Well, I went to a large very smooth car park and really gave it a listen.
Noise does increase when swerving lightly. Curiously, it was much worse with the 18 inch alloys than the
16 inch steel wheels from Bolt. Same type of Yoko tyres.......
I concluded that it is most likely a wheel bearing.
Found a left and right set for a very good price from "Bear Bones" parts in UK.
They show them to be Allmakes boxed.
With freight and customs they were less than half the price of a single one here.
We shall see what comes out of the box......
Since hubs are so easy to swap, I figured it could not hurt to do a hand grenade style repair.
At 120k miles, they should not be knackered, but you never know.
Still going to attack the transfer case bearing as soon as it gets here.
Thanks for the confirmation that it can be done in situ.

Pete12345 wrote:

Front bearing & seal can be done without removing the whole transfer box. Prop & flange off. support the gearbox & remove crossmember. Then you can unbolt the VCU housing & do the bearing change on the bench.

It's covered in RAVE TC Overhaul section.

Thanks for the confirmation Pete.
I am still sorting out my 3 old Windoze 7 machines here which I finally caved in and installed Linux on
I nearly have Rave running again.... Nearly, so I can't check it myself at the moment.
IT mate coming by tho, so maybe today!
Wheel bearing is still on the list, but since this sounds like a bad u joint where the sound doesn't change from
Full power to coasting down hill, I am still thinking bearing.
Will try attaching small tube in a strategic place underneath and have a listen today.

2002 with 120k miles on the clock
I continue to run through the 02 Borego here and knock off the various minor issues.
The last thing I am chasing is a rhythmic rotational growling noise that manifests between 30 and 50 mph. I think its always there, It is just loudest between those speeds
I have replaced the Ujoints as a matter of policy on any P38 I get, and confirm those are good. I seriously suspected a bad tire or 2 as the sound is exactly
what you would get from a bad tread. Tires are new Yokohama Geolandars, which I have always used and never got a noisy one. I eliminated that by taking
all 4 tires and wheels off of Bolt and swapping them to the Borego. New tires from Borego smooth as silk on Bolt and the vibration is still there on Borego.
Wheel bearings feel very good when jacked up and twisted and torqued in all directions with a breaker bar. No play and smooth rotation.
Diff fluid was changed on both when I got it, and it came out crystal clear with no shavings on the drain plug magnet.
This leaves me with CV joints, but again, no noise and smooth when rotated .
As I was under there this evening checking the Ujoints again, I noticed a bit of slop in the transfer case forward output shaft bearing......
I think this may be the source of the noise. Anyone have other suggestions, I am glad to hear them.
So, looking at it, it appears that it can be removed from the transfer case without dropping the whole thing?
Has anyone done this to replace bearing or shaft seal? I have done a transfer case R&R in the past, so not intimidated, but I am now older and lazier, so
if it can be avoided, that would be great!

Thanks for that!
I have purchased the repair and will be posting the fob tomorrow.
Appreciate the information, as there appear to be a good number of copycats on sleezebay.

Aloha,
I need to send off one of my fobs for repair. Bad switches, it seems.
Just wondering who / where is the current favourite service centre?
I had a look on Ebay, and there are a large number of identical looking ads.......I know Gilbert has recommended someone recently, but my
search super powers seem to have failed me when I tried to find the link to the Ebay guy.
Cheers!

Thanks for the feedback.
I won't bin the "bad" controller until I have done the pin re tensioning procedure on the plugs and re testing it.
It was much easier and quicker to swap in a known good part to confirm that I was on the right track.
As it was late afternoon, the shed was also getting hot and the last thing I felt like doing was
Chasing down an intermittent electrical issue!
As for the dropping to access, I was watching the nano during the short time it stays connected after ignition switch off
and it showed the numbers rapidly dropping to match the access height settings.
If the RR had no real pressure in it, it would appear to be heading to access when it was just matching the lowest corner, as it is supposed to.......

I have had very good luck with the EAS on all of the P-38s I have owned, so I guess I was due for this one!

