Morat

Mention of the Grom reminded me that, back in 2012, I wanted to link up my iPod (the original hard disk one) to the radio and bought a box made by a firm called Connects2 to give an axillary input. Which I discovered I still had hiding at the back of the bench. Unfortunately the supplier didn't include proper instructions or all the leads. By the time I'd tracked down Connects2, sorted out what was missing and got the extra adapter lead enthusiasm had waned so it sat on the bench steadily being buried by all the other not got time for ideas.

You are welcome to it. PM me your address and I'll drop it in jiffy bag to post up if you fancy giving it a try. I still don't know if it works tho'. Constructional quality didn't exactly inspire me and there is fair bit of wire to find homes for. The enclosed instructions seriously lower the bar for Ikea style but sub Ikea quality. Difficult when, basically, you have only 4 connectors to plug in but they managed. I have some E-Mail correspondence with the Connects2 support folk dated September 2012 which may make things clearer when the radio is out. I never did find out how you actually selected the axillary input. I suspect it replaces the CD player.

Connects2 are still around and list the P38 as an application for the CTTLR001 "Land Rover ISO T-Harness for Amplified Vehicles. Handsfree mute interface for amplified vehicles. Allows phone call/music audio to be output through 4 speakers"

see https://connects2.com/Product/ProductItem/CTTLR001 for website details.

Looks like a metric boatload of wires and its not clear exactly what it does beyond linking a hands free phone kit to the main audio system.

Clive

Morat

Alpine in the 2001 I think. Used to be an outfit that could fit one for you for a significant price but they seem to have disappeared. I did find a DIY half guide on how to do it, basically pictures of where the wire goes, but never took it further. Nowadays I reckon that the only futzing around with auto et al is getting one of the Android tablet screens.

As I understand it the issues are finding the right place to tap into the audio system and fooling the system into accepting the line in as a valid source. I think the DIY method basically disabled the cassette system and fools the electronics into using the line in instead. Probably just a dummy cassette and disconnected motor power.

Clive

Interesting comments on safety of space savers here https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/31947/are-space-savers-safe . The idea of a temporary tyre being good for 80 mph is slightly worrying. Especially as you still have the short life issue.

Not surprised by the poor performance of the run flat tyres. Sidewall compliance has a massive influence on how a tyre grips and how the vehicle handles. A run flat effectively doesn't have a sidewall so it pretty much has to be worse. That particular objection goes right back to the original Dunlop (Denovo?) days. Seems to have been waffled around ever since.

From an engineering perspective what really worries me about spacesavers is the age issue. If its been used how much of the 50 safe(ish?) miles life is left. If its not been used and ahs been sitting in the back of a car for a decade or more just how good is it. Tyres do age. Officially a space saver should be changed after use but how many folk do. More £££ for apparently nowt.

Given the hefty tyres on a P38, how much of an issue are punctures for us anyway?

Clive

Looks wonderful compared to the one I took out of mine half decade ago.

I cheated and wound a new spring myself. Actually 2 new ones so I have a spare (somewhere!). Quicker than chasing around finding where to buy one and having to take the switch all out again to fit it.

Clive

I'm in Crowborough which is close to you. But I'm chasing a handling issue myself so trying mine isn't a perfect comparison. But he goes well!

Got a Nanocom (and Lynx) so would be easy enough to to do a diagnostic check.

Up in Scotland next week, back Saturday. Pretty much anytime after would work. Retired old fart so usually available.

Clive

Plenty of grease on the tap usually collects the swarf in a satisfactory manner. I'm surprised Helicoil don't offer form taps for this sort of job. No swarf. Dunno about collecting the tang. Allegedly magnetising the end of the tool helps.

Potential tang collection issues is why I use Wurth Timeserts rather than helicoils as these are solid bushes with both internal and outside threads expanded into place by the insertion tool. More expensive and theoretically capable of coming loose at high temperatures in aluminium due to differential expansion between the steel bush and alloy. A Helicoil being basically a spring is said to follow the expansion. I've never had any issues and think the analysis is over simple.

Clive

Air springs are complicated. I have an inch and a half thick textbook somewhere that barely scratches the surface.

Anyway mine is on standard Dunlop airbags about 20,000 miles old so they should still be behaving fine. What I don't understand is why it has started behaving as if the springing is too soft. Looking back it started misbehaving about 1,000 - 1,500 miles ago and has steadily got worse. Putting the stiffer Bilstein dampers on has done pretty much what I'd expect from trying to control over soft suspension on a steel sprung car by uprating dampers instead of springs.

