Looks like at least one of the heads has been off before. It may have been swapped or it may just be that they cleaned the rockers on one head but not the other. That might explain why the dirtier one of the two appears to have a slight leak, someone just did one side. That would also explain why the inlet manifold bolts weren't all torqued up the same amount.

But, as you say, so far so good. See what I mean about being able to get to the mating faces of the water pump when everything else is out of the way?

I've seen it in RAVE somewhere but I can't find it now either. You have to push the glass one way and lift the opposite side. So you would carefully lever the glass towards the car and the outer edge should pop out of it's clips, OR, you carefully lever the glass away from the car and the other side pops out. Hopefully someone that has done it more recently than me will be able to tell you......

Nah, screwed together by Land Rover Special Vehicles, they build them properly.

j_rov wrote:

Thanks as always (you must be on here all day!!!)

Laptop is permanently logged in and I just refresh whenever I walk past it. Been a bit remiss today, been out to buy a kitchen for a Buy to Let we're buying, watched F1 qualifying, watched HRH Phil's funeral, went outside, masked up and finished painting a speedboat and now waiting for dinner to cook......

Try reverse flushing the rad and check the thermostat. It may well be clogged especially if, as Symes says, someone has mixed antifreeze types or put gloop in it for whatever reason (I've known people put K Seal in a cooling system when tightening a Jubilee clip would have stopped the leak). It has to be filled properly so there's no air in there or it will spit it all out.

And, 4.6 V8.... none of that derv muck...

(ducks for cover)

You can share my dugout if you like......

Pictures weren't showing initially until I edited the links, should be OK now.

Easy enough to test the heaters, put your meter on the Ohms scale and see if you have a low resistance between the two pins on each plug. Backrest rarely fails but the base often does as people will insist on sitting on it and breaking the element. Swapping the cover is not a fun job, see https://web.archive.org/web/20180513085246/http://www.rangerovers.net/repairdetails/seats/seatheat4.html

Bleed the air out, plug up the hole and see if it starts to seriously pressurise. With the cooling system open it will overflow due to thermal expansion and probably an air lock. What does it run like when it is running? All 8 or does it misfire? Does it idle smoothly? Any tapping noises which would suggest a liner. Pull the plugs and do a compression test to see if any are down. Mayo may be front cover or may just be condensation due to lack of use.

This assumes it's a V8 and not an oil burner. If the latter I've no idea, never had anything to do with them.

They are popular in the US for some reason, maybe they were standard fitment on some models over there.

Ah, I meant retain your backrest and use the new bases as usually it is the base that is worn out but the backrest is OK. However, as they are different colours that isn't an option. Looks like you need bypass resistors then.

SRS is in the backrest only so you could mix and match, using the existing backrests and new bases. Or just get some bypass resistors to plug into the wiring so the SRS system thinks they are still there https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113954336789

SRS on pre-99 model needs to be reset with diagnostics after you've cleared the fault. Later ones cleared as soon as the fault was removed, early ones didn't.

I think different models came with different wheels as standard, and that would have varied by market too, although most of the other styles were available as an option. Part number for the Mondial wheel is ANR4274 which is listed on LRCat as from TA to VA, so from introduction to 97 MY, although it also shows it as RRC115410MNH which was from XA, 99 MY, onwards.

If it's dropping that much and equally on every corner, it must still be self levelling even though it shouldn't with a door open. Try pulling fuse 44 or the timer relay which will kill the power to the ECU. I would think there's a leak on one corner still so it is dropping the other 3 to the same height. You can use the Nano to check the inputs to the EAS and it should show if the system is inhibited if a door is open but maybe yours doesn't have this feature being a pre-production model?

If the front right still has a leak, my money would be on the very thin O ring around the solenoid base. At least the solenoid for that corner is one of the top ones so you can lift the solenoid coil off and spray the actual valve with your water and fairy liquid mix and look for bubbles.

It'll have got in through the breather on the top. Get a bit of washer pipe, bend it to a U shape and fit it on so the open end is pointing downwards. Then you will be able to drive through fords (and over some of the smaller Fords) without filling it full of water.

