There's a thin tube, same size as the leak offs, connected to the egr, pull it off and the egr valve can't open to allow oil fumes into the inlet. That's it!.
If the mot is a worry, stuff something up the tube to block it and refit it.

I'm retired too but the wife isn't so I have to take her to work.

Shropshire, it was doing it when it was cool (5am start) and when it was hot on the same day. Stuff does play up on mine when it's cold and even stops working altogether when it's freezing like the front door interior lamp micro switches and the book pops up more frequently too when it's freezing but they all sort themselves out when cab or ambient temp rises. I'm hoping that the 2nd replacement pot on the rhs blend has finally fixed the book coming on when it's cooler.
All my book issues have been with that one until this distribution oddity. It was 6 degrees at 5am earlier this week, no book, 21 degrees midday and still no book. Maybe a foreign something got stuck in the external gear wheels and it's now fell out...dunno.
I do come across bits of crumbly headliner foam that went all over the dash top when I removed the liner for a recover occasionally.

Well...in good 'old p38 fashion, the fault has not reappeared since I posted!

I know exactly what you mean.
I used countersunk bolts in stainless which just about give enough clearance for the body coloured trims to go back on.
It's been 3 yrs since I did mine and I can't remember specifics of the job just bits and bobs. I remember replacing the 4(?) Bolts holding the side extensions with ss too.
There are clips top and bottom which must be fitted, especially the top ones, to hold the skin tight to the steel to stop the lower tailgate rubbing when it's opened. I had to make new mounting points for the rear bumper and weld them in , horrible job which meant lots of trial fitting to get right. My extensions were in good nick though.
My bumper was also badly bent down on the top face rhs, God knows how that happened, but that took hours to straighten out. Front bumper top face was bent up and wedged tight to the headlamp trim, also taking ages to straighten out.. back to the rear bumper...I 'think' I had to counter sink the plastic slightly to get the counter sunk hex drive bolt to sit a little lower so the trim would go back on but can't be sure now.

That's very useful Ta.

I did spray the blend motor pivots when I had that out with silicon spray. Never had the distribution motor out, its always the rhs blend that's given me trouble. I'll pull it to bits when I've more time and lube it up, ta.

I've had no book symbol up for a month or two now after changing the pot on the rhs blend. Last two mornings have flagged the book up after the self test and it defaults to screen only which makes sense from a safety point I guess, I cannot change air direction.
However, after the brief journey to work and starting her up again a few hours later when coming home....no book symbol and everything is well again.
Why would a fault exist first start every morning but not on the 2nd ,3rd,4th etc of that day? Ambient temp is fairly constant so heater box 'tightness' being my first thought, seems unlikely.

Recently plugged into a friends 38 to check his blend motor and his fan doesn't come on.
Nothing appears amiss, everything works 100% so I'll pretend it's just a p38 'thing' or I'll never sleep at night!

Never used to do this but now it does, engine not running, checking blend motors with the nano and that fan runs continuously while I'm plugged in.
Weird. It's not the ac fan. No faults logged, in fact, for the first time in 3 yrs ownership EVERYTHING works as it should lol! Just curious as it's never done it before.

Roger that, ta.

Gilbertd wrote:

The ones I use are from Mouser Electronics, Mouser part number 531-PT15GV02103A22ES (https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/Amphenol-Piher/PT15GV02-103A2020-E-S?qs=DPoM0jnrROVsaSbOUHWyTQ%3D%3D). One problem I found and it may be that you have the same, is that they are not quite as tall as the original ones, so it is possible for the gear to ride up the spindle so it no longer meshes. My solution for this is to put a couple of small plastic washers (from some bits left over from assembling a desktop computer for my step-daughter) on the spindle so it can't rise up and become disconnected.

I'm not 100% clear on this. Washers on top of the white gear that meshes with the pot gear , yeah?

Ha!, yes I had that a couple of weeks back, stuck on hot in a heatwave. Nano said rh blend pot fault but I'd only replaced that around 18 months maybe 2 years ago, motor ran fine but was noisy, got a couple of used units so swopped the motor but still the same fault so used a pot from the same unit I nicked the motor off and its been great since(touching my wood rimmed steering wheel...).

He has reassembled everything, unknown to me, and has lost interest for now investigating further. I'm sorta glad as its waaaay to hot to fiddle.

Or stick his hvac in mine you possibly mean.?

Use my hvac in his? Yes, I could, I don't think it would be an issue but I'll mention it to you anyway....mine is dhse so has heated screen and seats, his does not have those features being a bit poverty spec, liklihood of stuffing up my hvac is low? Or non existent?
I'm quite chuffed after 3 yrs of ownership that I've got everything working as it should, cd player, heated seats, sound system, ac,heated screen, heated mirrors, sub woofer, eas, switch pack, sunroof and all the rain water leaks sealed. Would hate to pop my hvac swopping it, which reminds me that's had a bulb kit,replacement screen and zebra strip too. Lol!

I had a spare pot so we tested that with the dmm and got consistent readings so soldered that in and.....its still the same! Percentages on the nano do not alter at all, bit of a let down. We can hear the motors and flaps move even when using the temp button on the hvac, same with the nano.
Had to knock it on the head for today. I'm thinking maybe the board that the motor etc is soldered to may be faulty, the cable is damaged somewhere, the hvac multiplug has an issue or even the hvac has a fault?
What would be the next logical move?
BTW, the fault won't clear with nano. Tried cycling the ignition too.

Okey dokey, do the arrows line up as original?
Contact cleaner didn't work unfortunately, we've tested it with a dmm as that's all we've got and it's showing a noticeable dead spot, still giving a reading but it doesn't alter in that 'dead spot'.

Cheers Richard, we replaced that pot last year? and I replaced one on my car maybe the year before. Mine failed just recently again and it looks like his has as well, both pots came from the same source but were free from a fellow p38 owner who had sold up. I suspect they are cheap rubbish and we had to fit them 90 degrees out from the arrow to get the full sweep too. Have you got a source for decent replacements at all?
I fixed mine by swopping the cheap pot for a used unknown but original one and that's been fine for a few weeks now.

At least I think that's what the nano said. Right hand blend motor on a friends 38 btw, forced it with nano and the percentages don't alter but fine testing the left hand blend at all percentages. We can hear the motor working though on both. Removing it and testing the motor with a 9v battery and all is good, no gears stripped either.
The board looks good too and as the nano doesn't give a potometer fault I'm assuming that is good. The cable going to the multiplug on the back of the hvac looks perfect too. He does have a spare set of unknown motors complete off a scrapper which we will fit later today(just the one, cut, solder, shrink wrap). Hopefully that will fix it and get the book off unless there is something we have overlooked! We are both a bit green on 38s but learning slowly lol!