Not today but Sunday. When we first got the red 4.0SE it came with just a single dumb key, no remote. Not liking the idea of only having one key, I tried to get a spare cut but it appears that Timsons, who cut me one for my car, no longer do them as they have wasted so many blanks when the ones they cut didn't work. Went to a lock specialist who checked and found that the blank keys are NLA but they had 4 blanks for the flip key on the shelf so they cut me a couple. All I needed then was a remote. Fortunately at some time in the past, someone has been inside the BeCM and it was unlocked which meant I could change the key code in the BeCM to match a remote from a different car. Marty was able to supply me with a remote without a key blade and one of his fob filters as it had a blue spot, Gen 2, receiver in it where the blue antenna wire had been snipped off.

Marty also gave me the fob code from the key so I was able to use the Nanocom to change it in the BeCM and, once synced, the remote with the newly cut key blade has been working perfectly. Then the dash started coming up with a Key Battery Low warning so decided it was time to do something about it. On an unlocked BeCM, the Nanocom can display the EKA so checked that worked. Opened the drivers window, closed the door and locked the car with the remote, waited a couple of minutes then unlocked the drivers door with the sill locking button and, as expected, only the drivers door unlocked.and when I tried to start the car, found it was immobilised. Entered the EKA with the Nanocom, all doors unlocked and the immobiliser was turned off. Great, all working as it should so time to do the rest.

Soldered the cut antenna wire back together and fitted the fob filter, then took the fob into the house to change the batteries. Got the back off, old batteries out, new ones in and checked that the LED flashed when I pressed the buttons so took it back outside. As the owners handbook says that if the batteries are removed for more than 1 minute, then the fob will need to be resynced and I'd had then out for at least 10 minutes, expected to have to do this. But no, pressed the unlock button on the fob and the doors unlocked, pressed lock and they locked, so all working as it should without having to sync the fob.

No more key battery low warning on the dash and with the antenna now connected, the car can be locked and unlocked from within the house, no longer from within a few feet.

As a follow up to the FUSE 10 FAILED problem I took the seat out & was able to do a bit of keyhole surgery at the back & lift the leather skin enough to be able to disconnect C0974 which is the power supply to the inflatable lumbar support. I put it all back together. I bought a cheap set of Torx bits from Amazon specifically for the T45 bolts that secure the seat & seat belt. As I was tightening the final bolt the T45 bit disintegrated so I returned the set for a refund. I knew that I should have bought a decent T45 bit & not a cheap set of Torx bits so lessons learned.
Disconnecting C0974 seems to have fixed the problem but who knows whether it was that or something else that was actually causing the problem. The answer I suppose is to reconnect C0974 & see whether the fuse blows.
It passed the MOT after it had new front brake pads fitted. The worn rear brake pads were an advisory so I am pre-empting problems by getting them replaced this week.

Most of my time today has been taken up with attempting to get at the washer level sensor (see other thread) but I also took the opportunity to do a couple of things that were quick wins.

I replaced the lower tailgate strap that snapped when I jumped up in the tailgate the other day.

I had problems with the tailgate button some months ago & managed to revive the rusty spring enough that it would work again but I had bought a stainless spring packaged with a couple of rubber gaskets which today I finally got round to fitting.

Finally I replaced the driver's armrest with a used one from eBay as the old one had broken so the arm wouldn't stay up any more. Ever since I first got the car it's never parked upright properly as it would swing round onto the back seat if I let it but finally my new armrest works as intended.

Sometimes the little jobs are the most satisfying ... I got so much to update, hope I can do it soon!

As well as replacing the screenwash reservoir level sensor as I documented in the other thread I also over the last couple of days have fully serviced the car with oil filter, oil change, air filter, pollen filters etc It's now done about 190,400 miles.

