the BECM etc. Just to add, anything fancier than a P38 gets on my nerve, as then I get the feeling the elektrickery is trying to take over things instead of assisting me. Filip

Have you driven a 2003 Range Rover? It will surely be more comfortable on the road but will use more fuel and cost more to maintain than a TD5. And it's a totally different driving experience compared to older Land Rovers (including the P38 Range Rover). Not to everyone's taste, I'm not a fan... £8k doesn't sound that cheap either, over here they can be found for around €5k (though usually higher mileage).

I used my 90 TD5 as a daily for about a year, as well as to go and play in the weekend. It got 30mpg or better (rarely exceeding 60mph) and she never let me down until I fitted silly tyres. And it always made the journey to/from work an occasion. The main reason I upgraded to a P38 Range Rover was because the miles started to increase when I got a new job, up to 1000miles/week (with a tank card, luckily!). The Range Rover was a nicer place to be, make phone calls from or cover distance more quickly (even if it was a diesel) while not using more fuel. I also wanted to avoid putting that much mileage on the Defender. Things have changed a lot since those days, what has remained is I cannot see myself driving something normal/boring. I've often thought about it, but can't justify spending money on something I know I'll hate. If it's cheap things are bound to wrong sooner or later and cost money. With something like a Mini there's always more to be had and then things get expensive again. I also know myself well enough to realize I'd drive something like that much harder and with a lot less care than something I like. Which wouldn't be a good thing, especially in the long run. To put your concerns about economy into perspective, due to circumstances I'm using a Jag XJS-C V12 to get me all over the country this weekend. I expect to fill up 3 times in as many days, not sensible by a long shot but I'm sure I'll enjoy the drive. 😉 There's no harm in using your Defender, see how you like it, and think about replacements if you feel like it. Driving habits will make a big difference, I fear chasing economy through upgrades might lead to frustration. It also pays to think about where you fill up, over here the difference can be up to 10% from one station to another. That's 10% more economy right there! Filip

As above, you should report it, even if there is little chance of you ever getting the £100 back. You just can't let her get away with it and from your story there is definitely something wrong. As for receiving payments in cash, I had actually hoped to get cash when I sold the Discovery2 earlier this year instead of a transfer. I think these days it's harder to counterfeit bank notes than it is to fake an electronic proof of payment. You know how it goes, someone comes to see the car, you reach a deal, you draft the contract while the buyer transfers the money and than shows you the proof on his phone. He wants to drive the car home and you want to get rid of it, so it's tempting not to wait until you actually see the money in your account... Of course there are other security concerns when having a lot of cash. Some years ago, a mate got a large payment in cash for some work he'd done. On a Friday I think. He took it straight to the bank, but on his bike instead of taking the car. So less evidence of him leaving home. That same weekend his house was broken into. But not much taken as there was no easy loot... Could be a coincidence, but it certainly didn't seem like it! Filip

Thanks for the encouragement Simon! The engine definitely isn't seized, we just hoped it would at least try to come alive without the turbo's to prove it's health. I got a message from the owner today, asking me to go ahead and replace the turbos. So we're in for the full monty. 🙂

8 hours each way is about what I'd expect, a lot of extra work and still hard to get to the turbos because of the chassis. Plus the risks of things going wrong on an older car (threads stripping, clips and connectors breaking... I stand by my decision to attack from the trenches. 😉 The decision to fit new turbos or not is still pending. I rigged the oil feeds and we tried starting the engine without turbos just to check for signs of other damage. But it wouldn't fire. Sounded OK, but no real sign of life. Not sure if this is because of other/related problems, or just because the engine management can't cope with the open exhausts. This does make the decision more difficult, would have been nice if it hard started before continuing the work...

If you have (or can find) a piece of wood or a flat rock or something, you can drive the flat tyre onto that so you have a bit more clearance for the jack. 😉

As above, if the valves are sealing as they should, there can be little or no oil flow through the motor, so it can't turn and will hold everything in place. An electric motor can't do that so needs to rely on a brake but also needz to be able to spool out so that's a bit of a compromise.

From what I've found so far, it's not that easy to take the body off. Plenty of connectors, brake lines, steering, loads of plastic trim, fuel lines, coolant, aircon ... And then the turbos would still be wedged between the chassis/ suspension and engine so not that much gained unless you take the engine out as well. I'm sure that would have taken me longer than just fight my way to all the bolts. Only real advantage would be access to the intercooler hoses. Also, my 2-poster isn't free at the moment and it was much easier to get the RRS from the trailer to the 4-poster. 😉