Been having a hard time getting the eas calibrated on the Borrego. I have blocks, and did a calibration last month.
After a few minor tweaks, I got it spot on! Perfect at all 4 corners.Then, a week later after just being parked in the shed, it wasn't anymore.
Now the left side comes radically up, and Rt side goes down in about the same proportion.
I just calibrated again, with blocks.Here is what I get after calibration:
Extended:
FL Target: 130 FL Actual 146
FR Target 134 FR Actual 125
RL Target 126 RL Actual 145
RR Target 123 RR Actual 102

Standard:
FL Target 107 FL Actual 119
FR Target 109 FR Actual 97
RL Target 107 RL Actual 123
RR Target 104 RR Actual 87

Highway:
FL Target 89 FL Actual 96
FR Target 91 FR Actual 79
RL Target 96 RL Actual 94
RR Target 92 RR Actual 70

These numbers are consistent +/- a couple of points when input into 3 different EAS ECUs
All 3 ECUs exhibit the same behaviour when the observed values for calibration are saved into them.
I have confirmed all 4 sensors are in good shape and plugs are clean.
I have cleaned and re tightened the ground points related to EAS on LF fender.
I have cleaned the plug and mating sockets of all 3 EAS controllers
I have 4 new Dunlop bags.
I have replaced, then did a left right swap of the rear sensors. No difference
The plug in the RH kick panel is clean (Hmm, Better go check the left side...)

As a new bonus feature, it now also levels itself after shutting it off and closing the door.....
It goes straight to access height!
Over the years, I have had various P-38s occasionally but rarely come up with one side MUCH higher after they had sat for several months and EAS had leaked down. Cycling the EAS up and down, or driving them always cleared things up.

SOLVED: It was a bad driver pack. It was not operating the RR valve even though the EAS ECU was sending the 12v signal, so basically the 3 other corners were dragging it along. Found it by operating the valves with Nano and listening carefully. RR would operate about 1% of the time when commanded to open.
Replaced with one from the parts cupboard, and it is now riding precisely where it is programmed to.
Very strange set of symptoms for a pretty simple problem. I now have a solid EAS!
Now for the Air Con slow leak......

Aloha Marty,
Welcome back, if only briefly.....
We have certainly missed having your experience and knowledge on tap here (pun intended) at the pub!
I have a couple of questions that I am sure you can answer off the top of your head.......
First, I am trying to bring a couple of Valeo fan speed controllers back from the full speed all the time mode.
I have a handful of the Darlington transistors as used on the factory units and have repaired a couple.
Question is: How do you test the speed controllers short of plugging one into the vehicle? is there a pwm value that
is applied to wire or wires?
Next oddity on these controllers is the small disc in a recess in the casting, under the board which has a spring
loaded claw as a contact to the board? On the Valeo units, this appears to be a scintered metal of some
sort, but on the Chinese pattern parts, it is a punched aliminium slug? What's up with that??
Incidentally, I have yet to find a pattern controller that has worked!
Comparing the boards, they appear to be a very different circuit!
Next question is easier......Which wire on the HVAC controller do you apply voltage (Pwm signal?) to, to activate the backlight for the LCD? I got 4 of them going for mine and a friends in Hawaii with the zebra strips you sent!
Just curious on the back light for future repairs.
Thanks again!
Any help appreciated.
Cheers,
Tom

That makes a lot of sense. V8 Developments knows these motors.
I will be adding one procedure that makes sense to me.
It is recommended by ARP to get every speck of oil off of the spots around the bolt holes.
Then, scrupulosity removing any oil residue from the washers.
Put washer in place, insert stud just snug, then oil stud and nut.
This way, the washer will not spin on the alloy, but will allow the nut to do all the work against the washer.
Logical.
Valve stem seals in, valves cleaned, gaskets in place. I'm going for it!

What's the latest wisdom?
(If it's important, I am using Elring gaskets.)

I am ready to re install the skimmed heads on the 02, and have found old discussions here that say 65 Ft/Lbs is good.
70 ft pounds may or may not be better....
Atlantic British video for stud install says 85 Ft Pounds
annnnd the instructions on Lucky8 website, which shows an ARP document give the final torque as 100 ft Pounds!!

