It often isn't as most real mechanics have long since retired to be replaced with 'technicians', another name for parts fitters. Read a fault code and start changing bits until the fault goes away without really understanding what is happening and why.
Well I'm in good hands with Brian and Gilbert - just as a curious boy at back of class - tell me - If fuel is low and I do the 'reset adaptives' with my Storey EAS are you saying that the ECU says to itself 'Fuel low - ignore Adaptive reset' and therefore does not carry out any reset ? I'm sure that is a tricky one for you - expect you know though !
Gilbertd wrote:
It often isn't as most real mechanics have long since retired to be replaced with 'technicians', another name for parts fitters. Read a fault code and start changing bits until the fault goes away without really understanding what is happening and why.
You make an interesting point but to be fair, for the DIY'er at least, there is often no choice but to replace parts, therefore turning us in to unwilling 'fitters'. Many parts these days are not serviceable items and even if you can get them apart, finding spares is often tricky. As cars get older this situation only gets more prevalent - my 76 Lotus Elite is a good case in point - often the only option is to find as good a used part as possible. At least the P38 was produced in sufficient numbers to ensure that parts supply should be maintained for a good time to come.
super4 wrote:
Well I'm in good hands with Brian and Gilbert - just as a curious boy at back of class - tell me - If fuel is low and I do the 'reset adaptives' with my Storey EAS are you saying that the ECU says to itself 'Fuel low - ignore Adaptive reset' and therefore does not carry out any reset ? I'm sure that is a tricky one for you - expect you know though !
Easy enough for you to check. Read the fuel trims which are very unlikely to be 0%, or the adaptive FMFR and see what they read. Then do a reset and see if they have changed or not. If they haven't, then the reset hasn't happened, if they have, it has.
oilmagnet477 wrote:
You make an interesting point but to be fair, for the DIY'er at least, there is often no choice but to replace parts, therefore turning us in to unwilling 'fitters'. Many parts these days are not serviceable items and even if you can get them apart, finding spares is often tricky.
That's right but to attempt to service a part then you must have worked out what part is at fault. Particularly on something older without OBD connectivity you are down to good old fashioned logical faulting. It is this that is sorely lacking these days. The classic problem is a car that doesn't run right. OBD says the lambda sensor is showing permanently lean. Is this a faulty sensor, an air leak, a clogged fuel filter, a weak fuel pump. There's any number of things that it could be and in the old days you would go through a logical diagnosis process. You'd check for air leaks (spraying carb cleaner on all the intake areas), check flow through the fuel filter, check fuel pressure and flow through the pump and so on. If they all said everything was OK, you'd conclude the sensor is telling lies and change that. That logical approach seems to have been lost these days. With something running a carb, it was even more of a black art. Hardly anyone these days understands what goes on inside a carb and how the slow running jets, progression jets, main jets, accelerator pump, etc all interact with each other but that was second nature to the old school mechanic.
Thanks Gilbert but I don't think my Storey EAS shows things like fuel trims or values - still getting used to it but as far as I can see it seems only to show faults (Code number), clear faults and reset adaptives. The suspension part allows readings and settings in more detail.
Just had a look at his video and screen shots. It does have an item marked GEMS Adaptives under Change Settings, so whether that shows what they currently are or not is anyone's guess, have a look and see or if it only lets you reset them without showing what they were before. I notice that he did get the HEVAC module working which wasn't when he first released it.
super4 wrote:
Well I'm in good hands with Brian and Gilbert - just as a curious boy at back of class - tell me - If fuel is low and I do the 'reset adaptives' with my Storey EAS are you saying that the ECU says to itself 'Fuel low - ignore Adaptive reset' and therefore does not carry out any reset ? I'm sure that is a tricky one for you - expect you know though !
It doesn't really matter if the reset has worked or not, thats not the crucial bit. What you need it to do is self-adjust which it won't do until the fuel level is above the 1/4 tank level. I can't see any reason why the fuel level would prevent you resetting it personally, though thats not to say it won't do. I can't confirm if the Storey unit will do a reset correctly or not, never seen or used one, but would expect if its there it should work.
Thanks both - tomorrow I'm raiding the bank to buy 10 gallons of real petrol - will be the most put in, in one go, for years !! Then I'll do a reset and drive to Caleta along motorway and other roads to fill up with LPG at 70 cents a litre and hope that it does a self adjust !!
I wouldn't put that much in, don't forget that modern petrol starts to go off after about 3 months so you'll end up with a tank full of stale petrol. 5 gallons should be easily enough.
