About time for an update. Passenger blend motor was playing up and bringing on the book symbol so I got stuck in to that. I'd got a spare that I'd changed on mine and then found that the motor tab had come unsolderd from the circuit board so I'd repaired that and put it on the shelf in case I ever needed it. Tried that one but still had the book and a RH blend motor potentiometer error on the Nano. Now this was the LH one that wasn't working and I could see that from the live data. Put it down to one of the little quirks of the Nano in reporting the fault on the wrong side. Checked the pot and it all seemed fine but I was still getting the error, so checked the one I'd taken off. That also had a broken solder joint on the motor, repaired that but it still didn't work. So bought a warranted one from Furness on the bay of E's. Connected that one up and still had the same error. Pulled the HEVAC out of the SE and put that in instead. Now the one in the Ascot is the early one that would have been fitted when it was new. The SE should also have the early one but it's obviously been changed at some point as it was the later version. This one showed the fault on the correct side but the fault was still there. Then it clicked. I'd been using the Nano to calibrate the blend motor before fitting it and, despite there being internal stops to limit the travel, they still allow it to move further than it will when in use so it was flagging and over range error. Fitted it, calibrated it, all fine. Swapped the original HEVAC back in and that was fine too. Put the dash back together.
Time to look at the sunroof. It did nothing other than cause the dash to tell me that the sunroof wasn't set. Had a look at the motor and found there wasn't one..... Got a replacement motor, fitted that and, although the motor made all the right noises, nothing moved. Off with the roof panel and found that the bits of plastic runner that the cables attach to were in two pieces. Ended up buying this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sunroof-Guide-Rail-Kit-Right-and-Left-Side-for-Land-Rover-and-Range-Rover/272216409213. Obviously 3D printed but looked right. Started on the LH rail and only replaced the broken bit, retaining the unbroken original parts. Found the bits needed an awful lot of fettling and filing before I got them to slide smoothly in the runner. Then took the RH rail out and started on that one. This was in a worse state and part of the original mechanism was missing so had to use more of the replacement parts. Only problem is that the parts are joined together with steel pins and the kit didn't include them. Spent hours in the garage trying find something of the right size and failing until I looked at a nail in the wall, measured it and found it was the perfect diameter. Much fettling and filing later and the RH rail was sliding smoothly too. Got it all back together and the cables attached and it seemed to work fine without the glass. The motor sounded to be working pretty hard but as I've never owned a P38 with a sunroof before, thought this was probably normal. Fitted the glass and it worked! Had to do a bit of fiddling with the adjustment but got it right in the end. Excellent I thought. Until this morning......
Got in it to move it and it still said Sunroof Not Set so figured I'd set it. Hit the button, the rear of the roof lowered and it started to slowly move backwards. Then there was a crack, a lump of broken plastic ricocheted off the top of my head and it didn't move any more. So, after £30 and 4 evenings worth of fiddling and fettling it looks like I'll be buying a compete unit and fitting that then. Which means the headlining shell has got to be dropped so I might as well retrim that while it's out too........
Peterborough, Cambs
- '93 Range Rover Classic 4.2 LSE, sold
- '97 Range Rover 4.0SE, in Oxford Blue with a sort of grey/blue leather interior sold as two is plenty.....
- '96 4.6HSE Ascot - now sold
- '98 4.0SE in Rioja Red
'98 Ex-Greater Manchester Police motorway patrol car, Range Rover P38 4.0, in Chawton white - the everyday car
All running perfectly on LPG
- Proud to be a member of the YCHJCYA2PDTHFH club.