Thanks, i'll take a look around there.

Not surprising the recent weather might have caused some water ingress, but i'd quite like to fix it before it turns into a hole in the floor.

I've noticed the car was generally "damp" recently, but it doesnt get used frequently so i had just put it down to usual condensation etc. However i'd noticed it was really steamed up after a drive last week, and it didnt clear even sitting with the windows open all day in the sun.... Happened to reach into the front passenger footwell to grab some gloves when i went to the dump the other day and realised the gloves were soaking, as was the carpet...

So, anyone got a list of the likely culprits? It seemed most wet right on the front left corner near the kickplate.

i find the lights on the rangey pretty reasonable, and given my other cars all have HID/LED systems thats decent praise.

As mentioned above, might be worth inspecting the reflector chrome. It can become tarnished and blackened with age, which really kills the light output.

Is this the "silver can" style ECU, or the later black one?

If its the silver can, its very likely dead. I chased around trying to fix mine, following all the steps in the RAVE etc. In the end the fix was to replace it with the later black plastic cased unit instead and its been flawless ever since.

Oddly enough, about 10 years back i had exactly the same issue with exactly the same cruise control unit in an old Audi. Chased around for months trying to find a good silver unit, and eventually did find one after going thru about 3 or 4 from ebay. You definitely get to that point thinking "it cant be the ECU, i've tried three!"

Given the Autobox output shows the same voltage as the Cruise, you can conclude that either a) they're both dead, or b) they're both working. Given the autobox isnt complaining about missing road speed, i would personally be suspecting that B is the case, and your meter for whatever reason is giving a weird reading.

Given my previous experience with these Hella units, once i'd gone thru the rave instructions and found nothing obvious, i just went directly to replacing it.

Buy a genuine crank sensor. I went thru 4 shite ones before i realised my folly. I managed to find a new-old-stock sensor listed for an LDV van which worked.

i suspect thats a "danger will robinson" moment, most of those hoses and fittings arent rated highly enough for PAS use.

Working range of the 200 series goodridge hose is a bit under 1000psi. The PRV on the P38 pump is set at 1500psi

I'm sure hose will exist thats highly enough rated, but something to be careful of!

Additionally, the PAS hard lines are used as radiators to cool the fluid, and i'm not sure how that will be affected using a braided line instead?

Its also expensive stuff, by the time you've bought the hose, the fittings and the adaptors you inevitably need to fit the ends, i suspect you've pretty much spent the cost of a new OEM hose anyway...

In quantity, sure. But a single drip wiped onto my slightly grubby paw, it simply appeared transparent.
Whereas the same single drip from the engine oil was immediately black.

did the oil cooler today, wasnt too bad a job. The fittings were solid as expected. so i just hacksawed them off just after the union and pulled the cooler out.
New cooler in along with new lines all went fine just a bit awkward getting at the engine fittings and everything under the front of it was dripping with oil too...

Having done that job though, i think i need to change the gearbox cooler as well, the gearbox cooler was covered with oil and there were concentrated patches on the radiator where its presumably been dropping off while driving. The end of the radiator was clearly covered in engine oil (black when rubbed with a finger) but the drips in the middle of the rad were all "clear" so i presume ATF.

The engine cooler was mostly leaking from a rusted out line at the cooler, so glad i bought new lines. I guess i'll need to do the same with the gearbox cooler, replacing both the cooler and the pipework.

I also really need to buy a new PAS line, its very rusty and i dont like the look of it... And ofcourse, its the HP line thats dealer only thats the worst of the two :(

i was thinking about changing the condenser anyway, as it would be nice to have the AC working again, but its good to know i can swap the oil cooler without touching it.

I was also half wondering if i should do the Auto-box cooler at the same time? I guess i need to have a good look over all the pipework and see what needs refreshed. I know the PAS lines are extremely rusty and i've been meaning to do those for a while.

i have a similar early model. I bought a stainless "straight thru" rear box for it, used from ebay. Someone presumably had it made at a local exhaust shop. It was just a piece of 2.5" stainless pipe bent up to fit the bottom of the car. I wanted a silencer, and happened to have a small one from a BMW knocking around, so i cut the pipe, welded in the small box, and then instead of the streight outlet, i tacked on a polished stainless 45 degree turn-down tailpipe from an Audi diesel.

Looks neat and tidy and suitably OEM without being shouty. I'll snap a photo tomorrow for you if you like.

I guess the take-away is, find a local exhaust fabricator and get them to make one. I've had a few systems made (my local guy made the mid section for the rangey after it rotted away) and actually, its more or less just as cheap as buying from DoubleS, and you dont have to crawl underneath it.

sounds pretty similar in terms of location, obviously no intercooler, but its in the same gap between the condenser and rad.

The v8 has its gearbox cooler mounted below the oil cooler, but i think the diesels have the gearbox cooler elsewhere as the intercooler sits there instead.

The old barge has sprung a leak from the engine oil cooler. Its been weepy for a while so been on borrowed time, but today i realised there was oil bloody everywhere and a constant drip drip drip from the pipe into the cooler.

I've ordered a new cooler and pipe kit from Maltings Offroad, but i'm wondering a) how exactly to get into it, and b) if i should change anything else while in there... I've been considering swapping out the AC condenser too,

I've had the main rad out before and the oil coolers dont seem to be accessible from that side, so i'm assuming i need to go in the front and remove the AC condenser to get at them?

Looking at the pipework around there, the PAS hoses also dont look great, so i will price those up too. Any tips or pointers or "defo change X while your in there" jobs?

Cheers
Kev

What is water glass?

Morat wrote:

There's a lot of thought going into this, so I'll just make two points.