Well, have to report some results ! Filled with about 10 galls - not used to seeing how high the needle was on gauge - reset adaptives and drove 12 miles or so along motorway and lo and behold, noticed a big difference - much more as it should be !! Still slow to change down under load at times - had to use sport mode a few times to keep up the speed but overall a 100 percent better. So overall much improved but there is still a tendency not to want to change down when it should. It is as if the ECU is not getting some info about speeds and demands - the only thing not yet replaced is the Crankshaft speed sensor - does this give the RPM that shows on the dashboard because if so that still shows as you would expect. But I'm grateful to all as we are at least on the right track Done about 25 miles of varied motoring - how long might it need to make its mind up and when do I judge that all the adaptives have done their best and still need to look further ?
There isn't a crank speed sensor, but there's a crank position sensor. If that's failed the engine won't run at all.
super4 wrote:
Well, have to report some results ! Filled with about 10 galls - not used to seeing how high the needle was on gauge - reset adaptives and drove 12 miles or so along motorway and lo and behold, noticed a big difference - much more as it should be !! Still slow to change down under load at times - had to use sport mode a few times to keep up the speed but overall a 100 percent better. So overall much improved but there is still a tendency not to want to change down when it should. It is as if the ECU is not getting some info about speeds and demands - the only thing not yet replaced is the Crankshaft speed sensor - does this give the RPM that shows on the dashboard because if so that still shows as you would expect. But I'm grateful to all as we are at least on the right track Done about 25 miles of varied motoring - how long might it need to make its mind up and when do I judge that all the adaptives have done their best and still need to look further ?
Was that all on petrol or gas?
Petrol - 'cos I was paying attention and understood it had to be 'set up' on petrol as you explained. But how come it doesn't 'readjust' when it goes back onto LPG ?
It will do, thats part of the problem, you end up with 2 systems fighting each other if its not calibrated well enough effectively.
25 miles should usually be enough to get it somewhere about right, though if yours has been run for the most part on gas it might take a bit longer to clear up the petrol injectors to run perfectly, I'd expect it to be somewhere near right by now.
I seem to remember (without connecting the Nano to check) that there is something to reset adaptives on the gearbox as well, or at least there is on the Disco 2. I think thats what i did after changing coil packs to correct a misfire problem as the box didn't quite behave as it should. Don't know if you have access to that with the EAS Storey software. But those adaptives should also adapt anyway, but I'd expect those to take a bit longer to adjust.
Generally with the adaptives you should notice it stops changing - when theres no noticeable improvement over a couple of trips I'd suspect they have reached as good as they are going to get.
Nothing I see in the Storey EAS for Gearbox under Gems - could it be in BECM ? You may remember that I went through the rat problem - LPG stopped and I drove for some way on petrol when they ate wires until I realised and repaired all I could. Been driving on LPG apart from start up for years. The system probably doesn't know its arse from its elbow !
Chris10 suggests checking the speed connector from the gearbox which is under the Coolant tank and under which the rats made their home - wires on the lunch menu ! It has improved today as I said above out of all recognition as a result of all your hints - but it seems to me that the reluctance to not always change down under load could be because it is not getting some sensor signal ? So still looking - been hot today !
According to the Nanocom documentation the gearbox ECU fitted to the P38 was only ever fitted to the GEMS P38. Diagnostics are very limited and about all you can do is read and clear fault codes. I suspect that was something that Storey didn't bother with.
Thanks Gilbert. Does the Nanocom do all the settings that one would need or are there things it can't do ? I looked on google about gearbox ecu stuff and came up with Landyzone link where they had similar gear change but opposite to my problems and he traced it to faulty wires.connections into ECU see https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/p38-keeps-changing-down-gear.66979/
Interesting thread but if it was bad connections from the TPS then that would have been seen immediately if they'd plugged a code reader in that did live data. They do seem to vary, of the 3 I've got one changes down as soon as I hit a slight incline, mine does when I'm towing but when not when not unless I give it a little bit of extra throttle (although there's no telling what mapping was done to the various ECUs when it was supplied to plod), the other one I haven't really driven enough to know. Gearchanges are controlled by the engine load and that is calculated from revs, throttle position and airflow so MAF and TPS are the two that play the biggest part.
Have to confess I've not done much because the hot weather makes any work outdoors on my dirt track pretty awful. So I have been putting up with my 'lack of power' problem. I have bored you with the signs but if it helps then I should have said that this lack of power is very affected by the ambient heat and therefore the heat under bonnet. I start up, engine cold - not too bad, drives away ok, after hours down on the coast shopping, engine really hot - outdoors it is around 40 degree mark (bonnet too hot to keep hand on)- temp gauge shows normal - drive up the hill to come home and the engine hardly makes it in low range - seems like a fuel shortage to me - jump on throttle no response. Sometimes engine has just stalled whilst idling at traffic lights. On level, or downhill not under load picks up more like normal. Sorry to go on about it but if it is a fuel problem what could cause this - it is same for Petrol and LPG.
When I have been towing the caravan (1.8 tonne) in the hot weather I don’t directly have the same symptoms as you but if I go to restart the car after stopping at services. It doesn’t start right until you feather the throttle for a few a seconds. It’s fine after that though.