How did you get an OE water pump for £52? OE not listed and genuine is £200! https://www.lrdirect.com/STC4378-Water-Pump-Rr-4.0-4.6-V8-Efi-94-O/?keep_https=yes

That's from LRDirect, but from JLR it's slightly cheaper https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.com/stc4378-pump-assembly-engine-coolant.html

It's one of those you get what you pay for. You can buy the cheapest and get rubbish or you buy genuine and pay through the nose for it. I normally go for OEM, which will be supplied through another reseller (Bearmach, Allmakes and sometimes Britpart, etc).

dave3d wrote:

There are also 3 hard foam rubber blocks glued to the roof. One has come off and needs glueing on again.

Rubber blocks are the least trouble. Not long after I got my car I went round a corner a bit hard and heard something slide and go clunk. Dropping the headlining at the back I found a lump of 2" x 2" timber floating around there. There were holes in the headlining about level with the back of the front seats where I assume plod had fitted a cage and the bit of wood was there so they had something to screw it to. It was only later when I took the headlining out to retrim it that I found about a mile of additional cable and 6 chopped off aerial bases.

I've heard the same. Since they were taken over, the new owners are working hard to reverse the Sh*tpart reputation. It'll take a while though and I still wouldn't trust them for some things. It's very easy to get a bad reputation and far harder to get rid of it.

1. If it hasn't blown a head gasket and you are just replacing them as a precaution, then slacken off the head bolts in reverse order to tightening sequence and check with a straight edge. Check lengthways and diagonally to make sure they are flat and clean the faces up with fine wet and dry (800 grit). Do the same on the block face.
2. Unless there is any wear in the rockers, leave them well alone, mine are the originals after 6 times the mileage on your engine. If you were going to renew the tappets, then you'd also ideally need to replace the camshaft as they will wear to each other. So again, unless there is wear, leave them. If you take them out, and there isn't really any need to, make sure they go back in the same place. Same goes for the pushrods, keep them in order so they go back where they came from.
3. Water pump. Particularly on a car that has done such low mileage that would suggest it has been standing around a lot so the tension on the belt can cause the bearing and seal to be loaded one way. Always worth changing anyway but it doesn't necessarily have to be done at the same time as the heads although while the other gubbins is out of the way (alternator, AC compressor, PAS pump, etc), it's a lot easier to clean up the mating surface. Get an Airtex pump as they seem to be the best out there and not that expensive either.
4. I don't think there's a lot to choose between different valley gaskets. I always put a thin smear of blue Hylomar around the waterways at the ends of the heads. Not sure if it's really needed to it can't do any harm and will help it seal better.
5. Get one of the old head bolts and put a lengthwise slit along the thread. You can then screw that into each hole so it cleans the thread and also forces out any oil or coolant which will invariably have dribbled into the hole. The last thing you want is a liquid in the hole causing a hydraulic lock when you put the studs in. With the ARP studs, don't try fitting them to the block and then trying to slide the heads on as you will almost certainly scratch the head face when trying to get it on. Fitting one along the top centre, makes lining it up on the block until it meets the dowel pegs at each end. Once the head is in place then screw the studs in. No need for them to be more than hand tight. The hex in the end is an Imperial size too (I had to go out and buy a set of Imperial Allen keys when I did mine). Oil the washers, put them on then the nuts and start to torque them down. Follow the tightening sequence and go 40 ft/lb, 50ft/lb and finally 65 ft/lb. Job done.

Unfortunately that link no longer works, however, how to get brutal with a door latch is here https://web.archive.org/web/20180521032803/http://www.rangerovers.net/repairdetails/doors/doorlocks.html

If your latch has the 6+1 connections, 2 plugs, a 6 way and a 1 way on flying leads, an MGTF drivers door latch is the same except the visible plastic bit is white and not black and the 1 way plug has an additional grey wire in it that the P38 doesn't use. How about https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MGTF-1-6-115-DRIVER-DOOR-LOCK-LATCH-KEY-LOCKING-New-Genuine-FQJ000080PMA/112279424895, half the price of a P38 one.

That would explain why all the white ones stayed attached to the door trim when I took it off on the Vogue. Normally half of them stay stuck in the door and have to be pulled out and fitted back onto the studs (which are black on both my cars) in the trim.

I've got a mix of black, blue, green and red, while the later (2001) Vogue I'm half owner of has white, so maybe the white ones were used on later cars? They don't seem to be as prone to breaking as the others.