It needs 2, CR2025. But if the LED is lighting up when you press a button, it is unlikely to be the battery
Yeah, the led does light up
I've heard a few times not that is is possible for one of the contacts to effectively short one of the batteries out (not like in a 'boom' flames and smoke way) but rather more bypass it - so you actually only get 3V to the board. Sometimes the LED will still light up, (as the voltage needed to run it is less than 3V anyway) but the fob won't do anything, and won't sync - as the main chip needs 5V to operate properly.
These days when I replace batteries, I run a thin band of insulation tape around the outside of the pair of batteries - just to prevent this happening. I hadn't heard of it being a problem for a long time, and then there was a couple of postings on forums/FB groups where it had been found to be a problem. Can't hurt checking as a starting point either!
RutlandRover wrote:
We were disappointed by the lack of P38 stuff at the show too.
We did see one of the rubber bumper/bull bars for sale that interested us but I didn't want to buy it from Avenger 4x4. He tried to tell me my car was basically written off and needed a new engine when all it really needed was a simple gasket changing. I don't really like people that "know" things without actually looking at them....
Other than that, very slim pickings. We were on the look out for a radiator, boot mat, some door handles and some off road protection. To be honest, I really didn't expect to find any of the last one so wasn't too disappointed with that but the lack any anything else was a little annoying. We really are the forgotten Land Rover in this country!
Was enjoyable to walk around, would have been more so if it had been warmer yesterday.
We did the off course today and that was good fun. Got to the end of the course with two hills to go up. One designated hard, the other designated easy. Opted for the "hard" route to be met with some skepticism. The car strolled straight up, no problem. The marshals at the top of the hill full of surprise and calling out "Nicely done!".
Parked up and walked back to watch the final hill and saw every one after us opting for the easy route - including some lifted/modified Defenders.
Felt good watching them pansy out of the harder stuff :P
You guys have reminded me that I really should look in to why my remote locking no longer works after having the BECM unlocked following its trip to Marty to be unlocked earlier in the year.
Great pics, wish I'd gone now, just to get the car dirty if nothing else, think mine might of struggled a little more than yours, my wheels & tyres aren't as chunky. But great that you showed the disco owners what a p38 can do,,
We do RTV trials with our local Land Rover club so it gets muddy fairly often :)
There's a couple of other members that also use P38's and they frequently show up a good few of the Defenders.
They're a lot more experienced than I am - at the last event one of them turned up on road tyres and was able to match my results. Tyres aren't everything!
These are massively capable vehicles regardless of the tyres fitted and I really don't understand why they're so poorly regarded by the rest of the off roading community. The RRC is highly regarded and even the L322 has some off the shelf off parts available but there's almost nothing for the poor old P38 :(
There is a nice new snorkel from Terrafirma that I'm trying to get permission to fit :P
I didn't get new fob batteries in the end. I got a 2p coin and tried to remove the battery cover but it wasn't budging and just started to get chewed up, so I left it. I'll order a new back cover and change the batteries when that arrives.
We had Discoverys at work and someone tipped one over (combination of taking a slope at the wrong angle and a 10m pneumatic mast attached at gutter height). H&S manager got involved and decided that anyone that drove one of them needed to do an off road driving course. So I got sent to Solihull to do a one day course in a Disco. It had rained constantly for about a week before I went and the first thing I saw when I got there was this huge, rutted, mud hill. My initial thought was that you'd need at least a Defender on massive wheels and mud tyres to get up that. Half an hour later I was driving up it in a bog standard, TD5 Disco on standard wheels and road tyres. The instructor actually said that he thought the P38 was the best of the bunch but even the Freelander was far more capable off road than he expected. Admittedly most of it is down to technique which seemed to be 2nd gear, low ratio, for just about everything. The only thing you can't do with an auto is the recovery after you've stalled it going uphill (foot on brake pedal, select low ratio reverse gear, clutch out, foot off brake pedal so it is hanging against compression and flick the starter. Engine fires up and you creep backwards down the hill ready for another go).
I wouldn't mind having a go at an RTV trial in mine but it would need to be a gentle one if it's after it gets it's long awaited respray.
The RTV trials are supposed to be designed to be entirely non-damaging and run by completely standard cars. The courses occasionally get close to low lying trees etc but they tend to be cut back to avoid catching the cars. If there are bits of tree that concern you you can point them out and have them cut down.
A couple of months ago someone was laying out a course in their Disco 2 and got worried towards the end that it was too difficult for the Range Rover, as he could only just manage it in his Discovery. So I let him take the P38 out to test it and he ended up making the course more difficult as it was too easy. Turns out the P38 has a much better turning circle than the Disco 2.
I should probably avoid letting the non-believers try the car out - it's too much fun surprising them by doing things well!
didn't get new fob batteries in the end. I got a 2p coin and tried to remove the battery cover but it wasn't budging and just started to get chewed up, so I left it. I'll order a new back cover and change the batteries when that arrives.
I always find a wood chisel the best thing to remove a stubborn back , just don't slip !
I'll give that one a go then!
I almost forgot another bit of the show that was pretty good.
There was a race prepped Discovery 2 there, with a 4.6 engine fitted that was used for rally racing. I think the company running it was Torque Performance or something like that.
The owner fired up and gave it some revs as we walked past it.
