Great write-up!
The bearings in the Supercharger definitely weren’t right on this car. I spoke to Powerhouse who reckoned it was the bearings that are cast into the case at the front. They can repair them but the lead time on the parts for this specific repair was 3-4 weeks.
I’m inpatient so I found a used Supercharger with a 6 month warranty on it so have bought that and if this one starts to get noisy I’ll have the other one rebuilt so there’s no down time for the car.
Last night I removed the old charger and when undoing the plug from the MAF sensor the smallest wire on the plug snapped as soon as I touched it.
I released the pin from the plug in the hope that I could open it up and replaced the tail on it but it was crimped so tight it wouldn’t budge.
I moved on and started to do the diff oils when I had a thought. Thanks to Spud for pointing out that this was the MAF. I Googled the part number on the sensor that the plug goes into and found that it was also common to the Mk 2 1.6 Petrol Ford Focus.
A quick call to a local scrap yard and I found out they had a Focus in stock. 30 mins later I was back at home with a plug and tails from the MAF sensor on the Focus.
I’ve removed one of the pins from the plug from the Focus and will add it to the plug on the Range Rover tomorrow and then solder the tail to the cars wiring loom.
I also got all of the diff oils and transfer box done today. I ordered the oils from Land Rover directly as I wanted to be sure I was putting the right stuff in the right place. The oils I drained out were reasonably clean but the rear diff was overfilled. I reckon it’s been filled to the drain plug rather then having the specified amount of fluid put in it. Hopefully it’s not going to have done any damage. The oils in this are very very thin compared to what goes into the P38 and are twice the price! Rear diff oil is 25 quid a litre, transfer box oil is 29 quid a litre and the front diff oil is 22 quid a litre.
In case anyone is interested, these are the correct fluids for the SC:
Rear Diff: (Interestingly, this is bottled and labelled Castrol but has JLR’s address on the back)
Front Diff:
Transfer Box
@ £29 per litre that surely is Special Oil!! I bet you feel happier though :)
It’s been a productive if slightly frustrating weekend unfortunately.
The replacement Supercharger was fitted, new seals were put on the coolant manifold, the cooling system was filled up and I started the car. I was gutted to hear that the replacement Supercharger I’ve bought has got the exact same noise as the old one. It’s disappointing as I was assured it was a good one. It does however have a 6 month warranty on it. I’m happy to keep it if the price is adjusted as it’ll let me use the car whilst I send my old one off for rebuilding.
The fan shroud on the car is broken so I need to order a new one of them but it is back together now. The engine cover is damaged so I’m tempted to look for one of them too.
I then had to top up the oil in the gearbox and set the level. It must have been low as after draining it, doing the solenoids and seals and reassembly it took 8.2 litres of Lifeguard 6. Whilst I waited for the gearbox oil to come up to temperature I got my Snap On polishing tool out and cleaned the exhaust tips. They’re better but still not perfect. I’ll have another go atthem at some point.
I then fitted the new grill, put my number plate on it and once I’d set the gearbox oil level I reset the gearbox adaptations. Fingers crossed I don’t regret doing the adaptions.
I was going to get it out of the workshop this afternoon but decided to change the tow bar wiring loom to 13 pin whilst the car was inside.
I’ll get it outside one evening this week and hopefully will get it MOT’d this week too before giving it a proper wash next weekend as it is filthy.
David.
Nice looking motor..
Its always worth doing the adaption on the HP26 especially after a service.
I had a near identical fail on an electrical socket on an engine I was working on yesterday. A speedboat came up at a price I couldn't refuse and I've been playing with that so it will be all ready to go when lockdown ends. Got a 40HP Evirude twin cylinder two stroke outboard on it which I fired up with the bottom end sitting in a dustbin full of water. Happy that it was running as it should after I'd cleaned the carbs and adjusted the throttle linkage, I switched it off and nothing happened, it carried on running. Stopped it by stuffing a rag in the air intake (you can't put an outboard into gear and stall it) and started looking at the diagram and tracing wiring. When switched off one wire to the engine is grounded so set about tracing that and found an inline connector that looked fine but I could stop the engine by wiggling it about. Cut it open and found the wire had broken inside the connector where it comes out of the terminal. Cut the connector open and attacked it with the soldering iron and heatshrink. Just glad it wasn't on the working side or I'd have spent days tracing wiring to work out why I had no sparks.
The SC is back together and is out of the garage now.
The fan shroud was broken so I need to order one up. I don’t want to leave it off as it’s obviously there for a reason.
I wanted to give it a wash today but it’s been between -1 and -3 all day and the outside taps were frozen.
I’ve not been far with it today but the gearbox on it is absolutely perfect. I was worried that after resetting the adaptions it might drive horribly for a few miles but it’s been silky smooth from the get go today. Up and down the box was like silk and when kicking it down it was perfect.
Jobs left to do:
Wheels refurbished back to silver.
Remove chrome side vents and fit standard ones.
Fix reversing camera.
Other then that, she’s driving spot on.
It’s definitely a Supercharged one I’ve bought...
David.
Nice work.
A smart motor you have got there, a group shot of all the Rangies wouldn't go a miss!
5mpg is an eye opener lol still quite fancy an L322.
I’ll get a group shot done but its not likely to be until it warms up a bit!
