poohbear

I ran a P38 on gas as a daily runner for two years - economy wise you are spot on the money. As for those pre-emptive jobs add these to the list: Blend motors Heater matrix o-rings Suspension solenoid block rebuild Suspension air compressor re-build 02 sensors Suspension height encoders Gearbox filter/fluid change And to add - make sure your key/alarm work properly, a new key will cost you an arm and a leg and you don't want to be fannying about with broken door microswitches and guessing the access code on a wet Tescos car park late at night. Oh, and invest in a decent bit of diagnostic kit. Dave.

I once took an old vw beetle for an mot without a windscreen. The tester was very befuddled and couldn't find reference to it in the book. The wipers & washers worked fine! Dave.

Holy thread revival Batman! I still have the sanden air-con compressor that I brought back in 2010 ready to start this project , it's sat in a box in the garage - Problem is I no longer have the project vehicle!

Gearbox is really sensitive to voltage and the 'gearbox fault' message is often the first sign off bad battery or iffy grounds - Perhaps you have a bigger electrical gremlin and the fault message is a red herring?

Stepper and throttle butterfly have no physical connection, infact idle air control happens outside of main throttle body. Throttle spindle passes right through body into TPS on far side - could be binding somehow in it's bearings but. I would think it more likely to be something in the linkage that the throttle cable works on. D.

As long as the stored value is the same as the actual then that shouldn't be your issue. Do you have any air leaks around the intake/plenum? D.

The stepper is the Idle Air Control Valve, these do have a tendancy to clog up over time - though this usually shows up as a poor idle, stalling in reverse not the other way round. If you have reset any values using nanocom then you may need to reset your Stored Throttle Closed value, there are threads about this on both this forum and rangerovers.net. Dave.

Unless you are happy to maintain it yourself, aren't scared off by a reasonably complicated electrical system and can dedicate a few hours of maintenance a week, then I wouldn't use a P38 as a work vehicle. The mkII is not renound for it's reliability, though this is often down to previous owners not keeping up with regular (and exspensive) dealer servicing. Usual rules apply - find the lowest mileage you can with a verifiable service history and evidence of being looked after. Dave.

on a GEMS set-up the cruise is vac controlled (pump is tucked between EAS & bulkhead). Pump drives a cable which attaches next to throttle cable on throttle body. It can easily be disconnected. Dave.

How about replacing coil springs with air bags - like The P38 EAS. It would be a pretty straight forward swap, or look at the hot rod scene as they have some nifty hydraulic stuff. Dave.

Off the top of my head: Immobiliser sync issues between becm & ecm. Odometer reading will sync with stored value in becm. Vehicle model/type differences - transmission, sunroof, fog lights etc. All these can be resolved with the right diagnostic kit - BBS nano or faultmate for example. Best - Dave.

Doesn't a 4.6 have have a viscous coupled fan as standard? Dave.

Hi Peter, Rotary coupler is a common fail point - easily checked with multimeter. Though another common SRS fail point is the under seat connector, which your model should have. Look for yellow wiring and connectors. There is also an inline resistor behind the centre console which can cause problems. The SRS brain is under the centre cubby box and bolted down with torx head bolts - this was fried on my SE. My 95 truck needed a diagnostic rese, to clear SRD light, later years will (should?) Automatically self test and reset. Cruise is a general weak point. Check for perished vacuum hoses and that the brake pedal switch is OK. Do you hear a relay click behind the steering wheel when you try to set cruise? Dave.

The EVO will clear faults which will extinguish the light - however - this won't fix the problem causing the fault code. Most modules do some kind of self check on power-up and if a fault is found then a code will be generated and in certain circumstances a warning light turned on. If you don't fix the underlying problem then the SRS light will be back on in no time. I had an SRS fault when I bought my truck - fixed by replacing the SRS brain and resetting with my EVO. There is also an inline resistor low down in the loom behind the centre console that can cause problems. Dave.

