As I have now discovered. Unplugged the front left sensor and still only get the one fault on the front left. So it does display correctly on the Wabco C system.
Just been looking at the decals on the boot as they are starting to peel off.
Anyone got any suggestions on what to use to try and restick?
JimAHH wrote:
Just been looking at the decals on the boot as they are starting to peel off.
Anyone got any suggestions on what to use to try and restick?
Ordinary clear Bostick seems to work reasonably well.
Back to what I've been up to on the red one.
Bled the brakes, unsuccessfully. As the modulator was completely empty I think there is still air inside it. Pedal feels really hard, then with more pressure slowly goes to the floor. So that needs another attempt.....
Turned my attention to the LPG system, what a bloody mess! To start with, the toroidal tank has been put in back to front with the multivalve at the front, so under acceleration with less than half a tank of gas, the pickup will be uncovered and drawing vapour. The wiring under the bonnet has now been all ripped out and the mess made of the wiring at the engine ECU is disgusting. Wires cut, soldered using what appears to have been plumbers solder with no flux and 'insulated' with random bits of tape so before going any further I'm going to have to sort that lot out. So the "LPG converted" car has a tank and not a lot else, so effectively I'm going to be fitting a system from scratch.
There were no pollen filters in it and the passenger side pollen filter cover was in the glovebox. As the car has been standing for 3 years, both blowers were full of dead leaves so pulled them both out and emptied the blowers and ducting of leaves. Fitted a pair of pollen filters and put the covers back. Both footwells now need attacking with the vacuum cleaner again though.
Still waiting for the new brake vent switch for the cruise control so haven't put the driver's side heater duct back in yet which was what prompted me to clear the dead leaves out, but did a repair on the cruise vacuum pipe. There was a length of it from vent switch to the bulkhead at which point it stopped were it had perished. Local motor factors and a hydraulic/pneumatic specialist company didn't have anything suitable, so went for the alternative route. I've got 6mm copper tube that I use on air conditioning systems so ran a length of that from the footwell to the cruise system then used short lengths of the remaining rubber pipe at each end.
Unfortunately, rain has stopped play today so not inclined to get out there and carry on but there's still loads to do. Also need to get at mine too as the wiper linkage has started to squeak so needs a bit of lube on it before a trip to France on Wednesday.
In regards to JimAHH's question, I would just buy a new rear boot set of letters. I replaced all the letters, front and back, on my P38. They are easy to get off, just use a piece of thread and cut under the letters, then use some white spirit [that you use when painting] and carefully clear off the glue that will be sticking to the paintwork, and finally stick on the new letters.
There are a few sellers of the letters but if you go this way, and it is better than using glue to restick the existing letters [that is just dumb as they may never come off later if the car is to be repainted], if you go this way ensure that you buy the strip of letters that are on a backing paper, and just stick onto the car with the correct spacing etc. Then you just peel off the top piece of paper, leaving you with nice new letters. It just takes a bit of care to get the position correct, and to ensure that they are in a straight, level, line.
Pierre3.
It’s the ‘S’ on the DHSE that’s peeling.
Last time I looked I couldn’t order this sticker. Might look again.
Some one mentioned clear nail varnish might be good? Will try to restick while I wait for the magic sticker to become available.
I have some proper Range Rover decals ready for when they give up. Not looking forward to getting them straight.
Although I think Ed China did the job on wheeler dealers once..
Get a roll of the blue masking tape and run that along the bottom of the existing letters. Warm the existing ones with a hair dryer so they peel off, clean the remaining glue off then you can use the masking tape as a guide for fitting the new ones.
Not today but last sunday
Video here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Jefn2KefTiqEPtLb6
I'm the silver P38, see me in action at 2mins 38 seconds, 3:27 and 5:16. The orange 90 broke the front diff, the black 90 both rear shockers, the white 110 a propshaft and a CVJ. So one 90 became a Citroen, 2 wheel frontwheel drive. The SVR failed two climbs that I cleared (but admittedly he was on pure road tyres). So if we scored it the Rangie came 3rd out of 8, not bad for a standard manual on Grabber AT3s.
Immense fun and mind boggling considering all the other tricked up 4x4s with their lockers, widened wheelbases and wide sand tyres.
looked like a good day of fun wheeling around the bush.
good video.
Today I've found the cure for the wet passenger floor. I'd been out in the car, parked it and noticed water dripping off the passenger side sill. Lifted the rubber mat and the carpet underneath was sodden with water. Got underneath, squeezed the rubber bulb and it was completely dry. Dropped the panel behind the glovebox and the water was dripping out of the join in the air duct from the blower. Found the small corrugated rubber tube that goes to the underside of the heater box and pulled that off, also completely dry. Just to be sure I'd found the correct one, poked a nylon draw string down it and confirmed it did indeed come out of the rubber bulb underneath. Poked the same nylon string up into the heater matrix where the rubber tube had been connected and was rewarded with a constant stream of water. It seems there was so much water in there that couldn't find a way out, it had flooded into the ducting and was dripping out of the joint.