No leaks. It stays up for over a week when parked and pretty much never takes more than a few seconds to sort itself out ready to drive off regardless of load. Unless I park in just the wrong place with the left hand front wheel in an annoying dip perfectly matched to the tyre radius.

Clive

Got the full set of yellow Bilsteins from Paddock. Including the steering damper. With a couple or three hundred miles on the clock preliminary assessment is that they are stiffer than what came off and more progressive. Damping increase with larger suspension movements is noticeably more aggressive than standard.

Which may annoy the living daylights out of me when I finally get things sorted.

Its still not right. Stiffer damping seems to be covering up the underlying problem.

If it were conventional car with metal springs I'd say the symptoms point to worn out way too soft springs. But I don't think that's possible on a P38 as spring rate is effectively set by the pressure in the air bags which in turn is defined by the ride height. Way I see it so long as the car can hit and maintain the right ride height there must be enough pressure in the bags. Certainly my three amigos are behaving just fine and waving the tape measure around between arch and wheel centres suggest its about right. A little high perhaps on standard, maybe 1/4 - 3/8", but I'll sort that next time I can get on Mikes nice level barn floor. Best part of my drive puts a canter wise tilt of about 1" across the car so I guess thats close enough for the spacers to work just fine. But its so much easier to play with spacers with a chassis lift instead of futzing with a jack doing one at a time.

Steering isn't happy either. Seems to have picked up a bit of play in the system and car doesn't wan't to run dead true. Time to get my steering box rebuilt so I know I have a decent one fitted instead of that second hand one of unknown history. Local(ish) land Rover guy can get it done for £350. Lot more than the E-Bay exchange mob but it will be the full monty not a wash'n seal jobbie. If I'm going that far hafta wonder if it makes sense to dump a fat £100 into an OEM steering shaft too. I know I tend to dump more money into new parts than most folk but at least then I'm pretty sure it will be right.

Clive

I'm surprised that folk are only getting 3 or so years useful life from a battery. Mine is over 6 years old and still working fine despite lots of standing around and charge ups "when I think about it". Dunno what brand it is. Just whatever the local independent tyre & exhaust place was selling back then as a decent mid range choice.

Don't think I've ever put two batteries on a car but as I've had the P38 since 2011 it may be the first.

Clive

Are we sure these are for vehicle applications?

Various makes show ---31MF as a leisure battery (whatever that means) where --- is the makers letter code. Lucas version is LX31MF. Quite a few of the usual mail order suspects list it.

Link here https://advancedbatterysupplies.co.uk/news/2012/04/what-is-the-difference-between-a-car-battery-and-a-leisure-battery/ purports to explain the difference but the electrochemistry sounds suspect to me.

Clive

Gilbertd wrote:

I've got a Garmin sat nav that comes with free lifetime map and speed camera updates and also has the capability of connecting a wireless reversing camera. You have to use the genuine Garmin camera kit which costs as much again as the sat nav but works perfectly. If powered from the reversing light feed, as soon as you select reverse the display shows what the camera can see.

Garmin have an online one day "30 th birthday" 30% off sale today, 18 th September 2019, ending just shy of midnight. The BTC30 back up camera kit is down from £135 to £94.50. So if anyone intends to get one might be an idea to go online and get it today.

Not much there, mostly smart watches and fitness stuff but there are couple of car sat navs and the motorcycle (Zumo) ones listed too. I've just got a Zumo for the bikes which comes with a car mount kit so might get a camera too and I use it in the car as my old one is running out of map space.

Clive

Glad its all sorted.

Clive

Spoke to Paul Johnson, near Crawley, Sussex. He has a 4.6 GEMs already out of the car. 118,000 miles with full service history. Says it ran nicely. No alternator but everything else is there. About £600.

Clive

He's knocked $8,000 off.

Down to $47,000 now. Still outrageous. Despite the E-Bay notification excitement over such a big drop.

Clive

Mine has been rock steady Eddie in the middle of the gauge when sat in the mid afternoon 8 mile queue for the Dartford crossing for an hour / hour and a half at a time this summer. The gas had gotten low in the air con system last Monday causing it to down tools about 15 minutes in so no help from the electric fans for about an hour of crawling but the gauge still stayed steady.

Recent Airtex water pump but still same radiator as when I bought the car. Factory type but if original or a replacement I know not.

Clive

Glad to hear that the Monroes are good.

However after (too much!) mimbling I've decided to go for a set of Bilstiens from Paddock. Twice the price of Monroes but half the price of genuine Land Rover parts. With any luck I shall be able to report back on how they do in a week or so.

