New P38 owner

[blindin]

Hi every one.
I have finally committed to buying a p38, although haven't paid, or collected it yet.
I've had a look at a few, and although the budget was very tight, I have finally settled on one at a reasonable price. BUT...
As you can imagine, there are a heap of problems with it, and hopefully I will be able to work my way through them.
There was another option of buying a knackered registered one, and also another unregistered one for a very good price, but both obviously had problems, and although I think it would've worked well, the hassle of it, and time may have been frustrating.
A little about the one I'm buying. The engine sounds sweet, and the eas works well, but unfortunately that's where the good stuff stops.
Interior is pretty tatty, seats worn and stitching coming undone, roof lining sunroof lining and pillars all need urgent attention, but the sun roof does n't seem to be rusted through, and it works, although needs to be set.
Body has a few dents and scratches, and indicator is held in with a couple of pieces of wire, rear tail light cracked, broken front fog light and paint faded, roof is bad, the rest may polish up. front fog light broken.
central locking is locking on its own, cruise control not working, nor the air con, or one seat motor ( spinning, but not adjusting ) interior mirror needs replacing, left hand door mirror something wrong with adjustment, and steering wheel is extremely worn, and needs to be replaced, which makes me wonder about the true mileage.
heater matrix will require replacement as it is disconnected, and bits of trim broken around the place, along with the rear seat belt buckles.
mechanically seems ok, but the abs light comes on when brakes are pressed, front prop shaft squeaking like crazy, and ball joints extremely worn.
It is a early gems 4.6, I would rather the later bosch system, but no one wanted to give one away, so will make the most of what I got.
Hopefully, the abs light will be the brake accumulator, and the air con just a regas.
Looking to find a trimmer who is capable of the head lining is there are any recommendations, and hopefully the rest will follow, with easy repairs.
Although I have listed lots, it seems to be minor problems compared to others I have been seeing, and the engine seems to have minor oil leaks to others.
Any way, thought I would say hello, as I am sure I will be here lots asking for information in the coming months
Thanks Simon

[davidsonsm]

Congratulations mate and I commend you for not being scared off by what I hope are correctable issues (albeit a lengthy list). All jobs seem doable with the instructions freely available on here and elsewhere.

Post some pictures and keep us posted on progress. We're nosey parkers, us P38 owners. You'll find lots of support and help on here. I'll re-read your post in time and see if I can offer anything more specific.

[blindin]

thanks davidsonsn.
It is a reasonable list, but compared to others vehicles, I hope I have chosen well. I have had a few discoveries now, and had heaps of useful information from here, and have looking through the p38 section for a while now, while choosing a car.
I think as soon as the roof lining is done, I don't think my patience is good enough to attempt that, but when done, the interior should look respectful.
Ball joints, not really a problem, air con, I hope will be a simple regas, although it probably wont be.
I will get round to looking at the how to for the heater matrix, hoping it will not be the dash out, I managed to do the discovery 1 with it in. central locking surely cant be to bad, same as the cruise, and seat belt buckle.
I believe the abs light will be the brake accumulator. I will try and fit a d2 compass interior mirror, as I am wrecking my d2 at the moment, and may even be able to fit the steering arm to replace some of the ball joints ? track rod ends.
If the seat motor is an easy fix, I'll be happy to, but all in good time.

[poleonpom]

Welcome to the rest of your life! Sounds like you described my P38 to a T. Headlining is a DIY job and there's a good write up on this forum. EAS light does sound like the accumulator, again a really easy job. The self locking could describe the driver's side door lock threatening to seize, this happened to me and I sprayed a massive load of lubricant up into the catch and have never had a problem since (the replacement lock sits in its box 2 months on). Heating and aircon is for wimps, but if you're inclined, the heater matrix hob is written up here and.on the rr.net website. Welcome.

[rar110]

Congratulations Simon on the purchase You sound courageous and someone with lots of spare time. While I don't have any experience with a P38, the jobs individually sound DIY doable other than maybe the air con.

According to convention, you are required to post pics of the new purchase. :D

[daf11e]

Welcome blindin on your choice of vehicle I am sure it will be a love hate relationship .......whilst I have not been on this site long I can assure you it's a great family feel and plenty will help......looking forward to following and assisting with your journey.....good luck!