Spent the weekend doing a bit of a service on the gearbox. Recently checked the fluid level and wasn't happy with what I saw. Rather than being a nice red colour, the fluid on the dipstick was the colour of strawberry milkshake. Then realised it was self inflicted. The difference between min and max on the gearbox dipstick on a GEMS is only 250ml but I had previously assumed it was 1 litre so had inadvertently overfilled it. That meant that the excess was being blown out of the breather which is at the bulkhead on the far left of the car and I had fluid dripping off the front mudflap, not a good look. I put a small catch bottle to collect it and forgot all about it. Unfortunately, it had also been catching rainwater so the end of the breather was under water meaning that when hot, air and excess fluid was blown out of the breather but when it cooled down, it was drawing water into the gearbox.

Removed the catch bottle, bought 5 litres of fluid, drained it out, refilled with fresh but after the engine had been run for a short time, it was better but still not clear as it should be. The whole gearbox/cooler/pipes and torque converter holds 11 litres but when draining it, only 6 comes out. What came out didn't look pretty though.....

While poking around I also noticed it was damp at the front left corner of the car and it appeared that the transmission cooler had a slight leak. One thing that I dislike intently is a car that leaves drips underneath it so although it hadn't got that far, it would do eventually so decided I would do that too. Dropped Dave Ashcroft an email asking if there was a way of flushing the system and his advice was to drain it, refill, run for 100 miles or so, then drain and refill until it is clear again. Ordered a cooler and 20 litres of Dexron 3 and set to it on Saturday. Figured that as well as draining the gearbox, this would also drain the pipes and cooler, which it did, all over the ground under the car.....

Using a hand pump, pumped fresh fluid down both pipes with the drain plug out of the gearbox so that would flush the pipes too. Went to fit the new cooler only to find that it didn't have the holes for the self tapping screws that hold the temperature sensor to the side. Oddly, RAVE doesn't mention this sensor when talking about changing the cooler on a pre-99 car but does on a 99 or later yet both of my 98 cars have it. Had to grind the heads off the screws holding it on to the old cooler and then try to work out a way of fixing it to the new one. The only way seemed to be with self tapping screws but drilling holes in the end of the new cooler that would be deep enough for a self tapper to grab without drilling right through and causing a leak is a twitchy bum moment..... Having recently put together a gaming computer for my step daughter, had a big bag of short self tappers and a tube of silver heatsink compound so that sorted the sensor. By which time it was getting dark so gave up for the day.

Sunday morning fitted the new cooler coating all the bolts with Graphite grease so should I ever need to take them out again, they won't be seized in place. New O rings, do up the unions and, before going any further, started filling it with fluid. Being wary of overfilling it again, put 7 litres in so that allowed for 1 litre in the cooler and pipes. Started it, checked for leaks and checked the level after cycling through the gears and the dipstick showed nothing. Switch off, put another half litre in, still nothing so kept going at half a litre a time until it was up to the max. That used up the first 10 litre drum of fluid but although the fluid does look slightly opaque it is nothing like as bad as it was, so a couple more drain and refills and it should be back to how it should be. I've still got another 10 litres of fluid so will be doing that over the next few days.

Oooh, that’s ugly looking ATF. I have also made the mistake of overfilling my gearbox, due to not understanding the small volume difference between the Refill and Full marks on the dipstick.

I hadn't noticed that the gearchange wasn't as smooth as it should be until I drove the red one and thought it was smoother than mine which is what made me check the fluid level in the first place. Now it does definitely feel smoother. Torque converter lock up happens earlier too.

That is one thing that has always intrigued me. I live just over half a mile from the A1(M) so all of my journeys start with a slow run through the village before getting on the motorway. If I sit at around 60mph, after 2 or 3 miles, the torque converter lock up can be felt and the revs drop by a couple of hundred but at the same time the exhaust note changes as if I've given it more throttle, even though I haven't, and it starts to slowly accelerate. That is now happening sooner than it was. You can tell if lock up has happened. If you lift off the throttle and the revs drop, it hasn't, once it does the revs remain the same.

Not teaching to suck eggs but if we're both interested in aspects like those you've mentioned we could explore a few ideas about what could be going on...

