Not mine but one a friend bought a couple of weeks ago. It was advertised as a 2000, was registered in March 1999 but is actually a very late 98 model, GEMS (WA VIN number) Vogue SE, or at least that is what the tailgate badge says. Although the registration document shows it has had 9 previous owners, it has only done 79,600 . The MoT history shows that it has been used rarely, some years it had done less than 200 miles between tests. The bodywork and underside are near immaculate, the EAS works perfectly, it drives superbly and the only thing letting it down are multiple marks on the back bumper where someone has been a little inaccurate when hitching up a trailer.
However, the downsides were the book showing on the HEVAC and the centre console not appearing to fit properly to the point where opening the centre glovebox was a two handed job as the window switch panel was sitting higher and further back than it should. It was dropped off with me to see if I could sort it out and what I found was it appeared that one of the previous owners was what could best be described as a bodging gorilla.
To start with, the instrument surround was cracked in half where one of the upper screws go in, so that was taken inside and plastic welded on the inside. The more I started taking apart, the more bodges I found. The panel that has the pushbuttons in should have 5 screws holding it in, there was 1 and that was loose. Checking with the Nanocom and with the instruments out, the distribution blend motor was doing nothing and it also reported a fault on the LH blend motor. While in there I noticed that the heater core temperature sensor was on the lower pipe, and not the upper one that it should be but the pipes didn't look right. Dropped the knee panel on mine to check and realised that someone had done the heater core O rings and got the pipes crossed! Not only that but there were signs that they were leaking slightly too. Fortunately I had a pair of O rings, so started on that. However, there wasn't the tell tale hole cut in the side panel that is the usual shortcut. Instead it appeared that whoever had done it had forced the panel apart to get in there resulting in this....
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I didn't take the screw out on the right side, it wasn't there in the first place!
Cut the shortcut hole in the side panel, changed the O rings for the correct ones and not the oversized ones that were in there and swapped the pipes over so they lined up properly (probably the reason why it was leaking slightly anyway). Then got back to the blend motor problem.
Having used silicone oil on the distribution linkage, it moved nice and smoothly but the blend motor still didn't do anything. Blend motor was checked (only 3 screws holding it together and not 4 as it should have) and, after unplugging it from the HEVAC, it all tested fine but the crimped connectors in the cable showed it had previously been replaced. Cut the crimps out and soldered and heat shrinked the joints but still no movement from the distribution motor. After much head scratching I dug out a spare HEVAC I had, plugged that in and it worked perfectly, no book, no faults and everything did as it should. Turns out the previous bodger had obviously tested the blend motor by putting power to it without unplugging it from the HEVAC and burnt out the driver chip in the HEVAC. As I have done the same in the past on the HEVAC for the Ascot, I had bought some replacement L272M chips so could change it later. So, at that point It had my spare black fronted HEVAC and not the pretty wood fronted one it should have but I confirmed everything worked although there didn't seem to be a lot of air from the blowers. A look at the pollen filters explained that......
![enter image title here enter image description here](https://i.imgur.com/aLOHwrc.jpeg)
That is the drivers filter but the passenger one wasn't much better, so changed them and started putting everything back together. Plastic welded the broken bits, put everything in with the correct number of screws and remade the top mountings for the window switchpack and everything fitted perfectly. Even the switchpack had 4 of the little Torx headed screws missing from the back as these had been used to secure the HEVAC (about the only thing that was secured with the correct number of screws)! I had to find around 10-15 screws to refit everything as it should be.
The same bodger had also been inside the HEVAC and tried to remove the distribution driver chip, with a hammer and chisel by the look of it, so I cannibalised my spare HEVAC by taking the circuit board out of that and fitting it in the original one (and replaced one of the missing illumination lights too).
The owner collected the car last night and phoned me just before I started writing this to say that it looked good by torchlight but in daylight it looks perfect. Everything fits and looks as it should, there's no creaks or rattles coming from behind the dash and everything just works. Another satisfied owner but I wonder what the result would have been had it been bought by someone that just ignored the faults and not taken the time to get me to take care of it and get it back to how it should be.
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.