Car is currently sitting in the sun with the passenger door open and the rubber mat out to dry the carpet out.....
Been doing some more work on the red one over that last few days but that is a story for later when I have more time, there's good news and potentially serious, bad news.
and I can report it worked. Just stopped to fill up with fuel and on walking back to the car noticed the puddle under the centre of the car, so the AC drain is now doing what it should.
But back to the red one. Over the last few days, I've bled the brake modulator again and got a brake pedal that felt right. Replaced the dead Front left ABS sensor and no longer have any warning lights or messages on the message centre. Idle was rough and didn't maintain the correct idle speed and I'd found that the idle air valve had been butchered so could rotate so wasn't moving in and out as it should but was rotating instead, so ordered one of them. That arrived and was fitted but still the idle wasn't brilliant and it had all the symptoms of a rich mixture. Spark plugs were black and the exhaust smelt of unburnt fuel yet both lambda sensors were sitting at a constant 5V showing lean. As I had 3 lambda sensors of unknown condition that I'd previously taken off mine (the FAE ones from Island 4x4 that they claim are no good for running on LPG), so tried a couple of them. Reset the adaptive values and the RH bank started flipping between 5V and 0V just as it should. LH bank still sat at 5V so that sensor is dead. Then looked at the one I'd just taken out of the LH bank and noticed 2 of the 4 pins had pushed back in the plug. Reseated them, put it in and that one started to work too. Suddenly, the idle was perfectly smooth and it sounded like it should. Time for a quick (highly illegal with no MoT or tax) test drive on the lane out the back of the village. Pulls well, brakes work, steering feels like there is probably the odd ball joint that will need changing but that can wait until I take it in for an MoT and see what the tester finds when it is in the air.
As it has a custom exhaust system on it with no cats, it will fail the MoT on that if running on petrol, so I need to get an LPG system installed. Sorted out what bits I have and what I will need to order and spent a couple of days removing the remains of the old system and wiring in a new one (an AEB Galileo that Mick at LPG Auto Supplies was selling off on special offer for anyone that may be interested). Got the wiring done and decided to pressure test the AC system as I'd previously changed the compressor. Found a leak at one of the compressor O rings but as I didn't have any spares, couldn't do any more with that. A mate is a mobile AC technician and he was going to be in the area on Friday so I'd already asked him about re-gassing the Ascot as that was low on refrigerant and checking the red one. So they both needed turning round so he could get at them. After shifting my car, Dina's car and turning the Ascot around, tried to start the red one. It had spent 2 days with doors open and interior lights on and the battery is one that had been on mine but I'd replaced as it was starting to get tired, turning the key just gave me a click and all the panel lights went out. Put the charger on it, left it for a while and ordered a new Hankook battery for it.
After it had been on charge for a couple of hours, tried it again and still the starter didn't want to turn it over, so pushed it back a bit so I could get mine close enough to use jump leads. Connected up the jump leads, turned the key and the starter spun it over and it started up with a horrible crunching sound. Figured the starter hadn't disengaged and was being turned on the flywheel, switched it off and tried again. Fired up immediately but still making not pleasant noises. Ignoring that, I turned the car around and upon getting out, I could hear the engine knocking, sounding very much like a big end so killed it immediately. Switched the ignition back on and noticed a distinct lack of an oil pressure light. Now whether it had been working before or not I couldn't say as there were so many other warning lights on the dash and the engine has obviously been recently rebuild (but no idea by who) so I would have expected it to be OK.
Time to check the oil pressure switch and it's wiring. Getting at it isn't that easy but managed to get in there. Unplugged the wire to it, grounded that and the oil pressure warning light on the dash came on. Tested the switch and it was open circuit. By then it was almost 7pm on Thursday so called it a night. First thing Friday morning, went to my local motor factors and got a replacement oil pressure switch. Got home only to find the thread was different and it wouldn't fit. The correct one for a 98 GEMS has an Imperial UNF thread, the one I'd taken out had a metric M12x1.5 thread. Phoned the factors who cross referenced the part number from the one I had taken out only to find it was for a Land Rover 2.4 diesel engine. It seems that the later Thor engine has a metric thread but has two pins on the connector instead of just a single spade terminal like on the GEMS (and obviously the diesel). So it looks like whoever rebuilt the engine used the front cover from a Thor on a GEMS block with a single spade terminal oil pressure switch that would fit but was from a diesel. The pressure switch I needed wasn't a stock item but they could get me one by 2:30.
