Hi Mazz1,
I think - someone please correct me if I'm wrong - but the codes as shown may differ on the P38 to other cars as the data port (OBD II) is standard, but how it does it is not and that's why you need specific P38 Nanocom / Hawkeye and others to read the codes. This alone will save you over £40 - 50 per time in getting codes read, if you keep the P38 consider this a vital tool.

Fuel quantity adaptation sounds like an FIP fault as it's the only part I know of that has anything that measures fuel seeing as the intank pump is as dumb as a brick.

You really need to know what diagnostic tool they used, LR uses Testbook. SnapOn etc don't read most of the codes so in my opinion if they don't have any of the specific P38 code readers I'd consider any diagnostics null and void. I understand it's different for you but over the years I have had many a Mexican stand off with rip off garages. That's why I do nearly all of my own work now, plus I trust myself to do it properly as I'm not against time and I'm not trying to make a profit off myself 😆

I always work on a garage charging £50/hr so you are looking at just over 3 hrs for labour there.
£287.55 for an in tank pump? Ouch. That must be genuine branded Landrover, mine cost less than £30 from eBay.
Glow plugs - again if they have good quality that's about right. To change the plugs you need to remove the plastic bits and the intake manifold from the engine and then reinstall it all on completion. Then get into the plugs to change them. Ask them which cylinders the plugs came from and how they checked to see if they needed changing.

If a garage didn't provide me with the code print out stapled to the invoice - guess what? I didn't pay as they could (and probably did) just make it up. No proof, no pay.

In my experience and that's based on my experience, most garages pray on the weak and those that are too nice to deal with them, and are charlatans.

Final bit of advice for when you finally get this sorted - hopefully your new mechanic will be able to do this for you:-

If he has to remove the FIP again (and he might)

1. Tell him to do the static timing, this mechanically puts the FIP timing back to the zero/datum point. Once this is correct your car will start easily without a "hot start fix" (I have a hot start fix installed, works a treat). This is caused by wear and tear and worn timing chains and FIP. Eventually the electrickery elves that live in the top of the FIP can't use their computer magic to compensate for worn parts and stretched chains 😸
2. You need 6 good glow plugs with a P38 - get them tested and replaced - winter is coming.
3. You need a big battery that's up to the job of turning over a big 6 cylinder diesel in winter. Mine is 1000cca / 120aHrs.

Best to prep for winter now.
Keep us posted Mazz.

hahaha love it!

Thanks Mukiwa. I have asked them what diagnostic machine they used and what codes they found but they have not been forthcoming with that nugget of info.
The battery on it is, I am pretty sure, 1000cca and, according to Powerdrive it starts like new!!!! To be fair starting had never been an issue until recently, which they put down to the intake pump problem. It was, the lump of metal's only saving grace because the damn thing kept letting me in other areas. I have ZERO confidence in it and wish I had never bought the useless thing. Apologies to you guys that are in love with them. Tom, who is going to give it a good going over, is absolutely nuts. He has 5 of the stupid things. He is called absolute landrovers. More like absolute nuts!!!!!!

No problem. I've learned the hard way and had my fingers burned with this P38. I nearly died of carbon monoxide poisoning the first week I bought it, smack in the middle of the M48 bridge into Wales. I just managed to pull over to the hard shoulder and fell out and passed out on the hard shoulder. 40 minutes later I woke up hahahaha.

The dealer had an obviously dodgy MOT garage he used as after I investigated it I found 3 holes in the exhaust and the vents in the rear tailgate (one way flaps) were missing! So not only were exhaust fumes entering through the holes underneath, they were also being sucked in through the tailgate vents.
Not an experience I ever want to repeat

I had zero confidence in mine for about the first 2 years of ownership, I didn't trust it as far as I could throw it. But, as I had bought it to use as an everyday car and also to tow some big heavy trailers around Europe, there was nothing else that would do what I needed. I persevered with it and now, 9 years and 175,000 miles later, I will (and do) happily get in it and drive it anywhere.

Good grief Hoppy. That must have been frightening. It does show though how, when we put trust in garages to do things right, things can go horribly wrong. I am glad you were ok.
Well Gilbertd. I have had my useless lump of metal for nearly 4 years. Well I have owned it for that time, but a lot of time has been spent at various garages. No garage seems to have a clue about these damn vehicles. I think I know more about them now thanks to guys like you, than garages do, but they have not taken much notice of what I have said in the past. I get things fixed and start to get a modicum of confidence, then something else goes wrong and I am back to square one. My last RR ( The beast) was great and never let me down, and I trusted it implicitly. This thing I have now??? Don't think I will ever trust it or have any confidence in it.

Get a Defender Mazz, I have not spent 1/10th of the time on my V8 Defender that I have spent on the P38 . That said, there are still plenty of second hand shockers to watch out for, depending on how much they have been abused, but far fewer points of failure than a P38. Find one that has lived in the city (it will probably be silver lol).

