My wife works away for a week at a time and he car doesn't get used during the week. Last week she came to come home and the battery was flat so the AA had to be called out. So I treated her car to a new battery and found the old one was dated 11/04 so it hadn't done bad. I also decided to treat mine to a new one too. It hasn't given any problems but it is 5 years old and as the one on the SE was completely knackered I figured I could put the old one on that.

Went out today to swap the battery but didn't want to disconnect the power. I don't mind setting the windows but retuning the radio with allk the FM and DAB stations as well as setting the 9 band graphic for each input takes forever. So a couple of bits of wire with croc clips and the battery I'd just taken off the missus's car could power it while I changed the main battery. I connected the positive to the big stud inside the fusebox so had the lid off. While there I noticed something that didn't look quite right. At some time someone (probably me actually) had fitted a cheap generic relay in the RL7 position.

I think it had got a bit warm......

Now it seems to have a few more features and is running a bit better (I mean, I haven't been able to break it for at least 3 days now), is it about time we started spreading the word and getting a few more people on here?

Wasn't sure if this went here or in the oily bits section but as it uses 'lectric and doesn't contain anything that can leak, this seemed most appropriate. For a while now my every time I hit a bump while turning left, I would get a beep, beep, beep and Bonnet Open would come up on the dash. The RH bonnet catch, the one with the switch in it, would sometimes stick too. After a bit of bouncing around on some lumpy stuff, it got worse and it was beeping at me whenever I turned a corner or hit a bump. Adjusted it so it opened and closed perfectly. Only problem now was that it was telling me the bonnet was open all the time. So I had a look at it.

Just under the slidey bit that latches under the pin, there's a bit of plastic. I poked it with a screwdriver and found it slides in and out and with it pushed in I could hear a microswitch switching. So I pulled the latch out to have a look. The bit of plastic is the end of a nylon carrier with a microswitch fitted to it. As it is pushed back by the pin the switch plunger hits a bit of metal sticking up from the latch body (or so it appeared). No problem, just put a bit of heatshrink sleeving over it to make it fatter and take up the wear. No, that's going to involve gong into the garage, finding a bit of heatshrink of the correct size, trying to shrink it with a fag lighter in a howling gale and it's just starting to rain. No, bend the bit of metal so it's closer to the switch so it doesn't have to move as far and it will all be good. Try to bend it with pliers but it won't move, it is a couple of mm thick after all. Get a pair of small Mole grips on it, give it a heave and it snaps off. It's not bent mild steel as it looked by the light of an LED torch, it's bloody Mazac! So, I've left it disconnected at the moment so it thinks the bonnet is always shut but at over 50 quid a go for a new one, I think the replacement is going to come from a breaker.

There is nothing on a P38 that can't be mended in one way or another but you do need some instruction and there's a lot of it about. You may have heard of RAVE which was the Land Rover workshop manual but it hasn't been updated since 2005. But, as the P38 ceased production in 2002, who cares.

RAVE can be downloaded from https://rangerovers.pub/downloads/rave.zip but it might take a while as it's a pretty big file. To run it, simply double click the rave-lr.pdf file and you're in.

There's also an online version that can be found at http://workshop-manuals.com/landrover/p38/range_rover_workshop_manual_volume_1/

The full parts manual can be found at http://new.lrcat.com/

and if you can't figure out exactly what the problem is, there's quite a few decent guides to the common faults that can be found at http://www.rangerovers.net/newrremedies.html although it is a little out of date now with some of the advice as it hasn't been updated since the original site was taken over by a Canadian company who allow it to be run by the main reason this forum has been created.

There's also a few archived articles of use that SpiggyTopes (Peter) has uploaded to Google drive that can be found here https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4azhgT5UI-QWW9TQlhUWE9FWUE&usp=sharing

Having also got fed up with some interfering, self centred, redneck moderator with nothing better to do, I'm on here as well. Richard Gilbert although known at work as Dick (hence Gilbertd), I've currently got an ex-police (so with a very odd spec) R reg (98 model but built in October 97) 4.0 P38 on LPG and have no intention of selling it ever. Currently showing 307,000 miles, but with a nice new engine from V8 Developments (highly recommended) 20,000 miles ago. Just got to keep replacing the other bits that are wearing out. Also got a 97 4.0SE that I bought with the intention of sorting the odd little problems and flogging it on for a profit. But like all great plans, the thing had been so neglected that as fast as I sorted one problem, two more appeared so it's currently getting the better bits swapped onto the ex-plod before it goes to a local Indie who breaks them for spares. Oh yes, and I previously had a 93 Classic LSE, also on LPG, so know a bit about them too.