My girlfriend stopped in her tracks and just stared it and after a while she said "I get it now....you and engine sounds...I know what you like about them. Can we make ours sound like that??"
Well, yes...we can....but I don't think we have the money it would take!
Just to join in, 'cos I like a good moan!
Mine was the only P38 when we did the Mac 4x4 Challenge a good few years ago. Bog standard too. Everyone pointed and laughed until the blizzard in Radnor Forest at three in the morning when she really wanted to play hard. It all went strangely quiet after that.
Here in Manila the "off roaders" - 99.999% Japanese - have huge wheels, 20-22" some of them, really, really low profile tyres and lovely suspension lifts. Must be a twat on the roads here. Came back from a trip down to Matabungkay where, as Madam proceeded to get all the beach vendors absolutely hammered, I had some superb solo off roading around Mt Palawan. Got back to Manila, car absolutely covered in shite and the off road boys were still working out how to get their immaculate and lifted Toyotas over the speed bumps. Gotta say, to be fair, out in the 'provinces' there's some serious kit being used. Just not here.
And yup, as Richard says, because they don't understand EAS, coils are touted as an upgrade. Saying that, an oil change is considered an upgrade too.
Despite all the naysayers, in over three years, she starts, stops and has never thrown a single job-stopping fault. It must be that kiss on the steering wheel every time I park her up. Preventative maintenance!
Thing that gets me is that whenever a P38 get's mentioned on a forum, I'm on Retro Rides, you'll notice all the "Ah yes, a mate of mine down the pub had a neighbour with a cousin who knew a man with a Range Rover P38. He said it was crap" come out of the woodwork. Oh well, that must be right then, best not buy one.
'Nother beer please. Ta.
I still live in fear of something horrific stopping me (and more importantly my family) miles from home, but as I get more used to the foibles I'm gaining in confidence. Let's face it, if the worst comes to the worst, parts are cheap and plentiful here. I don't fancy ripping the dash out on my own, but it seems that every vehicle I've owned has wanted a heater core at some point. The only serious design flaw seems to be the cylinder liners but there's a whole industry to support that problem, even if the solution is expensive.
How many miles would you expect out of a "top hatted" engine, assuming regular oil changes?
"...I still live in fear of something horrific stopping me (and more importantly my family) miles from home..."
AA Relay is your friend. I have the personal, rather than vehicle, cover for self and family members. Vehicle cover is hard to get if you drive anything over 15 years old.
Pretty good price using Tesco vouchers or whatever the missus wangles each renewal.
Used Relay for a 300 mile lift in my Hybrid, 200 in my SAAB, both terminal. Takes a while as they have to swap flatbeds each time they get to the limit of their patch, but a great way to save fuel :-)
Assuming you look after it, I would expect at least 250,000 miles out of any engine (especially one running on LPG). My original engine was at 287,500 when I decided that it was getting decidedly sluggish when towing 3 tonnes up the hills on the Autoroutes to the south of France. So with the new liners, pistons and rings, it should go on for at least that distance again.
I know exactly what you mean by gaining confidence though. I had a Classic, it was rusty and half the electrics didn't work but it started, went and stopped. I bought the P38 knowing it needed work so I did that and started to use it but kept the Classic just in case. Initially, I didn't trust the P38 as far as I could throw it as every time I used it something else would give cause for concern. The first planned long distance trip in it (deliver a Jag XJS to Holland) ended up being done in the Classic as something else had decided to stop working the day before I was due to set off. But, with time and, as you say, learning more about it, I started to get more confidence in it and now just get in it and use it. On another forum someone suggested I was totally bonkers to even contemplate driving an 18 year old V8 P38 on a 3,800 mile round trip (I did fail to mention the previous 1,000 miles which weren't entirely incident free though) but I'd do it again tomorrow given an excuse.
Orangebean wrote:
AA Relay is your friend. I have the personal, rather than vehicle, cover for self and family members. Vehicle cover is hard to get if you drive anything over 15 years old.
European cover is even harder. I've got AA personal cover for the UK as a freebie with my bank account and have used it a couple of times in the last 10 or so years. When I asked for a quote to extend it to cover Europe, they quoted me well over £300 a year so I used to buy single trip cover through AXA at about £12 a trip. However, as soon as the car reached 15 years old they would no longer cover me. Tried to find another supplier and kept getting Google hits on motorhome forums. It seems that many motorhome owners use ADAC, the German equivalent to the AA, as many motorhomes exceed the maximum size and weight that the AA will cover. ADAC gives personal cover for all EU countries, on any vehicle, for 80 Euros a year. It even gives cover in the UK and if you call them from the UK they send out their local agents, the AA. It just means that if you do break down, you need to call Germany although when I called to find out how to join, they all seem to speak excellent English.
This is probably worth discussing in its own thread...
It probably is. How can we split it and start a new one? My mod status seems to only allow me to delete, lock or highlight a thread or edit an individual post.
pending the thread split...
I have Green Flag for £35 through Direct Line. It's not as comprehensive as AA relay, but it has saved me in the past (Headgasket on the Jeep) when luckily I was within range of my preferred specialist.
I think I'll investigate Relay for my wife because she's with another insurance company and it doesn't include breakdown.
I've heard good reports of ADAC in the past from people who do 'ring trips.
I'm not sure you can split a thread; I'll need to look into it. Maybe we should set up a new section on stuff like insurance, breakdown cover etc