Some progress, finally. On Friday I got the RRS up on the ramp and started disassembling things. I had decided not to take off the body. And sure enough, instruction 8 in the workshop manual, a single line 'remove bodywork from chassis'. Musth have missed that when I first browsed the workshop manual... It is like so many manuals, for some things every nu and bolt is described in detail, even with a separate full set of instructions for the left and right hand turbo despite being pretty much identical, and then something major is just casually mentioned! Determined not to give up without a fight I soldiered on. After about 5 hours I had the right hand turbo out, having come at it from 3 sides: exhaust and intake side is easiest from below, the bolts holding the heatshields can (just) be removed through the wheelarch and the turbo to manifold was easiest from above (after removing the battery tray etc). A lot of hard to reach bolts, but I'm not convinced it would have been that much easiers without the body. You would have a better view of what you're trying to do, but a lot of clearance issues are with the chassis and suspension mounts, not the body itself. So IMHO definitely not worth it, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to get one turbo out had I started with the body. 5 hours didn't seem to bad (I took it fairly easy), I had found one reference stating 8.5 hours for replacing one side. The left hand side looked like it would put up even more of a fight. There's a propshaft there, and extra engine mount and on a LHD car the steering shaft... To get the prop and downpipe out of the way I needed to take out the crossmember holding the gearbox. Luckily that came out easily, the only problem was thet I found myself holding the crossmember in one hand, unable to put it down because I couldn't get a clip from the wiring loom off, and balancing the downpipe in the other hand. 🏋️‍♂️ As I feared, several bolt were a lot harder to get too because of the steering shaft. Luckily not were too tight, so with an assorted collection of extensions, joints and flexible ratchet spannes I got everything out. Final battle was the hose from the turbo to the intercooler, impossible to actually reach so I tried losening it with a prybar and then gave to turbo a good pull to get it to come off. Getting it back on will be interesting! What I found, mainly lots of oil in both turbos, I managed to catch about a liter and probably spilled as much as well! The right hand one seems to spin freely and without play, so hopefully just the seals that failed (the car has almost 400k km) and no real harm doen. The left hand one is a different story: the exhaust turbine is jammed solid, even with some force applied it wont spin. The intake turbine was jammed to the side, but could be freed. So the shaft must me broken! Some damage to the turbine blades as well. I'm hoping the oil in the intercooler worked as an oil bath filter and kept the debris from reaching the engine. I'm gonna rig the oil feed and return pipes from the turbos so I can try and fire up the engine without the turbos, just to see if it will start and run. If it runs and doesn't sound like a bag of nails I'll order 2 new turbos and prepare myself for another challenge. I took a few pictures, showing the oil out of the turbohoses (after the first big splash was aimed at the drain pain) and access from the front, side and rear with the right hand turbo already removed. Filip PS: no idea why the last picture is upside down. It shows correctly if I open it directly??

Yesterday my premonition about getting a flat was proven correct. Just not on the Range or Esprit, but on the Jag. I noticed the right rear was very low on pressure, despite being checked on Saturday. Closer inspection showed it had a bolt wedged in the tread, must have picked it up when moving her from inside the Shop to the parking. 😞 Easy fix with an insert, but very happy I got to do it in the Shop with the big trolley jack and impact and not somewhere at the side of the road! Statistically I should be safe for another 10 years or so. 🙂

The powers of the forum at work: for my 250 mile trip on Thursday I actually put the spare tyre back in the Range Rover. Checked pressure and everything! For today's trip with the trailer I'm even gonna include the jack! 🙃

And real drivers get a Lotus instead of a flattened beetle. 😁

I was hoping the red button on the steering wheel would be a cyclist repellant device. 😁 Seriously, looks like a pretty nice place to be. I'm a big fan of the buttons, though not sure the roof console is the best place to operate the lockers. And manually adjustable seats, yes please! 🙂

I can't think of anything that could make a tyre explode like that. Unless you're using brake cleaner and a lighter to get it seated on the rim?

If it's not too tight, you can use wet paper rags as well. Just keep stuffing shreds of soaked paper in and hammering in a punch until it comes out. Compared to grease or bread, the water will leak out faster, so not ideal if it's properly stuck and takes time to persuade. But it is something you always have at hand, so usually the first thing I try.

I've seen the same with light bulbs where the filament had broken but was still making contact and thus working. At least until you hit a bump. Then it would need a friendly tap to light up again. 🙂

I have heard good things about those, but never came across one. I usually just fit the biggest one possible form whatever reasonable brand is on sale at the time. I think last ones were Coldax, though my best experiences have been with Varta, as fitted and abused in our old forklift, and refusing to die.

Our trips are usually to a the English countryside or Wales, I don't do glamour. 😉 But yes, would be interesting to have to put the grubby wheel somewhere. Luckily I don't offroad the Esprit (not too much anyway...).

@oneandtwo I bet you regret no longer having the Esprit! I'm not 100% sure about the S1, my experience is mainly with the later Stevens Esprit. Those have a space saver spare, about the same diameter as the front wheels but narrower. It fits the rear as well, but obviously only suited for emergency use. I suspect the same would work on the S1, the different offset shouldn't be a problem and the difference in size is smaller than on later models. The main problem when you get a flat on the rear is where to put that rear tyre after fitting the spare! Maybe the narrow 205 on an S1/S2 would just fit the front? No room for wider tyres up front, but the rear boot on later models is shaped so it will just accept a rear tyre (though it must be very very tight with the wide tyres of the Sport 300 and V8!). And that only works when you don't have other stuff in there. A good tip I got for doing a roadtrip with an Esprit is to use only soft bags, not hard suitcases. That gives you more options to move stuff around if need be. But then we all know women prefer their hard case trolleys. 🙂 All this talk about spare wheels and the horror stories about not having one has made me want to check all spares! And throw one in the Range Rover again (along with a jack and wrench)... Filip