Few more jobs done today...
The reversing camera was intermittent and had a black line scrolling up and down it so I ordered a replacement from PowerfulUK.
Before
After
Whilst I had the spoiler off the car I noticed the high level brake light was faded and hazy so I wet sanded, polished and sealed it with a UV protector so that looks better now.
I noticed whilst doing the camera that the rear screen washer wasn’t working. I removed the motor and cleared it with the airline which cured the not working fault. However, it was leaking badly into the boot. Thanks to a guide on full fatrr.com, I’ve ordered the seal to rebuild it. Hopefully it’s here soon.
I then moved onto the badges. The Supercharged one was a cheap chrome one that looked horrible so a replacement was fitted. They retail at nearly 80 quid! Thankfully I managed to get a genuine one on eBay for 15 quid. The LR logo was badly delaminating and the lettering was looking a bit tired too so I replaced them all. A genuine LR oval was around 8 quid. I decided I didn’t want the Brunel badges as I prefer the more modern look of titan silver :)
The lettering that was on the bonnet had previously been chrome as well. It had started to delaminate and most of it was just yellow plastic so I replaced them too.
The tow bar receiver has had a couple more coats of paint so can be refitted tomorrow and then I just need the fan shroud to arrive and then we can get an MOT on her.
David.
I’m still waiting for the fan bearing and fan shroud to arrive from Land Rover so whilst it’s not being used, I decided I’d give it a decent wash.
Considering it’s not been machine polished yet, the shine on it is pretty good. Considering it’s black, the paint isn’t even that badly swirled either which is quite pleasing.
David.
And we can draw this one to a close now that it's passed it's MOT :)
Onto the next project!
But it isn't finished yet? The wheels are still black......
They are indeed. They will be silver at some point in the near future.
Well, the RR was thrown into service today. It’s done short trips around home for the last few weeks and hasn’t given me any problems so today I decided it would be the weapon of choice for a trip to meet a friend at Lymm Services.
In October I bought a sports exhaust for the XFR in Essex and had it transported to a friend of mine in Welwyn Garden City. He also had an alloy wheel, side vents for the Range Rover, deployable side steps for the Range Rover, and a few other bits. I also collected a genuine Land Rover boot mat on the way down in Carlisle. Thankfully, rather then having to go all the way down south which would have involved an overnight stay, we met at Lymm Services where we were able to have a coffee outside in glorious sunshine before we both went our separate ways home Smile
The Range Rover covered 468 miles in it’s stride without batting an eye lid at it. There’s a feint rumble from the drivers front wheel bearing which got irritating after a while, thankfully though, it’s quiet enough that the radio didn’t need to be that loud to drown it out. It’s definitely next on the list of things to do though!
It cost me £33 on LPG to get from Lymm Services to the LPG station we pass in Paisley on the way home, according to the trip computer it was 225 miles. So 225 miles for £33. Can’t grumble at that. In my last one that was on Petrol I used to get circa 300 miles to £100 of petrol in 2014, so a significant saving. Not enough to make me convert one myself but when buying one that’s already converted it’s a pleasant benefit.
David.
Well, we got 3 months and 2.5k miles before any problems with the L322 arose.
Unfortunately, it appears to be quite a major problem and quite an unusual one too! My gearbox has died! It’s quite unusual as the ZF 6HP26 box tends to be very robust and doesn’t give much trouble.
When I serviced the car I replaced the solenoids, the filter, the seals and the oil. It’s been driving perfectly, no signs of slipping or any bad changes either. It lost drive very suddenly too. I was going through the field to collect one of the trailers and I’d gone into low as I came through the gate, driven about 30 yards into the field and heard a funny noise. It was as if a piece of wire was caught on the car.
I stopped, got out and had a look and when I went back into Drive I had no drive. I eventually got it into D but it was stuck in 2nd. I limped it down to the house and did some troubleshooting as the faults codes were pointing to the transfer box. Eventually after exhausting everything else, I drained the gearbox oil to find that it had gone from being nice and golden to burnt, stinking and black within 2.5k miles.
I’ve now sourced a replacement gearbox which turns out to have been a good buy as it was a genuine LR replacement supplied in 2017 so I’ve got that to fit now. Thankfully LR only quote 5.7hrs to change the gearbox on the Supercharged L322.
David.
I'd be inclined to flush or replace the G/box oil cooler too..
Wouldn't want any of that old clutch material contaminating your new box..
Odd as you say the 6hp26 is quite robust, I drained some evil looking stuff from my HP24 even a tad chunky!
I managed to obtain a replacement gearbox for the car. I flushed the oil cooler and lines in both directions with 2 litres each way of Lifeguard 6. When I refitted the box I had exactly the same fault present.
It turned out that it was actually the transfer box that was grinding and banging rather then the gearbox. A replacement transfer box was purchased and fitted but it turns out that it’s now whining on the motorway which is driving me nuts so I’m going to ask the company I got it from to replace it tomorrow.
Never rains but it pours!
David.
Funking hell David.
Bloody L322!!
I’m hoping that tomorrow I should receive the new transfer box I’ve ordered. I’m not taking a risk on another used one so this time I ordered one from Land Rover so hopefully I won’t have any issues this time around!
David.