Roaming P38

[96 4.6]

Hi all, need some advice on where to look for causes to a wandering 96 P38. On decent road surfaces it is fine, however on the goat tracks vicroads tries to pass of as highways out here in the country, my P38 is not a pleasant vehicle to drive..
I bought the car a few months ago, and what once was an occasional interesting quirk is now becoming annoying..
I will be driving along and the car suddenly (and subtly so far) changes direction. What it is doing is tracking like when you drive onto tram tracks in the city. It can go left or right, it can also just give a little wriggle which is umm, interesting.
It is not wheels out of balance because that would vibrate the car. It is not wheel bearings, have checked and there is no play. Have adjusted the tire pressures, and that made it a little better but did not cure it. Had thought about bushes, but the radius arms and the panhard rods seem fine.
Can anyone please help........... I'm stumped...:eek:

[barryj]

Hi all, need some advice on where to look for causes to a wandering 96 P38. On decent road surfaces it is fine, however on the goat tracks vicroads tries to pass of as highways out here in the country, my P38 is not a pleasant vehicle to drive..
I bought the car a few months ago, and what once was an occasional interesting quirk is now becoming annoying..
I will be driving along and the car suddenly (and subtly so far) changes direction. What it is doing is tracking like when you drive onto tram tracks in the city. It can go left or right, it can also just give a little wriggle which is umm, interesting.
It is not wheels out of balance because that would vibrate the car. It is not wheel bearings, have checked and there is no play. Have adjusted the tire pressures, and that made it a little better but did not cure it. Had thought about bushes, but the radius arms and the panhard rods seem fine.
Can anyone please help........... I'm stumped...:eek:


Wheel alignment problem?

Maybe someone has changed the front suspension and not the rear.

I had a series 2A that was lower in the bum compared with the front and it did the same.

[BigJon]

Worn tyres, worn suspension bushes (front or rear), incorrect toe out, etc.

[Scouse]

Do you have 16" or 18" wheels ?

I know tram tracking is more noticeable on the DiscoII when they have the 18" wheels fitted. My P38a is also a lot worse now that it has 18"s.

I'm hoping a wheel alignment will make mine better, otherwise the 16"s will go back on for city driving.

[96 4.6]

The wheels I have are the stock alloy 16's. I will look into a wheel alignment, but wouldn't that usually cause vibrations/continuous problems? Similar to out of balance tyres. This thing is strange because it will be fine for a while till it builds up the nerve and then starts directing itself. It's not heat related as it does it hot and cold.

[cartm58]

had same problem with my 93 range rover on bituem apply brake a little twitch to the left when took it on beach the thing decided it wasa crab and spent the entire day with **** trying to overtake the front of the vehicle

was a suspension issue all the rubber bushes needed replacing since then no problems behaves itself perfectly

[BigJon]

The wheels I have are the stock alloy 16's. I will look into a wheel alignment, but wouldn't that usually cause vibrations/continuous problems? Similar to out of balance tyres. This thing is strange because it will be fine for a while till it builds up the nerve and then starts directing itself. It's not heat related as it does it hot and cold.

Wheel alignment out of spec will cause pulling and tyre wear, not vibration.

[barryj]

Do you have 16" or 18" wheels ?

I know tram tracking is more noticeable on the DiscoII when they have the 18" wheels fitted. My P38a is also a lot worse now that it has 18"s.

I'm hoping a wheel alignment will make mine better, otherwise the 16"s will go back on for city driving.


I have 18's on a series 2 disco and they don't track at all. I also have a set of 16's for long trips and they are fine also.

I always get an alignment done after changing. Maybe that is the difference.

[njz]

Could it be the swivel pin preload?
I had some wandering probs with the disco that were fixed by getting the above fixed.

[96 4.6]

Alignment and balance booked in for Friday so I'll see what improvements are made. Then it'll be the more expensive shocks and bushes. Hopefully it is something small and not a combination adding up to lots of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Thanks for the suggestions, but if there are any other ideas out there, please let me know.

[p38arover]

To be honest, I've not heard of anyone replacing the bushes on a P38A cf. Classic.

I'd be looking at toe-out. Make sure that the car doesn't have toe-in.

Ron

[BigJon]

Could it be the swivel pin preload?
I had some wandering probs with the disco that were fixed by getting the above fixed.

That model doesn't havel swivel pins as such. Upper and lower balljoints on the end of the axles.

[justinc]

I have just fixed this same problem in a '98 HSE. The symptoms were as you described and I found play in all the steering tie rod ends. Replaced both tie bar assemblies and steering damper and all is well. It tows a 30foot boat and was a bit hairy on the highway apparently.

JC

[jsp]

Mine pulled to one side when I bought it, adjusted the steering box to find it was covering bad wandering, and as JC says tierod ends fixed mine good as new.

[justinc]

Mine pulled to one side when I bought it, adjusted the steering box to find it was covering bad wandering, and as JC says tierod ends fixed mine good as new.

Also, forgot to add that another service agent had recently passed all the front end with a clean bill of health.(:o) I will point out here that the play in these tie rod ends may not cause a 1980's camry any grief, but certainly affects the P38!!! All the steering and alignment in these needs to be tight to make them handle as they are designed. 0 to 2mm toe out and it will love the highway again.

JC

[loanrangie]

The panhard rod bushes in both my previous classic rangies gave the same symptoms.

[p38arover]

Good point about the tierod ends. Mine were buggered in my P38A, too. The plastic boot on the ends isn't as good as rubber and seems to fail and let dirt into the TRE.

The same material is used on the suspension ball joints and they, too, were torn in mine so I had to replace those. That's not a cheap job. (We did the half-shaft seals in the ends of the axle housing at the same time as they were leaking - there's a new design seal which hopefully will last a bit longer).

Ron

[96 4.6]

Finally home after racking up a few miles over the weekend. All fixed, thanks for the suggestions. The alignment was out by a whapping 1 degree on each wheel (still don't understand the difference in degrees and mm but it works)..
Does not sound like much, but with it altered to a 0 mm toe in, all is well. Had the wheels balanced while it was at the doctors too, but only required 30g weights so they cannot have been bad.
Finally I am driving the P38 I always dreamed of.

Thanks again guys, your help saved me lots of hair pulling, and no doubt heaps of $$$$$$$ too.

[barryj]

Finally home after racking up a few miles over the weekend. All fixed, thanks for the suggestions. The alignment was out by a whapping 1 degree on each wheel (still don't understand the difference in degrees and mm but it works)..
Does not sound like much, but with it altered to a 0 mm toe in, all is well. Had the wheels balanced while it was at the doctors too, but only required 30g weights so they cannot have been bad.
Finally I am driving the P38 I always dreamed of.

Thanks again guys, your help saved me lots of hair pulling, and no doubt heaps of $$$$$$$ too.


Nice economical outcome.

Enjoy your drive now that it points true.