It's strange how we all seem to have gravitated to the P38. My first car was a Citroen Bijou, a Citroen UK designed and built plastic body on a 2CV floor and mechanics, that was followed by an ID19 Safari and after that a further 4 assorted DS models, culminating in a DS23EFi Pallas. All of them had the semi auto gearbox. Having watched the DS's rot away before my eyes, I went upmarket and bought a CX2000, followed by a CX2400 Safari only to discover that they rotted away just as quickly so went completely off piste with a Matra Bagheera.....

I've never quite recovered from the 'why buy something reliable when you can have something where making it to your destination is a bonus' mentality as I still own, just for the hell of it, a Maserati Biturbo Spider.

After swapping a known good valve block from one car to another I found that it didn't work. Squirted the big connector with contact cleaner, reconnected and everything started to work perfectly.

No, the ones Island sell are Dunlop so are the decent ones (even at only 50 quid a corner), it's the aftermarket ones that are crap. Having just looked though, it looks like you'd have difficulty buying anything other than genuine Dunlop, even eBay sellers are flogging the real thing. Not sure where the pair I fitted to the rear of mine came from when I first got it, but I never did get the nearside one to seal properly and they were both worn out and leaking within 40,000 miles.

I'm sure you'll have some somewhere. My tin looks like it's been kicked around the world at least twice and must be at least 20 years old but it's still just over half full. As it's safe to use on rubber, at least if it's meant to be used on brake seals, it must be safe to use on rubber, I use it on hoses, petrol injector seals and anything else rubbery.

Mace, changing the matrix involves either removing the complete heater unit or cutting bits of steel that get in the way to stop you from sliding it out and then having to somehow re-attach them. Changing the O rings is pretty simple (I've done it 3 times now on different cars and the last time took me 25 minutes) and worthwhile whereas changing the matrix is a only when it needs it job (in my opinion).

Maybe, but where it shows the most recent post, it definitely said that the most recent was in the Renewed Interior Filters thread by George B but there were no new posts in any threads at that time.

My first Range Rover was a '93 Classic LSE, the long wheelbase version with the 4.2 litre V8, bought from a mate of a mate. It was already running on LPG and would do around 14mpg giving the cost equivalent of around 28-30 mpg. The guy I bought it from replaced it with a 2.5DHSE P38. His wife loved it as everything insignificant (heater, electric windows, central locking, heated seats, etc) worked, which after the LSE where none of the above did, was considered by her to be a great step forward. He hated it. Compared with the LSE it was totally gutless so he thrashed it mercilessly to try to get something like the same performance as he was used to. As a result, the best he ever managed was 24 mpg so not only was it slower but cost more to run too. He now runs a Land Cruiser Amazon 4.7 litre on LPG.......

I usually use the red brake seal grease (known round here as raspberry jam grease) on new hoses so they slip on nice and easily.

Checking it is easy enough it you have a Nanocom or similar, if you don't you need one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RANGE-ROVER-MKII-MK2-P38a-EAS-AIR-SUSPENSION-DIAGNOSTIC-FAULT-CODE-RESET-UK-/122229266441 (and, if you don't have an old computer with a serial port, a USB to serial adapter too if you don't already have one). I would suspect you have a dodgy height sensor so it is constantly trying to get the height correct. It woulod be a hell of a leak to empty the reservoir overnight.

I've also had new Dunlops come in Britpart boxes, I think they supply their own knock offs but will supply the real thing if that's what you ask for. Their cheap versions only have a single O ring in them so hardly ever seal properly.

It looked to me like George posted in the dirty pollen filters thread and either deleted the post or it didn't save for some reason. It then showed that there were unread posts with one from George as the most recent but when you looked at the thread, there was no additional posts there, not from George or anyone. It's almost like there is an unread post but it is hidden so we can't read it so it remains unread.

So the historic oozing could be from then and the reason why they were changed in 2011. Originals are only £3 so I can't see anyone trying to make an extra bit of profit on the parts......

I'd bung a pair of O rings in it while it's apart and do the Audi core change in 10 years time when they start to leak.

Not Range Rovers, they are too new (and complex). It started about 6 or 7 years ago in conjunction with a couple of friends in France as they also drive on the right so LHD was ideal. One (the one who has just acquired a P38) was visiting his son who was working in LA and noticed that old 50's and 60's Yanks could be bought very cheaply. He called the other friend in France to ask how easy it would be to register a car from the US in France. It is impossible as the French insist on an EU Certificate of Conformity which none of them have as they are too old and the scheme didn't start until the early 90's (and the cars were never destined for the EU in the first place). So he phoned me and asked the same question. Here, all that is needed to register a car is that it passes our MoT test and the older the car, the less stringent the test. There is no emissions test, seatbelt check, etc at all for anything before a certain year and pre-1964 they can retain the white front, red rear indicators and not have to have them changed for amber ones. So, yes, no problem at all to register them here. So he bought a 1957 Lincoln and arranged for it to be shipped to the UK.

