Bolt wrote:

Possibly the two ugliest words in the P38 lexicon:
Ball Joints.
Finally got psyched up enough to tackle these on Bolt.
Middling decent hand tools loaned by the local O'Reilly's auto parts shop.
Actually, the job was not as bad as I thought it would be.
4 hours for the first set an a bit over 2 for the second ones.
I would like to know what the proper press cup looks like for the bottom one?
Had to use a cut off wheel on the grinder to cut off the flange on the bottom of the lower to allow it to be
pressed out.
The first set only lasted 215k miles! (How many sets have you been through Gilbert?)
Glad I do all my own work as I imagine the current crop of ham fisted shop apes could really screw up the job!
With any kind of luck I will not have to do them

Sheet of the genuine LR Tool I luckily got, as well as the alignment tool for the

Happy 10th anniversary!
Now in my 31st year of RR first classics, now P38 🤗

Thanks a lot Richard!

Hi @all,

I want to build a "tool" to manually enter or simulate the EKA procedure activation of the microswitches in the drivers side door lock. Like a switchboard with three? sitches for cdl, left and right. I have seen two versions online, one with three wires and one with four. As nearly everything on the p38 is switched by grounding, I guess I need four wires for three switches?
I plan to build a "switchboard" and use a door outstation connector from a spare wirking loom.
Can anyone help me with a diagramm of the circuit?
It´s for the early versions of the becm where You can´t enter the eka by the obd-connector.
Thanks in advance!

THX, I read somewhere contradicting informations, but guessed. Now that You confirmed, I´m quite sure.
As the manual states that the changer can be controlled by only the head unit, I hoped that the controls work that way.
Another step on a long road taken ;-)

I know it´s an old thread, but does anybody succesfully installed a Grom BT in a P38 without steering wheel controls? Just the Alpine head unit? Which Grom do You use?
Thanks in advance!

Hi Richard, thx for the encouragement!
Exactly as predicted, works well but lacks power.
Anyway I am glad that I have a genuine Radio for my “heritage” aka Oldtimer 95 project P38 now.
An acoustic upgrade is postponed but I will consider. Have parts from a 98 with HK and a late Vogue with a working DSP and sub.
Depends very much on the detail, if the audio loom is separate or integrated in the main loom ;-)
Thanks a lot!
GR8 advice as always!

THX Richard, I don´t have a sub ... there are DIN plugs, the aftermarket was a straight fit. What a pity, I had the fear of the rewiring, which is sadly not an option.
The Clarion units are quite pricey and there was an offer refurbished with bluetooth, but they seem now not available any more.

Hi, does anyone know, if I can put an original Alpine head (Harman Kardon with all the gadgets like DSP and SUB) unit sinmply plug & play into a 98 midline equipped Gems?

I have a 2001 breaker with a working unit and thinking of swapping my after market unit to a genuine one ...
Thanks in advance!

The early models until VIN WA 1998 had different insulation. Several pieces of foam rubber (can’t remember the material code).
I have a set insulation, but it’s in Germany, so You might ask a local breaker…

There are 14 bolts and three nuts as far as the manual is correct. But I think I found what holes I remembered from reading about this conversion:

Hi Richard, thanks a lot! Unbelievable knowledge! From my - not the best - memory I had the idea that there were some wholes to drill and tap, but maybe my memory served me wrong. I will post an update, when I have will get more informations ...

Hope you all had nice Xmas!

Hi, I know that a few of us have done the swap, but the threads I found are missing the images. I knwo that I have to drill to holes, can this be done with the engine in the car?
Does the front cover fit? I want to swap the steel oil pan in my Gems for an aluminium from a Thor engine as it starts leaking and I have to do the crankshaft seals probably, anyway too.

Fully agree with Storey is a great guy! His software must helped many of us to keep our cars on the road. I have the EAS freeware and the V4 suite and very happy, except he cancelled support for XP ;-)

Finally spolved the strange problem ... after initially having the ignition barrel/lock under suspicion, we swapped the BECM to another one which has been programmed by a fellow enthusiast with the cars data (Keycodes, EKA etc.). Now everything works fine again. So sometimes it is really the BECM. Maybe we´ll find out wether it was the power board or the logic board of the BECM, but that is far beyond my personal capabillities. I just did the diagnosis and swapped the BECM and did some stuff with my diagnostics (synching EMS-BECM).

Hi, as many of You might know, that the fuseboxes are no longer available new. As there're several variants, has anyone done a comparison, maybe just the pins in the pugs have to be rearranged? Upper Layout versus connector side layout?

As far as I know, the late Diesel Fuse boxes are still in stock?

I guess it means a side by side comparison of the several editions of the Electrical trouble shooting manuals? How many editions are around? I have four or six on my mind?

Hi Richard, middle of the next week I´ll have a friends Motronic P38 here and I can check with my Nano the readings (and can compare to my own Gems).
What exactly should I look for if that is any help for You?

Grizzly … maybe too late. You should look for either a ECU from a 4.0 or have someone with a Motronic P38 and Diagnostic equipment, to change the settings. There are 5 of them, P38 4.0 & 4.6, Disco 2 4.0 & 4.6 and one which is called „default“. Hopefully You bought one with a plug and a pigtail?

If it is the P38 from Your signature it will have the older CC ECU, which is prone for intermittent operation. I swapped mine for a later one from the facelift model (made an adaptation with the plug like this one https://ejcruz.smugmug.com/Other/Range-Rover-P38/).

Worked fine for me since the swap.