Evo will read abs & srs and clear codes. For each vehicle you need a software licence plus a diagnostic lead, can't remember exact costs but it's all on the BBS website. The evo will talk to - ECM ABS SRS Autobox Hvac BECM EAS the other cool thing the evo will do is read inputs and switch outputs - so it is really handy for checking switches and wiring as well as talking to individual modules

The evo is not vin locked - When you buy the tool it comes with a licence for one model of vehicle & engine type. It will then work on anyvehicle of the same type. You can buy additional licence 'keys' to unlock additional engine/vehicle types. Dave.

p.s. to add - P38's have a really nasty appetite for batteries and can be really fussy about voltage! Once you have tested your battery, checked/cleaned all the earth points (RAVE is essential for this) then check your RF receiver (just behind the O/S/R seat under the rear quarter light behind all the trim) as the early models are known to be triggered by Wifi and constantly wake up the BECM draining the battery. Dave.

I have a Bluetooth ELM adaptor, the EAS unlock software and cable and have had until recently a nanocom evo - my vehicle is a 1995 4.0 SE with LPG conversion. The EVO is a fantastic piece of kit and will talk to all of the computers in the truck, read live data and do some pretty impressive work with the BECM. And yes you can set what lights flash when arming/disarming with this unit, but it will do much, much more. at the best part of £400 it isn't pocket money, but is well worth the investment if you want to work on the P38 yourself. My local dealer wanted £70.00 per Diagnostic plug in, and that quickly adds up! The ELM adaptor will talk to just the ECM and it struggles with some of the live data - MAF is a no go for example. However for under £10.00 it is a really useful. There are more expensive versions but I'm pretty sure the limitations are down to my truck being early OBD I rather than the ELM chip. I've used mine with Torque for Android and Scanmaster-ELM for PC and both report similar results. There is plenty of software for ELM stuff out there. EAS Unlock is invaluable if you don't have anything else and does everything you could want at a really cheap price. I don't know much about Hawkeye or Lynx but I don't think that they are as comprehensive as the Black Box stuff. Dave.

It isn't totally impossible that I have managed to leave it unlocked at some point - I vaguely remember finding it unlocked at some point not so long ago, though I don't know whether this was at home or work. I realise it is more than likely to be my fault and am dreading the call to the insurers, but even so for someone to go rumaging around your motor and take something that isn't theirs is still bang out of order. To be honest this will probably see me sell the motor as it cost about a third of the value of the truck and you can't really own a P38 without some form of diagnostic kit. Another valuable lesson in life. D.

Hi all, Bit gutted - some thieving gypsy has had my nano evo away. It was in the P38 cubby box, now gone! No sign of forced entry, I try and always leave it superlocked but looks like sometime over the last week or so I haven't. Anyway - if you are offered a cheap nano evo, locked to P38 GEMS, or see someone trying to flog one on another forum then please give me a shout. I can provide serial no. if required. Mods if this is in the wrong section or inappropriate the please remove. Dave.

Hi all, not posted in the series section before, but being in need of a new project I have come across this: This is all the info I have: Most were taken today, the last 2 photos were taken in 2000, which was the last time it ran. Dad towed it up the barn, where it sits today. Its a 1957 Series 1 pick up. 2ltr original engine. A project that needs finishing. He is asking for £2600, which is at the low end of what LRO magazine says its worth. Does this seem a reasonable asking price? thanks, Dave.

It could be an idle problem rather than gearbox - does a similar thing happen when you load the engine up with heated screen, seats aircon etc?

Polarity shouldn't be essential, as long as you wire everything the same. The sub I have came with it's own little amp attached which I didn't use as I wired directly to a third party amp - there are two drivers in the sub which only work properly when wired in opposite polarity to each other. I don't have dyslexia and still find the etm hard to decipher! Dave.

Any car is the same - if you don't look after it, recognise the early signs of trouble and keep on top of it them then over time problems will bite you in ghe backside. The majority of P38 problems stem from owners not repairing minor faults due to dealer prices or it being 'electrical'. Yes you can be unlucky and suffer a porous block, slipped liner or any number of death blows but you pays your money and takes the risk - The same can be said of any high mileage second hand car. At 160k and 18 years old I have managed to service and repair my truck on my own on my drive and it hasn't left me stranded yet, unlike my 90 which blew a headgasket 120m from home.

You can get a hell of a lot of car for your money and all the problems are known about and usually have proven fixes. As long as you can diagnose and do the work yourself they aren't that bad. At least it wont rot out from under you! Get one that's had a sequential lpg conversion and even fuel costs are 'almost' reasonable. Take your time and get the very best you can afford - plenty of dealer history and a loving owner. Go on - you know you want to.