any ideas on the axle damper bashing the sump? Can i just remove it?
Thanks guys, I guess those are the only bushes still original! So kinda makes sense. And yeah I meant the harmonic balancer thingy. Any ideas on why that might be interfering and/or downsides of simply removing it?
Noticed the last few times i drove the P38 that it was acting a little oddly. Its hard to describe, but its related to road camber and unevenness i think.
Essentially you'll be driving along, and suddenly it will pull to one side meaning you need to apply a bit of counter steer. Then just as suddenly it can "flip" to the other side, and you need to steer back the other way. Its all very slight, and i suspect the steering input is exaggerated due to the steering boxes typical dead zone.
Since i've had the car i've replaced most of the front suspension, it had new shocks, new steering damper, new tie rod and track rod, new balljoints and a new wheel bearing. Panhard rod bushes have been replaced, and its also had a replacement UJ on the steering column.
It just doesnt feel particularly sure footed, and often you feel your weaving the steering wheel around like some 1960's Routemaster on a comedy TV sketch.
Most of the time its most noticable round town and on more twisty roads. It'll generally sit quite happily on the motorway at 70+ without issue. Town driving is usually OK but the odd bit of uneven road can upset it. A twisty back road can be verging towards scary at times.
Perhaps related, perhaps not, but when i was under it the other day fitting the new CPS, i noticed the steering damper on the front axle seems to have been bashing the sump. Theres a clean area and all the oil and dirt has rubbed off, so its clearly a recent thing too. That suggests the axle is not staying central, yet thats the job of the panhard rod and its freshly rebushed...
Any ideas?
yeh i tried that menu and it seemed to work fine flicking from 12v to GND when i turned the key. One of the other inputs was being a bit odd though.
From memory there was right central locking switch and left central locking switch, then something like door latch unlock, door latch lock.
The door latch ones were working, but the CDL switches just seemed to say GND all the time.
Ah well, i'll wait until the econoseal shell turns up and sort the latch out, and then try again!
I bought myself a remote filter from Marty and decided to install it today. I also have a new door latch, which i havent fitted yet due to a missing connector that i'm waiting on coming.
So i tried fitting the filter today and havent had much luck. The remote isnt currently paired, and the RF module was disconnected to stop the usual battery drain issues. I plugged the new box in and reconnected the receiver, and tried to pair the key using the "turn it in the lock and press buttons" approach. It didnt seem to work.
So i figured i would disconnect the new filter, and just connect the receiver in its normal way and try pairing. That also didnt seem to work.
I dug out the nanocom, and opened up the RF menu, and it stated "The BECM has not received a valid radio code". I cleared it and tried pressing the buttons to see if it would change, but it just continued saying the same thing. I dont know if its supposed to update and show a code etc though.
Any idea whats going on? Theres a possibility that the remote pairing isnt working due to the dodgy door lock, it was locking and unlocking mostly fine when i tried, but the latch is iffy and intermittent so maybe thats affecting things, but the BECM saying it hasnt recieved a radio code seems strange?
Maybe try BMW's realoem catalog and see if they list it against one of their models?
Thanks for the idea, but when it did this it was running on LPG and switching between LPG and petrol made no difference.
Everything points to a loss of crank signal. I just need to try and ascertain if it was just a poor quality sensor, or if something has damaged it.
Fired it up this morning and sure enough, runs perfectly when cold. Just need to wait on the new sensor now!
yeh, there was no obvious signs of contact on the tip the last time, but i'll certainly check it closely this time around.
I guess if i just creep the engine round with a bar while inspecting in thru the hole i should be able to see any oddness?
Thinking back carefully, the first sensor i fitted when i took ownership didnt actually fix the issue it was having back then. Things were a little less clear.
The previous owner had issues with it cutting out after 10minutes or so, once the engine warmed up. The story i got was a garage had installed a new crank sensor, that that fixed it, but it had broken again some period of time later. The guy had taken it back to the garage, and the garage had said that the new crank sensor had failed due to the oil leaking from a leaky rear crank seal, and that fixing it would require the engine to come out, and the seals replacing. Thus he parked it for a few years then sold it cheap.
So the first thing i did was simply install a new sensor. I figured that the oil story was probably bullshit, and even if not, a new sensor would at least get it working as a proof of concept and get it thru an MOT. When i pulled out the old sensor, it had next to no oil on it at all. But since i was in there i installed the new one anyway, it was a Lucas boxed one, from ebay, but i realise now Lucas doesnt exist and its clearly just a sticker on some junk.
However that infact didnt cure the issue, and when it got warm it still died on its arse. It also wouldnt run at all once it got hot, rather than the RPM related issue i get now. I eventually traced the fault to the MAF replaced that with a good used one, and issue solved. I then did a year and a half on that Lucas sensor with no issues, until its MOT this year in March. It failed its MOT on some balljoints and another bad MAF causing crazy CO readings.