[blindin]

Pics to come, haven't even payed for it, or collected it yet.
Any ideas if discovery 2 keys are usable with the p38? If so, I could get a key cut, and reprograme the d2 chip, well if the nano com can do it? I will have to get the nano com unlocked for the p38.
If any one knows of some where to get the rear seat belt buckles, and a decent steering wheel, that would be very useful.
Has anyone done a headlining them selves?

[mtb_gary]

Pics to come, haven't even payed for it, or collected it yet.
Any ideas if discovery 2 keys are usable with the p38? If so, I could get a key cut, and reprograme the d2 chip, well if the nano com can do it? I will have to get the nano com unlocked for the p38.
If any one knows of some where to get the rear seat belt buckles, and a decent steering wheel, that would be very useful.
Has anyone done a headlining them selves?
Simon, get in contact with redandy3575 for the seat belt buckles, he's just started to break a p38. As for the headlining wayneg (also in Perth) put up an excellent article on how to replace the headlining yourself for a very reasonable cost.
Not sure about the d2 keys.

Gary

[TheTree]

Welcome to the madness :p

As far as the key goes it seems the only way is to get a genuine one at a gold plated price :eek:

Steve

[benji]

Yes welcome Simon.
Most of those issues sound pretty simple.
You didn't say gearbox fault which usually indicates a low battery, so I'd be looking at the micro switches on the door locks as my first port of call there. It's not too difficult to open up the latch mechanism and test them with a multimeter.
With the heater, it could just be the orings - very common but pita to do; there are viton ones available.

Have you got a rave?

Best of luck.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using AULRO mobile app

[blindin]

Hi, I hope most of it is simple, I have now got the car at home, and first things first, the prop shaft as I'm scared to drive it at the moment, also the drag link ball joints, as they are about to fall off they are that worn. Fingers crossed that the drag link of a discovery 2 will fit, or at least do the job until I work out exactly what I need and do a uk order. I bought the uni joints for the prop at repco today as I won't drive it until they are done, I ended up paying trade at $30 each, I hope I bought the right ones.( R5 l4r. )
Also need to get a rear seat belt buckle for the right rear seat
The rest I can gradually work through, but as I only have my drive way, and it's belting down at the moment, it might be a slow process.
I will fit a d2 interior mirror in it with a compass, but will have to work out the wires as they are different.
The heater matrix I'm guessing is similar to a disco too, I done the one in a d1 before, it was a pain to do, I ended up putting 2 o-rings on each pipe to get it to seal.
I do not have the rave manual, but sure there will be a copy on here some where, when I tried to find the d2 one a few months back, the website who supplied it was no longer in action.

[TheTree]

Hi Mate

You can download a PDF of RAVE from here

Range Rover Websites (http://p38.hts.com.au/rangie_websites.html)

Steve

[blindin]