Clive

no10chris wrote:

romanrob wrote:

you can get Dave on catch-up. End of Day 1, beep beep beep, engine immobilised - hilarious

Gotta love these idiots that think every car you can just unplug things and it will still run, lol

Rule one of reality show, use people who don't know what the" beep" they are doing. And, preferably, too thick to learn.

Clive

Darned if I can find anything fundamentally wrong so, working on the premise that if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck it is a duck I guess my set of OEM Boge shocks have clapped out in 15,000 road miles. Not good. Especially as they came with Land Rover part numbers.

So what to change them for. Paying the Green Oval tax for factory replacements come out at around £500 a set delivered! OEM Boge like I had before is around £110 a set once front & rear pairs have been tracked down. In retrospect far too close to Britpart prices for confidence in quality. OEM or not I'm beginning to think these are just plain old basic oil units so two tons of P38 is overworking them more than a bit.

Monroe and Woodhead gas shocks claim to be OEM too and are around £200 to £250 a set.

Paddock have Bilstein B6 Yellow monotube gas shocks at around £300 a set which is pretty attractive as being about half list. But its not completely clear if these are road or off road shocks as the same part number appears in both sections. Checking on the Bilstien site the true off road versions carry different numbers so those probably are road optimised.

My steering damper is clearly getting old and must be changed soon and Paddock also have the Bilstein steering damper for £70 odd delivered, which is about the same as Genuine, I'm tempted to add a splash of yellow underneath. OK so called OEM Armstrong steering dampers are about half the price but, right now, I'm not that confident that the OEM tag really means proper quality.

What does the team think.

Clive

Her ladyship has decided that a Mercedes E350 estate will be her next car and keeps bombarding me with look-at-this bargain on CarGurus E-mails.

As a sanity check I looked at P38 prices. Not many but two seriously optimistic standouts were:-

1998 4.6 Limited Edition (which?) with 54,000 miles on the clock for £12,000 and a fiver change

2002 4.6 Vogue with 24,500 miles on the clock for £20,000 and a fiver change.

!! ???

Makes the up to £10,000 ish Japanese imports seem almost sensible.

Clive

Waterless coolant is pretty much snake oil when it comes to pressurised cooling systems. Its a less efficient coolant and requires much greater temperature changes to extract any given amount of heat.

With a pressurised water based cooling system you can arrange things so that most of the heat energy being taken out of the engine goes into trying to boil the water against the pressure head. As the energy needed to change the state of water from liquid to vapour is large a lot of heat can be absorbed without much change in coolant temperature. Which makes it much easier to keep the whole engine temperature stable. Theoretical ideal is for the hot coolant entering the radiator to have not quite enough energy to boil against the pressure head and the coolant leaving the radiator to be just a fraction below boiling point at that pressure. In a real system you make sure you have some margin but the temperature can be much more stable than with waterless coolant where any heat extracted from the engine goes directly into changing the coolant temperature.

The raison d'etre of waterless coolant is its much higher boiling point than unpressurised water. So it works pretty well in a crude, unpressurised or low pressure motor with a big cooling system and lots of metal in the block. A big metal block makes an effective heat sink smoothing out temperature variations between cold and hot ends. Lots of coolant rushing round allows the heat to be taken up without too much difference between hot and cold ends. But its still hard to arrange a nice smooth temperature gradient from the bottom of the block, where the coolant enters, up to the head where it leaves. With conventional coolant passage layout having water inlet and outlet at the same end of the motor with longitudinal galleries in block and head joined by vertical passages its very easy to have a short circuited system where the back end of the engine runs dangerously hotter than the front.

For all sorts of reasons our alloy V8 engines don't do well with internal temperature variations so are intrinsically unsuited to waterless coolants. It's a big cooling system so you can get away with it if you don't push too hard or in racing where high power, and high heat, normally goes with high speed so plenty of airflow over the radiator and in the engine compartment to help keep stuff cool. A modern motor designed for waterless coolant will have a rather different coolant passage layout.

Finally, unpleasant though boiling is with steam flying everywhere, it is very effective at pulling a lot of heat out of the motor very quickly. Just need to ensure coolant flow is continuous and all the passages are full to keep drawing the heat out. Much easier said than done. Which is why steam cooling where the coolant turns to vapour inside the motor has never been made to work reliably despite being much more efficient and needing far less coolant than a conventional system.

As usual there are darn good reasons for the conventional fuddy duddy engineering approach. You have to work hard to come up with something that is all round better.

Clive