The AC man arrived, we replaced the leaking O ring on the compressor and pressure tested it, which it passed, but without being able to run the engine (as there was no oil pressure switch in it), couldn't gas it. Gassed the Ascot so that now has just about everything working, the only things that don't is the passenger side mirror doesn't adjust and the driver's one dips in reverse but doesn't return. Not bad for a 28 year old P38......
So, off the the factors again, pick up the correct (incorrect) oil pressure switch and fit it. Put everything else back together as I'd taken the alternator and alternator mounting block off to give me more room to get at the oil pressure switch. Turned on the ignition, oil pressure light comes on, start engine and it stays on and the engine still has the bottom end knock. Now the question is, do I have no oil pressure due to the knock from a big end, or has it lost oil pressure which has caused the knock from a big end? From the crunching, clattering sound it made when initially started, I suspect the oil pump has shattered. It's been run for no more than a minute, so probably hasn't damaged the crank and will just need a set of big end shells but I'm going to have to get at the oil pump, which involves removing the front cover which means the crank pulley has to come off. A job I've never attempted before and aren't looking forward to but it needs to be done. So the saga will continue......
Crank pulley isn’t too difficult but you need to keep the crank from spinning. I built a makeshift tool that attaches to the pulley but there are several other ways. It doesn’t sound like you need to remove the sump, but if it’s off you can jam it with a piece of wood. I believe you can also put a deep socket through a hole in the bell housing that must fit into the flex plate or perhaps the torque converter (I haven’t used these methods). There is also a method where you have your socket and breaker bar jammed against the frame while you engage the starter very briefly.
I took my front cover off over the weekend to address some oil leaks. I just took the crank pulley bolt out using an impact so can't comment on other methods of holding the crank. The hardest part so far has been cleaning off the old front cover gasket material.
Since the sump also has to come off I'm planning replace the gems sump with a thor to take advantage of the rubber gasket.
Once a few more parts turn up I can get started with reassembly.
Are you sure you can just swap sumps? I know the front cover is different, but maybe not where it bolts up to the sump. Also, the Thor sump uses more bolts at the back but again maybe you can ignore them.
Harv wrote:
Are you sure you can just swap sumps? I know the front cover is different, but maybe not where it bolts up to the sump. Also, the Thor sump uses more bolts at the back but again maybe you can ignore them.
I believe the swap has been done by a few people on rr.net and is mentioned on this forum here. I don't believe the front cover is different (in terms of the front cover -> sump interface) between thor and gems. There are two extra bolts that go into the sump where the inspection plate is fitted on GEMS so I need to see how that will work.
I bought an alloy sump with the same plan, but havent yet got around to it, and i'm not sure i will at this point.
My understanding was that there were some small differences but nothing insurmountable.
I think the only difference is that on a GEMS the plate covering the lower part of the bellhousing/flywheel is held by bolts through the plate into the bellhousing but the Thor uses bolts going the other way. So all that is needed is to drill out the threaded holes.
What have I done? Finished pulling the engine on the red one apart and I think I've found the reason for a lack of oil pressure. This hasn't been the easiest job due to the engine having previously been put together by a Gorilla, even the oil filter needed a chain wrench on it. I needed to make up a new tool to hold the water pump to undo the fan nut. Using a 2 foot bar, and extending my viscous coupling spanner, managed to shift that (eventually). So the radiator is out, the fan is off, the water pump is off (only two of the bolt heads sheared off), the crank pulley is off (using the socket bar against the chassis rail and flicking the starter method and it came undone far easier than I was expecting), sump is off, front cover is off and the oil pump has been exposed (although I did have to use a cold chisel on two of the bolts holding the cover on as the screw heads were chewed up so much that even an impact driver couldn't get enough of a grip on them). One of the big ends (number 4) has play in it but not much so I should be able to simply fit a new set of shells. However, it's nice to take something apart and be able to immediately see the cause of a problem.
The problem? A lack of oil pressure, the reason.....
Just got to clean everything off, check the front cover to see if that can be reused or if it is too badly scored and work out a (long) shopping list.
Oh wow!
the real question is are all the bits there, it looks like they are,
Yeah, all bits there and I can't find any that weren't in place (not that they can really go anywhere other than into the oil filter and there was nothing in that). My magnet on a stick looked more like a hedgehog after probing around in there though. Although I can get a replacement oil pump for around £50, personally I think the front cover is too badly scored to be worth putting back in and with a new front cover, even a Chinese made one, at over £500 notes, I think I'm going to looking for a secondhand one and put a new oil pump gear set in
In other news, the Ascot is on eBay and has already met the reserve, item 387000091030, so that will easily pay for the engine bits for the red one (in fact, it will pay for buying the red one too!).