Got all the balljoints sorted out and stuck another MAF on it, and it passed the MOT, then on its maiden voyage with a fresh ticket it died just like it did this time around.
Eventually traced it to the crank sensor back then and bought a bearmach one which claimed to be OEM, which sorted it. That one now appears to have failed after about 6 months.
So i guess the reluctor deserves some inspection, i just dont know how much can be seen without removing the flywheel?
Ok some further reading and i think it cant be the flex plate thats causing it. The reluctor for the CPS is fitted to the back of a flywheel which has the starter ring gear. The flex plate is a seperate piece that bolts onto the other side of the flywheel.
So hopefully a nice genuine sensor will sort it.
Given the fact the tacho signal dropped out, and then was flickering all over the shop with the throttle shut and just coasting along at 60mph leads me to point the finger at the crank sensor just like last time.
The last time it also did the characteristic running perfect when cold and going pete tong when warm, that crank sensors often exhibit. I'll need to fire it up later when its completely cooled down and see if it also repeats that symptom.
Could a cracked flex plate damage the crank sensor? I know these can suffer from the flex plate cracking...
I've ordered a new old stock LDV crank sensor from ebay which will hopefully work with the V8 spacer fitted. Half the price of a genuine landrover one, but hopefully actually genuine rather than the tat thats being sold as OEM...
This is the third or fourth crank sensor this car will have had. The previous owner fitted one, which was doing the characteristic "dying after 10minutes" thing when i bought the car. I fitted a "Lucas" one from ebay, which looked exactly the same as the cheapo one the previous guy had fitted. That one lasted a year, before it broke again in May this year. I fitted a "Bearmach OEM" one in May and thats now failed again. They're all the same cheap shit though, so fingers crossed its simply just cheap garbage failing, rather than something else.
Back in may i had an issue with the crank sensor. The engine would idle fine, but wouldnt rev at all, you could coax it upto 1500rpm, and any more it would start popping and farting. Got a new crank sensor, fitted it, problem solved.
The old thread is here:
https://rangerovers.pub/topic/930-strange-missfire-undrivable-when-warm-hot
Fast forward 6 months, its just done the same thing. Pulled onto the local dual carriageway, gave it full beans upto 70mph, and when i lifted and settled to a cruise it started bucking and the RPM needle dropped to 0. It flicked back up to normal RPM a few times and power returned, then dropped out again etc. Managed to pull off the road and stopped in a layby. As before, it idled perfectly. This time any throttle input at all would cause it to start spluttering popping and belching smoke. Just like last time, but at a lower RPM.
I managed to drive it home at 5mph by just letting it idle along on the torque converter.
So my first thaught was simply "these aftermarket sensors are fkn shit, i should just go buy a genuine landrover one..."
However when digging that old thread out i realised something. Both this time and the previous time, the thing has failed immediately after a full throttle high RPM blast up the same duallie. The previous time it died a bit further down the road right enough, after i'd turned off the duallie and was back on the local road. Which got me thinking, could high RPM's somehow be related? I mean clearly its not the first time in 6 months its been at max RPM, it gets full beans a reasonable amount, but it certainly got me wondering!
Thoughts?
After watching a few vids and seeing the switches arent remotely drop in, i think a refurb unit is the way to go! Good intentions suggests i'll buy all the bits and then it'll sit for months until it locks me out again :P Whereas a refurb latch i can fit quickly with minimal hassle.
Marty i'll ping you a message and will get an RF filter box from you at the same time.
Cheers
Kev
Thanks for the update Marty.
Given the regularity of the faults, i can see theres not a huge deal of sense in buying another used one and just bolting it on.
That leaves me with four options as i see it (excluding £200 for a new genuine one)...
I quite like the idea of the LHD MGTF latch, especially if the motors are hard to get and failure prone, as a refurbished one (by myself or marty etc) is always got that hanging over it. But i dont really know whats involved in swapping the parts. Theres also something to be said for a minimal effort of simply bolting in a new/refurbished part!
Does anyone have details on the actual switches needed so i can have a bit of a price up?
Cheers
Fair enough. His website just suggests hes not doing them any more as hes run out of parts and people arent returning the old bits etc:
http://p38webshop.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=60
Hence looking into the other options.
My lease car goes back in a few months, and the rangey will go from occasional use third car, to frequent use 2nd car for a while at least, so i'm hoping i can get thru some of the more niggly issues and get them sorted out.
Filter box looks like a nice solution, and i presume means we can keep the crappy old first gen units? A method of coding in other keys as well would be an ultimate solution though!
I will try the 2025+2032 battery trick, i'm sure i have some of those around anyway.
Soo, the P38 has been laid up for a bit with a knackered exhaust. Finally got it sorted last week, and took it to work last Wednesday. All good, till i went to go home, and it did a repeat of the "harry potter incident". (Shortly after buying the P38 we drove it to the harry potter thing in Watford (from scotland), and after spending many hours there and leaving the place at 10pm, the bloody thing wouldnt unlock, i didnt have a clue what was going on (nor had the EKA code) and left the wife slightly pissed off!)