Another reason the TC might lock up sooner now is because the weather is getting warmer? I don't know much about Rangerover transmissions but some TC's don't lock up until ATF is above a certain temperature. A higher volume of ATF could increase the time to warm it up and if there was any water in it it would have a cooling effect especially when it got up to boiling temp thus delaying it reaching operating temp?

At least up to very high rpms, for a given throttle position if rpms decrease manifold pressure increases, so the engine is under more load (labours a bit harder / makes more torque). There's the 200rpm drop in exhaust pulses but at more load each pulse will be louder?

Can imagine if it had a manual gearbox there would be situations where a certain throttle opening would give one speed in one gear and a different speed in another gear, the same happens with an automatic. Imagine selecting 1st gear and holding throttle to do a steady 10mph on the flat, keep the throttle constant and select 2nd gear.. we'd expect speed to increase. Also with the automatic the TC locking up leads to an increase in coupling efficiency.

Lost the love a bit for the old barge, but had to do a dump run at the weekend so took the family out for a run and went for lunch. I really need to find the time to give it some TLC and get out for some driving days. I've been meaning to replace the transfer box oil for about 5 years now 😂

One thing i've been fighting for years is the battery going flat. The car sits around for weeks or months sometimes, and invaribly you go to use it and the battery is flat (and the front left tyre is flat too, another task that needs sorting...).

A while ago i bought a solar panel and Viridian Solar charger. This seemed to work well enough to keep things topped up, however i was just clipping it to the battery terminals. Ofcourse that ends up a faff and gets forgotten about, and means theres a mass of wires floating about the car when not using it...

So on sunday after our trip, i spend some time installing the solar charger control unit under the drivers seat. I tapped the conveniently located live and neutral feeds on the BECM, and put a connector on the solar input which i've attached to the frame under the seat with a p-clip. So now i just need to plug the solar panel in with a simple connector and job done. Still have the faff of getting the panel out ofcourse, but its more than halfed the messing about.

Yesterday I got two new tyres for the rear wheels. I noticed that the rear driver's side (RHD) had an egg sized bulge in the sidewall. Closer inspection revealed that while there was plenty of tread left the rubber on both rear tyres was looking tired, cracked & perished. There had also been an advisory on the recent MOT regarding condition of the rear tyres & checking I noticed an advisory on the previous MOT too so it was definitely time for new tyres. I replaced the Avon ZX7s with a pair of the same as this is what I have been running on the car for a few years now. Looking back through my receipts I think that the tyres being replaced are five years old which must mean they have done about 40K miles which isn't too bad.

Checking www.blackcircles.com & ringing our local tyre place the best price that I got was £125 per wheel. I then checked Halfords who do an 'at home' service. I have used them before on other cars for convenience but their prices are very keen too. Total price was £221.40 or £110.70 per wheel.

Not sure i'd have been replacing them with the same given how knackered they were...? Perishing and bulging inside 5 years isnt great!

Aragorn wrote:

Not sure i'd have been replacing them with the same given how knackered they were...? Perishing and bulging inside 5 years isnt great!

I swapped to ZX7s five years ago but replaced the front tyres a year ago at the last MOT as there was a cut in one inner sidewall. I prefer to have the same tyre brand all round. The Avon ZX7s are great especially for wet weather grip. All tyre brands are prone to the occasional bulge due to the method of manufacture. Five years & 40K miles seems a reasonable life for tyres to me. What experience do others have?

Although they will be past their best in terms of grip, I wouldn't expect sidewall cracking to happen until they are over 10 years old or had been left flat for any length of time. Different makes vary but I know that BF Goodridge are well known for premature sidewall cracking. I wear them out well before they reach that stage though.....

The sidewalls of my tyres weren't cracking. I was attempting to describe very fine fissures on the tread.

Ahh, that's different. It always annoys me that people wouldn't drive around on 15 year old tyres but complain that EAS is unreliable when air springs, which are made of exactly the same stuff as tyres, start to leak after 15-20 years.

I was round at Phil's (Holland and Holland) place last week where we are getting a very late Vogue SE recommissioned when Phil noticed my car had dropped something on his pristine driveway. A quick look underneath showed a dribble down the back of the front diff from the input. Ordered a replacement seal and output flange so tackled that today.