I picked it up from the docks a few weeks later, did enough to get it to pass the MoT test (in that case it needed two new track rod ends and the windscreen washers made to work) and registered it in the UK. With UK registration it is fairly straightforward to transfer to French registration or any other EU country for that matter (at the moment, what will happen when we are no longer EU we don't know yet). He then flew over, bought a machine polisher and did what he does best (cosmetics) and drove it back to the south of France. Once there it was realised that it was worth over twice what he had paid for it so the business side of it started. His son would find the cars, ship them to me in the UK, I would get them through the MoT and registered, put them on a trailer behind the P38 and take them to France (which is how I came to be running a P38 in the first place). Once there they got the cosmetics done and were then sold to France, Germany, Holland, Monaco, Italy or wherever.

After about 8 or 9 big old Yanks, his son was offered a 1958 Austin Healey so we bought that and since then it has been all older European stuff like Healeys, E Type Jags, Triumph TRs, a couple of Volvo P1800s (rocketing in value over here but still cheap in the US) and an early SL Merc. There's also been a few Harleys and Triumph Bonnevilles just to fill a bit of container space. The old stuff is easy enough to work on, cars from the dry States don't have any rust but we learnt that nothing appears to be done properly in the US after buying a couple of 'fully restored' cars and finding they needed stripping totally and doing properly. Hence I wouldn't even consider buying something as complex as a P38 from the States. As well as everything else that that would need doing to a P38, everything that had already been done would need to be done again too!

It's all good fun, lets me play with old cars and gives me an excuse to do the odd 2,000 mile round trip with a few days in the South of France in the middle but it doesn't always go according to plan. In July last year I picked up a series 3, V12 E Type roadster from the docks. Got it MoT'd and registered here and then trailered it to France in the middle of August. It had the big ugly rubber bumpers replaced with European spec ones, given a good polish and was then advertised throughout Europe for sale. It was bought by a man that lives no more than 2 miles from me so in December I had to go down again to bring the thing back! It did more miles on a trailer behind my P38 in 5 months than it had under it's own power in the last 5 years.

Vancer wrote:

My 02 RR has not had all the electrical gremlins I've read about, Richard.

I wasn't referring to electrical gremlins but the numerous fault codes and illuminating Check Engine lamp that US cars throw up. I've run mine with TPS, MAF, IAV, knock sensors and lambda sensors disconnected (not all at the same time obviously) and have never seen the Check Engine lamp. There's a lot of mentions in RAVE about certain faults bringing on the lamp but only on US spec cars, not on the others.

The SAI system is another thing that you get and we don't (along with post cat lambda sensors, we only have pre-cat ones). As I mentioned, it was fitted on a lot of UK built cars made for the US market (MG and Triumph particularly) where we take it off and blank off the holes in the cylinder heads. The MGs, using the BL B series engine also have a lower compression ratio while Jaguars have Stromberg carbs instead of SUs.

When you are driving it around, it will constantly level itself so any leaks won't be apparent, it'll only drop when left parked. If you leave it parked overnight with the EAS timer relay removed (under the LH front seat and can be got at from the rear footwell) and it still drops, then you have a leak. With the relay in it wakes up every 4 hours or so and drops 3 corners to match the height of the lowest one so even if you only have one corner leaking, it'll still end up on the bumpstops. If you have no leaks at the air springs (although if they are over 5 years old (5 weeks if Britpart) it is quite likely they could do with being replaced anyway) or where the pipes go into the valve block, then it is likely that the valve block needs the O rings replacing.

It's better to plumb the reducer in series with the heater matrix than in parallel and using Tees. Very easy on a GEMS but a bit more difficult on a Thor. 20/16/20 will do the job nicely if you leave it in parallel.

If the pipe is straight but needs to go round a corner, is it possible to cut it and put a bend in it? Or just join the two broken ends of your original pipe with a short piece of hose or a solid piece of pipe that will fit over the original and JB Weld it on?

If this is a hose that is part of the secondary air injection (SAI) system, it is only fitted to US market cars so we don't get it over here. My only experience with SAI systems is ripping it off cars that I've imported from the US and plugging the holes in the heads. From reading the description in RAVE (section 17, Emission Control, page 14), it appears that it only does anything on a cold start so as a temporary measure I can't see anything stopping you from simply plugging each end of the pipe where you've broken it. It might bring up a error code or two but from what I understand, US cars do that every time the wind changes direction.

Looking at the parts list, there appears to only be one part number for the pipe, the same for all cars after XA series VIN (1999) so no idea why you have found two different ones.

Blackbox solutions Nanocom Evolution, to give the Nano it's full title is about as close as you can get to Testbook. It will do the engine, gearbox, ABS, SRS, EAS, HEVAC and BeCM. The price you pay (currently £365 as Blackbox Solutions, while run by an Englishman, is based in Cyprus so the price has gone up with the fall in the value of the pound) gives you a choice of either GEMS (which you have), Thor or diesel but if you ever upgrade, from GEMS to Thor for instance, you just buy the licence (another £51) for the additional engine. All other features are the same so a GEMS Nano will still work with the other systems on a Thor or diesel it just won't communicate with the engine.

Not sure which it is, the Lynx I think, is cheaper (but going on Clive's comments above, not as good) but is VIN locked so will only work on one car unlike the Nano that will work on any P38.

I bet the L322s they are seeing are diesel ones. The petrol has a ZF gearbox like the P38 (5HP24 instead of our 4HP24) but the diesel one has a GM box that is scrap after 100,000 miles at best. Yet another reason not to buy a diesel......