1. It's hard to forgive corrosion on a P38 as there are plenty around with good bodywork
2. As you're already set up for EV, don't sell the P38 before the much rumoured (trailed?) scrappage scheme comes into effect or you might be losing £3k or £6k depending on how you look at it.

Yeh, its a fair point. But i guess the other side is, If i sort the engine and mechanicals, then worst case, when i come to actually sorting the body, the option is there to buy one with a tidy body and rooted engine/mechanicals and swap things over. Wether that means an actual body swap, or putting the good engine/axles etc into the other car.

as for 2, yeah i'll certainly keep an eye on it, maybe i can trade in the TT instead. Not sure how realistic buying a brand new EV is though. Would need to see the numbers. I quite fancy the e-niro, but its a bit too expensive and impossible to actually buy.

leolito wrote:

The A4 is a long term project. Its a 1.8T Quattro which i've got a 4.2L V8 to swap in
This is a project on its own, and not a small one. Might got very off topic in here ... many pro and many cons to that.
If you have the engine and it is running nice and fine and you crave only the throaty V8 sound go for it, but for me the 2.7TT is also a sensible proposition. Equal power, fantastic run-up if you tune it properly, fairly robust, and all in all equally expensive to run ... you'd miss the V8 roar but instead you get the whine/hiss of the turbos ... equally deadly :-)

I have the 4.2 already. Been around B5's a long time and the 2.7 just doesnt press my buttons. Everything in it just costs a fortune. My brother had one for a few years. I broke a C5 A6 for its engine so i've got everything needed for the swap, its pretty much a weekend bolt-in swap at this point. Even the wiring harness pretty much just plugs in. The only thing i need to buy for it is service stuff like belts/waterpump/thermostat and filters.

Symes wrote:

Well what about Cummins diesel --- just a thought --- I got a 4.6 HSE gems P38 the engine is fubar -- I'm thinking of going Cummins diesel or chev V8 I can get a 300tdi with manual box(disco 2) whole thing £200 but am seriously considering Cummins

Diesel isnt for me.

Martyuk wrote:

Hmm... I want to look at your RR in person then at some point and try to sort the key sync out... things like that bug me when they should all work! lol... maybe if I host a summer camp, then if you wanted to come over to that we can try and get a few bits ticked off... I have the press and tool to do radius arm bushes... people have the knowledge/experience to do the headlining, I can take a look at the key/locking stuff...

And probably get a few more things looked at too...

Yeah i'll keep an eye out on the forum and see what gets arranged. I'm in Fife, Scotland, so its a fair old trek to make...

I guess the fact that theres only one key is also annoying, dunno wether to try and get another key-set with a pair of good fobs or something.

yeah i figured as much. I'd end up with a nice reliable modern V8 and everything else knackered around it haha.

You should price up a local custom exhaust shop, they can actually be cheaper than you'd imagine.

On mine, the exhaust was wrecked. I'd found a used "streight thru" stainless rear pipe on ebay, but needed a middle section and maybe even a Y pipe. Took it along to my local exhaust fabricator, and they made up a system which started after the cats, and had a new Y piece and a middle box and it cost less than buying the bits in stainless off ebay.

Martyuk wrote:

Sounds like you need a fair bit doing alright...

Out of interest - does the key sync WITHOUT the RF filter plugged in? or just no key sync/central locking at all?

The engine does by and far sound like the biggest project alright - the only real part of that I read and find to be the biggest pain would be the rear crank seal - the rest of it you can do with the engine in the vehicle if needs be...

Cosmetic bits... I guess they could wait a bit until the mechanical bits are sorted...

I'm definitely a 'if it can be fixed then it's worth having a go' kind of person - but then my 1998 that I'm restoring has become a real labour of love, and motivation lacks a lot of the time... but I'm slowly persevering with it - I think I've had it going on 4 years now and it's still all in bits!

I don't know the answer to your question about whether to keep it or not - but I'm always happy to look at anything on the electronics side... if we were nearer, then I'd have looked at the central locking for you by now ;)

Marty

When i first got it, the remote had no batteries. I got a new holder and a new stack of batteries and paried up the key and it worked. At elast for a few weeks until the battery holder moved in my pocket and reset the fob... Crappy design that for sure.

The car battery also went flat a few times, because of the usual wakeup issue. So i unplugged the receiver and ignored it for ages. The car often sits for a week or more so the drain was too much.

It locked me out one day 500miles from home, which at the time i didnt realise was a dicky microswitch. In typical P38 style i ran it with the iffy microswitch for ages, just making sure that the car actually unlocked before opening the door (sometimes you had to unlock 2 or 3 times), as if you opened the door before it had actually "unlocked" it would get angry.

Eventually i spent out and bought a refurbished door latch and remote filter from you. After that i couldnt get it to pair the remote again (albeit i hadnt tried to for a long time). Tried with and without the filter. Scoped the output from the box and the fob is definitely transmitting info when the button is pressed. The BECM just wont pair with it.

I guess the biggest thing with the whole project is you start thinking "if i'm going to spend ££££ on the engine, what else could i buy instead?". I sold the 90 thinking i should sort the P38 out, and now i'm thinking "yeah but should i sort the P38?" I do like driving it, and with a fresh engine that had a bit more zing would definitely improve the car quite a bit. I will admit i saw a cheap 2 grand L322 on ebay recently and thought "hmm!" However i suspect realistically an L322 is liekly to be just as much of a money pit.

Theres also the fact that its approaching the age where if i AM going to spend a lot of money sorting it out, i should probably get the chassis cleaned up and protected. Because while its not bad, its 25 years old.