Put an axle stand under the rear axle so one rear wheel was off the ground, gearbox in Neutral and parking brake off so if I lifted one front wheel I could rotate the propshaft to get to all the bolts. I had previously bought a set of high tensile Allen bolts of the correct size for the propshaft flanges, so dropping the front prop was a simple job. Rattle gun had the bolt holding the flange in place out (early cars have a bolt, later ones a big nut) and it pulled straight out. Levered the old seal out, tapped the new one in, new flange in, bolt done up and prop refitted. Then, with the suspension on high, blasted the underside with degreaser from the pressure washer, let it soak and then blasted it all off.

Took it for a run to get everything nice and hot to dry it all out and checked underneath only to find smoke...... Whether it was the pressure washer or whether it was like it already I've no idea but the passenger side heatshield was soaked in oil from the diff and had dropped down so was sitting on the catalytic converter. Wired it up into place on the original mounting points and hit it with the pressure washer again to get rid of the oil that had soaked into it. Took it out again and this time, no smoke and a dry heatshield.

Gilbertd wrote:

I was round at Phil's (Holland and Holland) place last week where we are getting a very late Vogue SE recommissioned when Phil noticed my car had dropped something on his pristine driveway. A quick look underneath showed a dribble down the back of the front diff from the input. Ordered a replacement seal and output flange so tackled that today.

Put an axle stand under the rear axle so one rear wheel was off the ground, gearbox in Neutral and parking brake off so if I lifted one front wheel I could rotate the propshaft to get to all the bolts. I had previously bought a set of high tensile Allen bolts of the correct size for the propshaft flanges, so dropping the front prop was a simple job. Rattle gun had the bolt holding the flange in place out (early cars have a bolt, later ones a big nut) and it pulled straight out. Levered the old seal out, tapped the new one in, new flange in, bolt done up and prop refitted. Then, with the suspension on high, blasted the underside with degreaser from the pressure washer, let it soak and then blasted it all off.

Took it for a run to get everything nice and hot to dry it all out and checked underneath only to find smoke...... Whether it was the pressure washer or whether it was like it already I've no idea but the passenger side heatshield was soaked in oil from the diff and had dropped down so was sitting on the catalytic converter. Wired it up into place on the original mounting points and hit it with the pressure washer again to get rid of the oil that had soaked into it. Took it out again and this time, no smoke and a dry heatshield.

hi Richard, i have heard of this happen to another person, he washed his car and drove it home and stated that he could smell something in the driveway, opened the bonnet and it was on fire down at the cat, a piece of insulation of the firewall had fallen down on the cat and was on fire, he put it out obviously but said if he had just walked inside it would have destroyed itself. so be careful when washing under the bonnet as the insulation and other things of cause, can get you in trouble.

I wouldn't go under the bonnet with the pressure washer, only the underside, but the heatshields can suffer with age. They are some sort of fibre and metal sandwich so they can soak up any fluids. They are held in place with pegs and large washers but the holes in them wear through so they drop down. My driver's side one is completely missing! I've got some thin aluminium sheet so may make up some replacements although I suspect my driver's side one has been missing for years and the floor hasn't caught fire yet.....

Hab some more small things to do before I finally drive the car to TÜV (german for MOT), adjust the handbrake, got the headlight wipers going again (fuse blown due to being stuck because on non usage for a year), changed a rear airbag that was leaking (production date 44/08). Thought that now the EAS should be behaving better. Did a leak check with soapy water but found the solenoid casings leaking.

See photo:
"https://c.web.de/%40337510546125364120/J_0TKZf264G4s5aX7PzIqQ"
I had overhauled the valve block about a year ago before it sat there beacuse of the flex plate....

Then 2 weeks ago I saw that the front solenoid was leaking so I removed the valve block and saw that the thin o-ring was not seated right, changed it for the old ones I had kept and checked all other o-rings for correct seating.

Now this - all top solenoids leaking !

Should I get a complete new set and to the overhaul again or could it be something else...?