Providing you get the right gearbox, one from a similar age GEMS, it is a straight swap. The ECU is the same, it detects engine load, and hence when changes should happen, from the MAF sensor so it doesn't need a different ECU. The only other difference is the spacer behind the flex plate is thinner on the 4.6 to move the flex plate closer to the flywheel to give room for the larger torque converter so that has to be swapped over. It's convenient that I'm being supplied with the 4.6 one with the gearbox.

StrangeRover wrote:

LPGC I removed it because the tank was corroded through in the bottom.

You should have asked, I've got a rust free 90 litre toroidal tank here you could have. No idea of the date on it but I removed it, and the whole system, before selling a car for spares.

StrangeRover wrote:

HSE's were the upper most spec in V8 world before the Vogue most if not all had electric seats cruise control and the HK sound system,

I seem to recall yours has the painted lower valance on the bumper?

That's right, it has electric memory heated seats, cruise control, HK sound, sunroof, headlamp washwipe, front fogs as well as the body colour lower valance. However, it also has the 2000 spec clear front indicators and later rear light clusters so they have been changed at some point in its life so the valance could have been painted then too.

I suspect all that will show is that it is basically HSE spec. Quite what the options were for a 1996 HSE I have no idea but it seems to have most, if not all of them.

This is what DVSA say if you do an MoT check....

I was under the impression that it was all new builds from sometime this year had to have an EV charge point, no idea if it has been pushed back or not. I like new builds with good insulation, I'm installing AC systems in peoples new build houses as it gets too hot in the bedrooms as soon as the sun comes out.....

It's certainly getting that way in some areas of the country I'll admit. I'm lucky with a Flogas depot and 4 filling stations within 8 miles of me. You could always get a pump and fill up from 47kg bottles.it used to work out more expensive than a filing station but doesn't these days.

No problem at all on the Continent where more stations are appearing all the time. I even suggested moving to Belgium, cheap and plentiful LPG stations, good quality chocolate and decent beer, what more can a bloke ask for?

So far so good. Whacked the Ascot in for MoT and came away without even any advisories so at least I have practical transport for the time being (as I discovered yesterday, a Mercedes SLK280 isn't the ideal vehicle to load all the kit I need to install an AC system into). Got started on pulling bits off mine before rain stopped play. Flex plate isn't broken and still looks perfect from what I can see looking through the inspection hole. Both propshafts are disconnected as is the handbrake cable and the electrical connections. So next step is downpipes and crossmember before I can start on the gearbox itself. New flexplate (Ashcrofts heavy duty one) will be here on Monday, gearbox should be here Wednesday but LRDirect haven't given me an arrival day for the rear main oil seal yet. Bit of a bugger really as I could do with that before everything else. Realised why RAVE doesn't tell you to remove the crossmember on a petrol too. It tells you to remove the exhaust downpipes and refers you to the relevant section, then it says on diesel vehicles only, remove the crossmember. On a petrol it tells you to remove the crossmember in the downpipe removal section but you don't need to if you have a diesel.

One interesting thing that came out of the Ascot MoT though. The V5 shows it to be a Range Rover HSE Auto and there has been a bit of a discussion in the past as a limited edition P38 called the Ascot doesn't seem to exist. The assumption has always been that it is an HSE and someone has put an Ascot badge on it. The badge is very similar, but not exactly the same, to that fitted on a Rover 100 Ascot. However, according to the DVSA record when the VIN is put into their database, it comes back as a Land Rover, Range Rover Ascot SE 4.6L 5 door Auto Estate. So maybe I do have an extremely rare limited edition?

85 quid!!?? What size tank have you got?

If the cheap Chinese bulbs keep blowing, one option would be to replace them with LED ones. You need to get ones that are shown as Canbus compatible with a resistor to stop false bulb blown messages.

P38 doesn't need it, the valves and seats are hard enough to not suffer. Now you've got a Supercharged Sport, the Jag engine you have definitely does need it. Somewhere under the bonnet you should have a reservoir for the fluid.

Dave checked and I'm getting a box from a 98 GEMS 4.6 that had only done 80k miles so will be a straight swap for mine. The very early, up to around '96 were the longer ones. There's other difference with the Thor box too.

I thought maybe flex plate but if that was the case it wouldn't drive and pull away almost normally then gradually lose drive over a distance of 100 yards or so. When it was dropped of the recovery truck outside the house I was able to drive it off the road and into the working space. With a flex plate I would expect no drive at all and that wouldn't give a fault code either I wouldn't have thought. I'll pull the cover off the lower part of the flywheel later and have a look.