Well. Have got my final bill. £1,109.12p I did not know about it overheating until they sent the estimate. I found out today that they have replaced the water pump. Another £175 plus £52 for the pump. I realise it needed replacing but they could have asked me about doing it. Anyway. Damn job done! The fault codes they have provided look a bit like a joke, but you guys might know different.
29 unknown fault
25 glow duration
23 battery voltage low
136 fuel distribution circuit faulty

They can’t charge you for work you haven’t instructed them to undertake!

+1, if they'd phoned you and said it was overheating and needed a new water pump and you said well you better do it then, they can charge you. If however you took it in with a running problem and they told you it was overheating and needed a new water pump but you didn't tell then to do it, they can't charge you.

Well I don't think I want to get into a slanging match with them ,but maybe will test the ground on that one. It is being moved on Weds. Hopefully Tom will be able to look at it next week and see just what is going on with all these things deciding to stop working all in a very short space of time. The original problem is still there and it is odd that they did not get the fault code that my local garage did. The ones they say came up do not seem to tell much but hey ho what do I know.

I would err on the side of others advice above, unless when you took it to the garage you told them something to the effect of 'just fix it please'.
Anyway, if you know it needed a new water pump... it obviously needed doing... so is there a problem with them fixing it?

When it went to the garage it had a problem with lack of power when moving off. There had never been any overheating before and the first I knew about that was when it was referenced in the estimate. There was no reference to a repair. Today was when they told me they had replaced the pump. Yes of course it would have needed to be done, but they could have asked. That is all I am saying. I think they are getting enough money from me ,for fixing problems that were not in evidence when it went there. The issue with it struggling to build up speed still remains, as far as I know, and it needs and actuator which is no longer in production.

I doubt it needs an actuator. I wouldn't be surprised if Tom takes one look at it and can figure out the problem quicker than they have charged you for a water pump and labour that might or might not be required - you only had their word on it, and from what it sounds like, didn't authorise the work on it anyway.

At least it's out of their clutches and off to someone who can actually sort it out. I wish my P38 had been up and running and I could have gotten over to Portsmouth to take a look.

The adaptation fault definitely corresponds to the FIP, and as mentioned a few times before - if they have had it apart to replace the seals and haven't set it up again properly, then that will throw the fuelling out, and more than likely cause the issue you currently have. Again, I don't see how they can charge you for mis-diagnosing the in tank pump etc.

I would pay the bill and then get advice from someone like Trading Standards, once Tom has had a look at it, and what has been done. Hopefully he can give you a write up of what he finds, and what remedial action is needed. I'd then write down/log down conversations with Powerdrive, dates, times, roughly what's been said etc and then seek some advice, as it seems to me that they've charged you a sh*tload of money for having done next to nothing... certainly not fixing a problem, that if it is in the FIP, which they last had apart, should in theory be under warranty?

Yes Marty, I thought if there was a problem with the FIP it would be still under warranty but they say they did not touch the actuator apart from taking it off to fix the leak, so not covered under their warranty. It would have been good if you could have taken a look but don't worry about it. I would have liked to see how they reacted if you had turned up. Hopefully Tom is as good as everyone says and he will get to the bottom of the problems. I told him he is a nutter, having got 5 of his own, but he seems to have a real passion for them. I am sorry you have not got yours sorted yet but I do have to say, from the look some of your pics, it did look a bit of a mess. The sad thing about mine is that it is a nice looking vehicle and nice to drive,.........when it has not got yet another problem. There cannot be much more that can go wrong but maybe that is wishful thinking.

Mazz1,

The lack of power can also be a u/s MAF sensor. Unplug the plug on the side and then take it for a drive. My MAF sensor failed and I had a complete lack of power, I couldn't get over 50mph and it took ages to get there. I unplugged the plug on the side and all my power came back.

It is the round tube coming out of the air filter box. It should have BMW or similar on the top and an arrow showing airflow on the top (squareish shaped top) the plug is on the front - mind you it can be a swine to unplug so be careful and gentle. I can't add pictures onto here so others may be able to help.

It is a free test to do without any diagnostics except you 😆

I thought my gearbox had failed and it wasn't, I was also getting gearbox failed faults on my dash and it was the MAF sensor.

cheers,

Hoppy

Hello Holly. That lump of metal is now with Tom. Strange you should mention a gear box fault. Mine now appears to have that as well as everything else that is wrong with the stupid thing.

Sorry. HOPPY not Holly. Damn predictive txt!!!!!

Mazz1 wrote:

Hello Hoppy. That lump of metal is now with Tom. Strange you should mention a gear box fault. Mine now appears to have that as well as everything else that is wrong with the stupid thing.

Which points to a MAF sensor problem as Hoppy described then? Hoppy has described how a dodgy MAF can be the cause of both a (phantom) gearbox fault and a lack of power... He's implied/suggested that you should unplug your MAF sensor to see if it cures both your problems. If it does cure both your problems it goes a long way toward proving that the underlying problem is actually the MAF sensor, in which case you should replace the MAF sensor.