I noticed that, any visible smoke is a fail. About time too......

Thanks to Dave for posting that the CPS is similar to that used on a Mini. For the last few weeks I've been helping a mate who's wife has a P reg Mini as a weekend toy. It hasn't been running right for a while but it was mainly a hesitation when you opened the throttle and it seemed to get worse as it got hot. It's one of the later ones with MEMS single point fuel injection and everyone was blaming that. It had been running OK until there was a leak from the throttle body heater so that was bypassed but as it also houses the coolant temperature sensor for the injection the thermostat housing was drilled and tapped and the sensor moved to there. As it got worse when hot, we concluded this was the problem and it wasn't detecting that it was hot. Testing the sender resistance hot and cold showed that was OK, as was the wiring to the ECU. There's naff all information on the injected Mini about but I found a forum thread where vacuum leaks were being blamed for rough running. Checked those and found one had melted into two on the exhaust and others had split ends. Ordered a complete set, fitted them and while the idle was nice and smooth and with a meter on the lambda sensor we could see it responding correctly as soon as the throttle was opened, lambda went fully rich and it still ran like a dog. The more we touched it the worse it seemed to get, even taking the air filter off and putting it back on made it even worse. This was starting to make no sense at all.

Then Dave posted about using a Mini CPS and I started to think. This thing was showing the exact same symptoms as a P38 does when it is failing but it hadn't even occurred to me that it would have one. Checked and found it hides underneath the starter motor so phoned my mate last night. An hour later he sent me a picture of a CPS with a bent tip and a liberal coating of metal filings. Looks like we've found the problem. having had everything from the inlet manifold outwards off, stripped, cleaned, made sure there's no air leaks, new vacuum pipes, new fuel filter, checked the fuel rail pressure and even tried a new ignition coil, it was nothing to do with any of them. Once MiniSpares deliver a new CPS it should go like the clappers! As long as the reluctor ring hasn't been damaged that is.

It does come on with errors but only if they are serious ones likely to cause damage, minor ones don't bring it on. Unlike the US spec ones that come on if someone farts within 100m and it detects the unburnt methane.

Even a Range Rover Classic going back to 1988 has an EML (Engine Management Light), CEL (Check Engine Light) or MIL (Malfunction Indicator Light) depending on what you want to call it, so that isn't a problem. The only time it doesn't light is when the BeCM and EMC have lost sync and it isn't going to start then so it couldn't be tested anyway.

As it is one of the few things that can stop a car dead in it's tracks, I replaced mine when the rebuilt engine went in about 60,000 miles ago. The old one was still working fine and I keep it in the boot just in case. The one I got was a Lucas too but from Island 4x4. However, there are 3 different ones, up to '97 (early GEMS), '98 (later GEMS) and from '99 onwards (Thor). The early one and the Thor one both have a flying lead with a plug on the end whereas the later GEMS just has a socket on the sensor itself. No idea which option the BL Mini, Metro, etc uses.

Blue was recommended for GEMS but OAT for Thor. I don't think anything changed just that OAT wasn't available when the GEMS came out. I don't think the type of anti freeze in use has any real affect, the plastic pipe just goes brittle with age and multiple hot/cold cycles. Replacing the whole run with silicon hose is the best solution. Don't do as many have done and use fuel hose. It may be readily available in the right size but goes almost solid very quickly as it isn't intended to have hot water flowing through it.

hugh wrote:

Decided not to flog my Freelander TD4 just yet, so have had it sorned - ya' never know what's round the corner

With a P38 you certainly don't. I kept my Classic for nearly 3 years after I got the P38. For the first 6 months or so I didn't trust it as far as I could throw it. It never actually left me stranded but I chickened out of using it for two European trips taking the Classic instead. But, the more you use it, the more confidence you'll get in it.

+1 on crank sensor. Try dumping cold water on it when it starts playing up and see if that makes any difference. When they are failing, dying when hot is the first sign.

That's odd. Normally if the MAF is dead or disconnected they are a bitch to start and run really rough.

If it's the same with the MAF unplugged, then that could point to the MAF. Are you sure you haven't got an iffy connection? Although my MAF plug hasn't suffered, a couple of the others had wires that had broken where they go into the plug. I carved the plastic away and soldered the ends of the wires directly to the back of the terminal. That could explain the apparent appetite for MAF sensors if there's a dodgy connection and it works for a while after you've disturbed it.

Throttle position sensor......

It'll go into a default open loop mixture when it detects problems with a lambda sensor which will be richer than it should be. No idea how much richer though although I would expect something in the region of 10-20%. As the LPG system slaves off the petrol system, a rich mixture on petrol will give a correspondingly rich mixture on LPG.

Yup, he's right. Click on Portal and it says you need a plug in to configure. Looks like something has been left half done when the last update was done.

Dunno, as long as it didn't have a roof. Sort of P38 sports car really......

There used to be a guy around here with a Defender pickup with a V8 that sounded far from standard and looked pretty good (painted in sliver with a chrome roll bar behind the cab and a 110 litre LPG cylinder in the back). I've thought that a 110 pickup body on a P38 chassis could be fun. I'd keep the EAS and as much of the P38 niceties too.

Welcome. I nearly contacted you over there by PM under my assumed name (I got banned for life under this one and never did get an explanation why) but it was me that gave you the info on the different types of Alpine stereo. I've only ever owned V8s and had heard all the stories about how gutless the diesels are. Having now worked on one (but not the engine, I don't touch diesel engines) and driven it, they are different. They rev much higher before changing up and while they can keep up with the flow of traffic, they'll never win any drag races. Once up to cruising speed, it's still a P38 with all the nicer bits.

A background in electronics helps with a P38 but the ability to diagnose things in a logical way is just as important.

Sodium Silicate is the leak sealing ingredient in Steel Seal and does work under certain circumstances, a slight weep around a liner would be one of those circumstances. It turns into a solid, almost like glass but stays as a liquid in the coolant so shouldn't clog a radiator or heater matrix. A small quantity is present in some brands of anti freeze even. Cheapest way of buying it is as a liquid like here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/500ml-Water-glass-Sodium-silicate-liquid-glass/140726670858 and you know that is all you are using and not Sodium Silicate with other additives to 'improve' it.

But, I'm more inclined to think along the lines of a dodgy plug.

If the pipes exit through the centre of the wheel well like mine, then he's fitted a single hole toroidal tank which has the inlet and outlet in the centre. This is the standard install on most cars. As it has a gas tight lid and a vent out of the bottom, you can't take the pipes up and out the top. A 4 hole tank has the connections on the outside of the tank so could come out of the side of the wheel well. There's nothing to stop you putting a skid over the pipes to protect them though.

I assume you'll be back at work soon. Then you'll have Flogas just down the road so you can fill up at 54p a litre. I assume Simon fitted a 4 hole tank so the pipes can come out of the side of the wheel well and not out of the bottom (like mine) where they can get clouted when you go off roading?

There have been cheap Chinese copy of NGK plugs reported and there's something about the base of that plug that doesn't look quite right. Apart from anything else it appears to say Made in France on it and it seems these aren't genuine NGK. See http://hyundaicoupeclub.co.uk/engine-wheels-brakes-suspension/where-find-genuine-ngk-spark-plugs-t24689.html