P38A Owners

[willvine]

Hi I am comptemplating buying a 95 or 96 p38A HSE RR as I have seen 2 for quite a bargain. I have now made my Disco almost undrivable ( Not ) well that is what the misses says, but it is all for the good of going further and harder off road, I say. It has got to the point she can't go shopping with out people staring at her cause its loud and high and she even complains she cant fit into any car park any more. So.... I have to now buy her a every day car to fit kids and all the day to day stuff in.


I would like to know from the p38a owners out there what am i likley to have to check on a car of this age to know if its a goodie are a lemon as i have herd of a few horror stories.

Thanks in advance

Will.

[hiline]

Hi I am comptemplating buying a 95 or 96 p38A HSE RR

dont ;)

thats all i need to say sorry.............

[willvine]

dont ;)

thats all i need to say sorry.............



AS you say :D

[LandyAndy]

P38aRon is busy at the moment.
Possibly the best advice to listen too.He will be back soon.
Andrew

[willvine]

Does any body have anything nice to say about these cars ;) As I know I shouldn't get one, but the price is right. And I think any car 10 years plus is bound to need something or two. Hey Look at my Series 3 I have thrown thousands at it to keep it alive and in exellent nick.

[jimbo110]

Does any body have anything nice to say about these cars ;) As I know I shouldn't get one, but the price is right. And I think any car 10 years plus is bound to need something or two. Hey Look at my Series 3 I have thrown thousands at it to keep it alive and in exellent nick.
What ever you have spent on a series 3, times it by at least 10 for a P38A. Buying the car is the cheap part!

[rovercare]

Can you fix things yourself?

Are you cleverer enough to diagnose complex systems yourself?

If you answer no to either of the above, you must answer yes to either of the following

Are you stinking rich?

Are you insane?

:D

[adm333]

The P38 is a real man's car.

You don't hear real men complaining that "something's too complex" or "something's too expensive" . Stuff happens..... deal with it.

There are plenty of softer blokes who will try to talk you out of it.

At the end of the day, if you're not a real man, you shouldn't even be thinking about it.

:D:D:D

Seriously though, the P38 Range Rover is one of the nicest cars you will ever drive or ride in.

There are well documented problems with them and equally well documented fixes for those problems.

Some things are expensive, some not so.

There aren't too many owners on here, but there is a massive wealth of knowledge and support specifically for P38's on the rangerovers.net site.

There are pre purchase checklists and all manner of things to look out for.

You should do thorough checks on the car before proceeding.

Where abouts are you located ?

Dave

[rovercare]

The P38 is a real man's car.

You don't hear real men complaining that "something's too complex" or "something's too expensive" . Stuff happens..... deal with it.

There are plenty of softer blokes who will try to talk you out of it.

At the end of the day, if you're not a real man, you shouldn't even be thinking about it.

:D:D:D

Seriously though, the P38 Range Rover is one of the nicest cars you will ever drive or ride in.

There are well documented problems with them and equally well documented fixes for those problems.

Some things are expensive, some not so.

There aren't too many owners on here, but there is a massive wealth of knowledge and support specifically for P38's on the rangerovers.net site.

There are pre purchase checklists and all manner of things to look out for.

You should do thorough checks on the car before proceeding.

Where abouts are you located ?

Dave

I'm a real man then:confused:

If your handy, that rangerovers.net has some excellent info on them and plenty of step by step type stuff, it appears the software stuff is very sound, its almost always a hardware fault and pretty easily remedied

but then those question I posted, I'm probably "a little from colomn A and a little from colomn B":D

But jeez, that Rovacom looks like it'd be a nice toy to have:)

Shame 2k is half of what I paid for my P38:eek:

[Aussie]

They are a wonderful car to drive, If you really want one make sure u do ya homework so u know what to look for when buying one :)

[Disco Pom]

I bought mine last November and have no regrets so far with the 15,000k's travelled..it's 11 years old ..but drives like a 3 year old..

It has been well looked after by a land rover specialist from new and no expense spared when it came to keeping it running nicely...it has had an oil change every 5,000k's since new and I have kept the tradition going..

I bought it and got a major service done , every fluid changed and thorough overhaul...peace of mind knowing all is good and just been serviced again at 240,000k's with no issues at all.

I have had to sort a few things out since last November but I now have a smooth running P38 with hopefully many years ahead of it ..

Since last November I've spent $9,000 on it which includes major service with all fluids changed ( brake,power steering,cooling,diffs,engine oil etc..) , new Radiator , new brake pads,new ABS accumulator, new EAS compressor and valve block..previous owner put 4 new tyres,new A/C compressor and water pump on last October...it's had $13,000 spent on it since last October and it drives superb and hopefully nothing more to spend ..got a quote for $3000 to put LPG on it...so thinking about that next..

So far ..very happy with it and it drives like a dream..had it off road down in the snowy mountains and went through some rough stuff and small dams very easy..even with the 18" alloys and standard tyres on..

Was very careful not to scratch it and get it too dirty ..:angel:..you have to keep up appearances and don't want the peasants in the lower class wagons thinking it's a common dirty smelly diesel truck !..:p..no doubt the worshippers at the dark oily altar will disagree..but the V8 sounds so good !

As mentioned before...do the thorough checks on it before you part with the cash..or make sure the purchase price reflects what is needed to get it running nicely...

Check EAS system...
Check radiator and cooling hoses..
Check all HEVAC controls and make sure the vents change when you move between feet and face air flow...I had a sticky blower motor and stopped the vents moving between feet and face level.
Make sure the warning lights go out within a reasonable time..my brake warning and TC light stayed on about 30 seconds after driving off , turned out to be the ABS accumulator had run out of nitrogen with a small leak..all sorted with a new $300 accumulator..

If you go through the checklist from the rangerover.net website..you wont' go far wrong..

I'm sure Ron will have some very some very useful info to pass on when he has some time.

Good luck with the prospective purchase...;)

cheers,
Richard

[willvine]

Thanks guys for the info. Here is the way I see it. A 96 HSE rangie is a 100 thousand dollar car so... after 10 years plus things are bound to be replaced. I have found a 96 rangie with 124 kays on it and allways serviced in immaculate condition. for 12 grand. yes 12 grand. **** colour but i can deal with it. this means aprrox 10g a year running. I have checked with the service place where it has been serviced all its life and nothing has been neglected.

I am a sparkie by trade but did 5 years as a electronics techo and now am a self confessed computer nerd and smart home programmer so I hope i can rig up some gadgets and my pc to the car and check faults and play with it.

Hey, I havent had my disco 2 servied at at steeler in over 154 thousand kays and it has never missed a beat so i am hoping i should be ok with the mechanicle stuff .

I will certinaly be going into this purchase with the expentation of spending some coin on the thing, but Despite all that I am a hoon and love V8's.

thanks all.