Good call on the oil cooler, I better get one ordered.

Looking at RAVE it's all pretty straightforward to drop it out other than it being heavy and bulky to manhandle. Fortunately my neighbour is a recently retired workshop manager for Nene Overland, a Land Rover approved independent and I've been told that as long as there is a constant supply of beer, he'll be out there under it with me. What I find amusing is that RAVE tells you to take the crossmember off but only on the diesel, not on the petrol. So how do you drop the gearbox out if the crossmember that runs underneath it is still there?

In the UK it's a technical term spelt phuqued.

From the clattering I suspect the torque converter has broken up internally. It's too much of a 'tinny' sound to be gearbox internals.

Broke it.......

Had a 70 mile round trip to do today and about 10 miles from home on the way back it suddenly felt like it had developed a slight, uneven, misfire. Switched over from LPG to petrol and no different so figured I might have an ignition coil on the way out. Pulled up at a roundabout and the idle was perfectly smooth. Everything seemed quite normal until the traffic lights changed and I put my foot on the throttle. It pulled away but only just, rev counter leaping between 1,500 and 4,000 rpm and accelerating very slowly. Got round the roundabout and pulled onto the hard shoulder. Plugged in the Nanocom and found it showing Lockup Solenoid Failure for the gearbox. Cleared the fault, restarted the engine, put it in Drive and it pulled away normally. Drove fine for all of 200 yards then started to lose drive again so I got it off the dual carriageway to somewhere I could investigate further. Gearbox fluid level seemed about normal, no fluid pouring out from underneath anywhere, so figured it was time to call the AA.

Man came out, told him the problem and he started the engine. Sitting in the car I hadn't been able to hear it but standing next to it I could hear a metallic, rattling, clattering noise coming from the area of the gearbox. AA man agreed that the gearbox was toast and arranged a recovery truck.

A couple of people have told me that the 4HP22 gearbox fitted to the 4.0 litre petrol and diesel isn't that good and have suggested fitting the stronger 4HP24 from a 4.6. I must admit that with the amount of towing I do I have been considering doing a swap for a while but you know how it is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well now it is broke so needs to be fixed and I can confirm that the lifespan of a 4HP22 is 454,185 miles. A quick phone call to Dave Morris at East Coast 4x4 and there's a 4HP24 from a sub-100,000 mile 4.6 on it's way to me, an order to Ashcroft's for a heavy duty flex plate and another to LRDirect for an engine rear main oil seal which I may as well change while I'm under there as it has been leaking about a quarter litre of oil every 1,000 miles for a while now. Car is already up in the air and I'll start stripping it while waiting for the replacement gearbox to arrive. Unfortunately the MoT on the Ascot ran out a month ago so that is booked in for first thing Saturday morning so hopefully I'll be able to use that in the interim.

The one part of the hose that doesn't perish and split is the bit under the dash, probably because it doesn't get exposed to the same amount of heat as the section under the bonnet. Rather than risk breaking the brake pedal switch or it's mounting, I've cut the pipe about 6 inches from the switch, used a joiner and fitted new pipe from there. All you are doing then is dealing with getting the pipe through the grommet.

I think the Germans have realised that people don't tend to want to recharge at services unless they really have to. One thing I noticed a couple of weeks ago when I drove to Sweden and back is that virtually every filling station in Germany has LPG, quite a high number also have CNG, a couple have H2 and some even have EV charging points! Best one I saw was in the Netherlands, LPG, CNG, H2 and EV charging, no petrol or diesel at all. Just goes to show how much better other European countries are. According to mylpg.eu, UK has just over 550 LPG filling stations, compared with almost 7000 in Germany. Even a tiny country like the Netherlands has 1130, around twice the number we have, and they are currently putting more in.

The figure he is looking for is drop arm (or Pitman arm) to steering box output shaft. The one that doesn't appear to be listed anywhere.....

I can't find it anywhere either but having taken one off, I'd say bloody tight. At least a good heave on a 4 foot breaker bar.

Not a surprise at all. MFG run the most expensive filling stations in the country so it isn't going to be viable if everyone avoids using them unless they have no choice.

Across the bulkhead behind the engine, through a hole in the bulkhead and comes out next to the steering column and loops around to the brake pedal. Easiest way to do it is to take the instrument cluster out and go in through the hole. Two person job though as it is a nice tight fit through the grommet in the bulkhead so you need one person inside and one outside to help it through.