OK so my P38 ownership is not going soo well.

Bought for £1,550 last month and front diff broke on the M25 on the way home. (insurance company are claiming not covered and sent a bill for £530 for recovery)

Replaced the front diff at a local garage for £400.

Book symbol on display and no heating as such. Ordered full replacement hoses and thermostat. (Still in boxes)
Full service kit purchase as dubious service interval on last occasion.
Remote Key fob stopped working now using the EKA to code to get in until can lay my hands on a nanocomm.

Finally on Thursday night broke down again. Recovered home and not sure I want to pay a garage again. When moving there is a loud knock I can fell it though the pedals/footwell, The faster I go the more frequent it gets, The more distance it goes the louder and at slower speeds it starts. I am suspecting rear diff. Would anyone suggest any different? Could it be a faulty front diff again? What else should i think of changing if this is the case.

Finally when going along it pulls to either side like its stuck in the tram tracks on the roads the trucks leave in the road. Not always but randomly when driving. Gives a very unsure driving form.

Should I fix it and sell it for spares?

Never known a diff to just break, get very noisy yes, but not stop you from driving. I'd say your noise is more likely to be a propshaft UJ, possibly one that got damaged with the strain on it from the diff failure. That would also make it pull one way or another if the UJ has seized or broken up. Don't drive it until you've got underneath and had a good look.

Book symbol on the display means it has detected a fault so has shut down whatever it is that has caused the fault. So if you can't change temperature, it has detected a fault with a blend motor, if the fans aren't running, it has detected a fault with a fan and so on. It does need plugging in to a Nanocom, Testbook or whatever to see what the fault is. It might be worth paying the £40 to get your local man to plug it in, check the faults and while he's in there turn off passive immobilisation to stop you from having to use the EKA all the time.

If you can do the work yourself, parts are dirt cheap, even good ones (not Br*tpart), and they are easy enough to work on. There's a couple of people on here that freely admitted they'd never worked on a car in their lives that have worked their way through the problems and are now enjoying driving their cars.

Thanks Gilbert,

That’s kind of where I was going as the rear diff is not likely to go bang is it. Still moves and drives but only if I have too. My house is remote and recovery trucks can’t get up drive so I had to drive it up. Didn’t feel down on power just painfully noisy.

Viscous coupling failed locked. Knocks out diffs, prop UJs etc
Will also give transmission wind-up leading to tramlining etc.

Viscous couplings don't usually just fail though, they need some abuse to kill them. They also cause the car to hop around when manoeuvring on full lock at low speeds as the front wheels are scrabbling for grip. So even someone not used to a P38 would know something isn't right.

It has pulled since I got it!

I'd still say propshaft UJ though....

Gilbertd wrote:

Viscous couplings don't usually just fail though, they need some abuse to kill them.  They also cause the car to hop around when manoeuvring on full lock at low speeds as the front wheels are scrabbling for grip.  So even someone not used to a P38 would know something isn't right.

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A little wager? Bottle of warm ale or something?
Diff failed, now possibly prop, together with:
"...when going along it pulls to either side like its stuck in the tram tracks on the roads the trucks leave in the road..."

OK Will order a UJ today, need to get some ramps as I can't get underneath it due to being on a hill don't want to jack it to work underneath. I have hired a car for next week for work so will get some then and take a good look next week.

Any ideas on what causes it to pull? Seems fine at slow speeds but like being in a large van being pushed about by the wind when you hit ridges in the road surface.

Bump steer can be down to worn panhard rod bushes/ radius arm bushes, track rod ends, steering box adjustment- almost any front suspension joint really.
Just a thought- does it have standard original P38 wheels (16" or 18")? non- original wheels fitted without spigot rings can cause problems, but usually of the shimmy rather than bump steer variety.

You a big bloke then? I only jack mine if I need to take wheels off, the rest of the time I just put the suspension on high, leave the tailgate open and crawl underneath.

They are standard wheels as far as I am aware. 16"

Not big but the last time I jacked a L322 on a slope like this it wasn't happy on the stands and almost fell off due to the lean. Yes I could turn it around but less access on that side. A set of ramps is easiest I think.

It could be a diff, my front let go with a pop then a worryingly loud regular clunk/growl depending on road speed after a tooth broke off the CWP. We drove it home (150 miles) but it clearly wasn't happy.

Does the noise it is making now sound similar to your broken diff (what was wrong with your old diff?)

Was the new front diff set up properly by the garage? Mine broke because it was a recent replacement that had incorrect backlash set on the crownwheel pinion which lead to premature failure. It might be worth popping the front diff cover off to have a look for obvious damage/bits of loose metal. Ashrcroft can have a replacement to you in 24hrs.

Rcutler wrote:

They are standard wheels as far as I am aware. 16"

Not big but the last time I jacked a L322 on a slope like this it wasn't happy on the stands and almost fell off due to the lean. Yes I could turn it around but less access on that side. A set of ramps is easiest I think.

He’s not saying jack it up, if you still have EAS put it on high and crawl under

Thanks, I got that idea from the message, I am deep in snow right now so hence don't fancy working on it today.

Will order a UJ, should I order bolts and prop shaft socket as well? What about prop-shaft gaiter? Are there things that you would replace while you there?

The original front Diff, went bang on the M25 with oil going everywhere, Sounded slushy and banging when moving. This time, regular bangs when moving, in gear and out of gear. A landrover Indy garage replaced the front diff and charged about £400 for it, so would hope its good.

You can get a special tool that's a 7/16" socket on a "necked" extension that makes getting the propshaft bolts out really easy, and you should get new nuts to put back on. Also you should really do both UJs on the propshaft while you've got it out, and actually while you're under there you might as well do both ends.

So that's four UJs in total.

You'll be good at them by the time you're done.

Don't get under a vehicle that's only supported by the EAS, make sure the chassis is well-supported in case it drops.

For the movement when going over bumps, mine does that and I found it got a lot better after having a wheel alignment done.

It's not perfect but it's noticeably better and less inclined to follow the fits left by trucks. I imagine to eliminate it completely I'd need start chasing every worn out rubbery component in the steering and suspension.

RutlandRover wrote:
I imagine to eliminate it completely I'd need start chasing every worn out rubbery component in the steering and suspension.

Yep. I did that. But in fairness once i started really poking around, most of the stuff was either in need of replacement or very near needing replacement. I began a thread here. Have a read through it all if you have the time but i did solve all of my steering problems and it's all documented there.

The drastic changes were noticed by doing the radius arm bushes and the track rod. But everything i did seemed to make a noticeable improvement along the way.

Thanks. This forum is starting to become a lifesaver! Haven’t got the cash or the time for doing all the suspension bushes. Need to sort the breakdown first.

What bushes do people go for. OEM or poly. Given I will probably do the whole car at some point buying tools is an option. Also should they always we done on both sides at the same time?

I'm not a great fan of polys but I've never tried them in a P38.