Hello again. Just thought I would let every one know how I'm progressing with the new car.
So far most of the issues have been resolved.
The head lining was one of the first things to be done while I was waiting for some parts to turn up. I ended up doing most of the work myself, I removed the head lining panel and sun roof panel, and let the trimmers remove the old material and glue the new stuff in, I then refitted it all up. I went for black roof with the cream pillars. ( I had all pillars done in felt to to make it look nicer, including the very rear ones. ) it still cost me $550, so not really sure how much I saved.
The steering drag link was next as both ends were extremly worn, I mean how the end did not fall off I don't know. But easy job, and steering wheel is straight again. The abs accumulator was also replaced, again, a very quick and easy job, and now the abs & tc lights stay off.
I then next fitted a new heater matrix, and new hoses as it had been bypassed for good knows how long, this was not a pleasent job, and took almost a whole day mucking about. While some of the dash was removed I have discovered that most of it has broken, and is missing large chunks of plastic where the screws would attach it to the rest, so at the moment it just sits there rattling around, and not actually secured in any where. Also the stereo wiring was wired very badly, and incorrectly, battery power directly to the speaker amps, which was causing some noise as you could imagine. It took a while to go through the wiring diagrams and work out what was what, but all good now. I intend to fit a rear sub, and amp in the back, as I do not have the original. I also went through the cruise control wiring, and have retro fitted a later cruise module behind the dash, I just need to splice the wires permently as I took a safer option before cutting the old plug off, I wanted to make sure it worked. Once it was done I could hear the clicking, and replaced some vacuum hose today, and have working cruise. The ac was looked at, at the same time as the heating, I found the clutch was not engaging, the quick fix by removing the shim has solved the problem for now. At this time my battery went flat, and I found I had an alternator problem, traced it to the main power lead, so have installed a new large ( old starter cable ) directly between the alternator and battery, and back in business with 14volts. As the dash went back together and finished off, the heater was working, but the ac only one side, out came the dash again, twice again in actual fact, to have a look at the blend motor, as this did look suspect while I done the heater. ( I had to remove it when I done the heater, and there was a hole in the side. Any way after taking it apart, losing all gear positions, directly powering from the battery, and checking the potentiometer, I put it back, and now working. I have to say the heater duct is absolutely the worst thing to deal with. I had a few bulbs to replace, and need to replace a few in the cruise & eas switches, I replaced some in the dash to read the LCD display too. Yesterday I took it out with Gary and gave them a run, they went well, and even got my 235/85 mud tyres on now.
So long story short, most of the jobs have been done with very simple fixes, the front prop was removed, no faults found, so greased and refitted.
So far quite happy with it, although I really would like to get a front diff lock in there, and finish off the little jobs. I am waiting for the rear seat buckle. I hope it will be here before the team w4 challenge, or I'm not sure how I will secure the baby seat.

[davidsonsm]

Great work fella. Very satisfying and great to pick up the intimate knowledge of the car.

[TheTree]

Well done mate fantastic news!

Steve

[Hoges]

Another true believer has arrived!!:D Great effort!

The plastics are a real bugbear. I do have a crude fix however..

I've discovered that the two part epoxy "JBWeld" can provide a very strong backing. In most cases I have patched a backing "plate" on the cracked part. For screw tabs, where a piece has broken away, I used the adhesive on the remaining section to attach a washer of the correct size as a substitute tab.. works very well. 24 hrs is the recommended time for proper curing and max strength before you put strain on the join. My experience is that at least 18 hrs is needed and 24hrs to be really certain.

In some cases where there is a hairline crack, a thin layer of JBWeld over the length of the crack and a couple of mm each side, will form a very strong bond and stop the crack spreading.

For other cases for example where the screw tabs are cracked but still in one piece, I patch them from behind with a square tab made of sheet metal as follows:

Drilled a series of 5.5mm holes in a line, 20mm apart and 12mm in from the edge of a sheet of 0.5mm -1mm thick steel plate (salvaged from a junked VCR casing). Cut the plate 25mm in from the edge such that the holes are central in a strip about 300mm long and 25mm wide. Then cut the strip crossways into 20mm pieces (across the mid point between each hole) which yielded a collection of rectangular tabs 20 x 25mm with a hole in the centre. These tabs, having been trimmed with a file to get the correct contour, are fixed as reinforcement backing with JBweld over the cracked screw tabs on the plastic fixtures.

I have used this technique on the instrument binnacle, the central facia containing the clock, and various switches etc. Very effective.

It is critical that in putting the fixtures back, that the screws are not overtightened!!:wasntme:

As I mentioned in a rant in another thread, cracking plastics are not confined to P38s. A local second hand parts supplier of Rover/Jag/RR-Bentley bits tells me that it's becoming a real problem to source non-cracked plastics, even from low mileage vehicles he imports for parts...

[blindin]

Thanks hodes,
I had planned some thing similar. Unfortunately, the broken bits are missing lots, so I need to form up plates about 3-4 inches. I had attempted using fibreglass, but I could not get it to take shape, nor stick to the plastic. My next attempted was going to be with quick steel, but have since bought a small glue gun, and I'll give that ago first. I'm hoping that I will be able to form the shape easier. But will see how it goes. It's broken already, so it can't get any worse, and the repair will, I hope, be out of sight.
I may have some practice first, as I managed to run over the jump starter / portable power pack with the mower, and that needs a little repair in the way of new cables, which I'll cut up my jump leads, and the whole side of it needs to be formed, it turns out my 12.5hp ride on cuts through solid objects better than the grass.