I note that the block is helicoiled, so don't expect to pull anything out, but 100? Really??

I am now paralised by indecision, so any help appreciated.
Failing that, I will probably straddle the fence and go 75

Sadly, our only fastener shop did not survive Covid.......Metric flange heads are very thin on the ground.
I will keep looking, but am not optimistic.
Great idea for the U joints, will get the bolts and have them on hand for the next time I have to do them.
Just finished the 4 on Borrego a week before I discovered exhaust leak, so too late there!

Thanks for the offer. I did find the correct part number, and rebuilt an controller.
Then I discovered that both fans were working, so I have not installed and tested my rebuilt one yet.
Will do so and if it now works I will post the repair here with part numbers etc.
There are some surface mount components under a blob of sealant on the board that I have not checked.
Hopefully the issue is not there.

In the end, I pulled both heads. No issues getting to any of the bolts.
I did find that I needed to put a 3 ft pipe on my breaker bar to pop the head bolts loose......EXCEPT
the 2 rear head bolts on the RH side......Just adjacent to the spot where the gasket blew through!
Those come out too easily!
I can only conclude that the last person to do the gaskets, which I have reason to believe was the factory,
did not properly torque them!
No damage or erosion of the block or head in the blow through spot! Yea!!
Off to the machine shop this morning to see if i need skimming or not.
If I need the job done, is there a ratio to use when doing the heads as to how much should come off the intake manifold?
I understand it can make life easier when lining up gaskets on reassembly if the intake is addressed?

I have been searching for a while this morning and have drawn a blank.
As I am digging down to the heads on the Borrego, removing the accessories and brackets,
I have been dutifully labeling, and cleaning all the fasteners.
Most of them have a bit of corrosion on them and a few have compromised heads, so since they are out, good time to replace them!
Thing is, I don't see any offerings for a full set of bolts, etc?
Anyone know where they can be had?
I suspect that getting them individually would double the cost of the parts for this job.

So, P38 not enough of a challenge?
Remember, when it comes to ownership of Rangies, "There are no victims, only volunteers"
No worries tho', we will all be here to assist you on the path to perdition!

Never again.........I like the sound of that!
I will be ordering the gaskets today.
Now to do the tear down.
Good thing I have 2 spares to drive!

Thanks!
What makes an Elring gasket better? Just curious....
I was thinking water pump, but it has only 60k miles on it , I think....
Running very well and strong prior to this. Everything is original and working! (on all 3 of my current stable!)
Seems to have been looked after pretty well.I believe I am caretaker #4.

Well, after owning 9 P-38s I have finally struck one with a bad head gasket. The latest Borrego.
Just started pufffing out the side. Ironically, in the shop just as I finished repairing and re gassing air con so I was listening out for odd noises.
I was hoping it was manifold but that would be too easy!
So, it's heads off and do what is needed......At least I finally have a well lit shop with a solid floor now.
The question at this point is which gasket set is recommended? There is a bewildering selection out there with prices all over the place!
I already know, from years of reading about this, that I will be wanting ARP studs rather than stretch bolts.
Also, whilst the heads are off, and all the top end bits are off, what else is a must do?
Engine has 122k miles on it........
Oh, yea, I am assuming I would be wise to do both sides, not just the one that is leaking??
Any guidance here will be much appreciated!
Cheers,
Tom

Just confirmed that a RH latch for an LH drive is P/N FQJ103280
and a RH latch for an RH drive is P/N FQJ 103220
So, not apparently cross compatible.
I may just buy an LH MG latch if they still have them on blow out sale, and swap the micro switches.

Well, that would be logical, however they cannot be swapped L to R. (Logic does not equate to RR)
Drivers lock has to interface with the key, and Passenger lock also controls the tailgate button.
Now that I think about it.......Is the fuel filler on the RH or LH side on a RHD Rangie??
It is on the RH side on my Classic in Oz, and it's on the RH side on a LHD P38.....

So, does the passenger side latch have the rear hatch wiring for the button on a RHD P38?
I bet Gilbert knows, and the sorely missed Marty would certainly know!