I avoid using the remote, because the copy battery door is a very loose fit, and often turns a bit while in my pocket, resulting in the key code being reset. Furthermore, the car has the crappy old battery-flattener reciever, which i was using for a while with the ariel unplugged and eventually just unplugged the whole thing to save any hassle. As a secondary point i would really like a working second key/remote, has anyone got to the bottom of that yet?
However in the two years i've had it, it has occasionally done this unresponsive thing and its usually fixed simply by unlocking and relocking it, and sure enough on wednesday that did infact work, albeit after a few goes. Used it on saturday with no problems. Today however it was booked into the exhaust place again for some rectification work (one tiny silencer is insufficient! :P) and same thing happened again. Except this time, no amount of turning the key was making any difference. I pulled the battery, reconnected, tried key again, nothing, tried EKA, nothing.
After much pissing around i took the door card off, and unplugged the lock, got the meter and belled out the wires. From what i could see everything worked. The only question mark was the "key turned" switch didnt work first time i tried, but then started working immediately after. Maybe a bad connection on the meter leads, not 100% sure. I plugged it all back in, reconnected the battery, and unlocked the door, and normal operation was resumed.
Clearly, i need to fix this properly!
Theres much chat about refurb latches from Marty, but his website suggests those are no longer available. Theres also some recent chat about MGTF parts, but i'm not actually clear on what needs done. Hopefully someone can tell me what the best approach is...
If i buy a RH LHD MGTF latch, i presume it fits the P38 door, but does not have the third microswitch that the P38 requires? Can this microswitch be sourced easily? Anyone have a part number for a suitable microswitch? Or am i better just fitting new switches to the P38 latch? The idea of getting a whole new shiney latch certainly appeals.
I would also like to sort the door handle. The handle itself is loose, and has the usual sticking stuff going on, so i guess i will pull it apart and try and sort all that out at the same time.
Lastly, can anyone think of any other issue that might be at play here?
Cheers Guys
One thing to remember when considering tuning a RV8, is that unlike a modern engine, they dont age particularly well.
The camshafts and valvetrain tend to wear out which reduces engine power gradually over time without you really noticing.
So actually, the gains of sticking in (for instance) a upgraded camshaft are twofold, you get the original claimed 5 or 10% boost, but also regain the missing 10-20% due to the original camshaft having turned itself round. Now clearly most of the gains actually came from the replacement of worn out bits, but the costs of upgrading the cam when your replacing it anyway are fairly small, so you might as well.
The real issue is once you start, where do you stop. The valves will be leaky, so you'll want the heads off and a valve job done, and while your there you might as well port them, the compression on the cylinders will be iffy, and if your stripping the block to hone or re-ring, you will probably start considering top hat liners. You end up going down the route of a complete engine rebuild which you'll sink about 5 grand into.
Its something i've been struggling with on mine for a while. I dont particularly like the rover engine, and mines suffers all the above issues along with hopeless fuel consumption and a good thirst for oil as well. The idea of pouring 5 grand into it is something that i just couldnt deal with. I'd rather spend the 5 grand on an LS conversion or similar.
i guess just check the centrebore is at least bigger than stock.
Personally, i wouldnt be spending money on wheels just to scrap it. Either get someone with a HIAB to lift it from your drive, or roll it onto the trailer with the existing wheels then jack it and remove them.
That side had a new bearing at the same time as all the balljoint work. The other bearing felt fine so i left it.
I guess i should check the bearing for play!
Seal was tapped in gently with a large socket.
One of the collets was rusted solid, but the other one, i think on this side, went loose when i removed the balljoint. I was careful not to turn it, but i do remember thinking "thats a bit wobbly" and realising it was actually in two parts, which i guess wedge out against the thread when the balljoint is tightened.
As i happens i had an interesting arguement with my MOT tester last week...
They failed my A4 for having a non-functional Engine management light.
It doesnt have one. Theres a bulb position on the dashboard, but A4's built before 2001 simply didnt have it connected in the European market. No idea why, but they're all like that and theres not even any wiring between the cluster and ECU. Many pre-2001 VAG models are similar.
However they've recently added the check for a working EML to the MOT, and the test has no provision for saying "it doesnt have one". It simply assumes all cars have one and that it will work.
He phoned VOSA, who just sorta shrugged and said "we've seen it before with a VW but not an Audi". He then phoned Audi, who insisted the car should have a management light (clearly main dealers with no clue about >18year old models!).
In the end i ended up printing out the wiring diagram for my car, and also for a 2001 model, which clearly showed the 2001 car had the bulb and wiring shown, and my car had nothing which was enough to satisfy him and he passed it. But your average joe isnt going to have that sort of info available to convince the tester, clearly these changes havent been fully considered!