Ok, finally had some time to do some poking about...

The ONLY difference I can find in the loom is that the ground for the sensors ends up on a different ground pin in the new loom. I thought 'aha' this might be it, until I checked those 2 pins on the ECU and they are internally connected together - as they are both ground pins - the only difference appears to be that in my installation, all the wires are joined in a splice.

Both of the temp sensors read 9.8 ish K ohms at the moment - so there's no short to ground..

I think I'm going to try powering up the new ECU on the bench with it connected to the new loom, and the laptop and then try a 10K pot on the temp sensor wire, so I can see if it is actually reading the temp change properly.

If it doesn't, then I guess I will have to get in touch with the supplier, and see if they can swap it.

Thought of it... yes.... financially viable... no..

Being as I don't charge for any of the advice I give (forums aren't so bad - it's the countless Facebook groups where I get private messages, or tags in posts - or phone calls on a Sunday...) means that is just time I'm using in the hope that should someone need a part that I can supply then they will consider coming to me, rather than a second hand 'tested' one from a breaker... or just because there's so much misinformation on FB groups that it's a case of wanting to try and actually post something that will help, rather than confuse - and keep a P38 running rather than scrapped for some stupid issue that people can't be bothered to read a diagram, or use a multimeter to diagnose...

So I don't make anything from that - and all the parts I DO sell I have to try and be competitive on price, otherwise people don't see the point in paying a bit more for something which has been checked by someone who actually cleans and tests things, rather than something that's a few quid cheaper from a breaker who has 'tested' it... (eg... it worked when it was on the vehicle, or appeared to... or it wasn't the reason the vehicle was scrapped, so it must have been OK..).. So a lot of the time the parts I sell make it to the point where the time I've put into them is 'paid' (after parts - new switches, lamps, screen connector, etc depending on what I'm rebuilding and eBay and Paypal fees) is often worked out to be as less than minimum wage, and a lot of the time wouldn't even cover my own mortgage payment in a month... so hiring an assistant/apprentice - whilst it would be lovely, ain't going to happen at the moment - as then I'd be paying them x amount, and it would make it that much less on the little I make at the moment!

Still... If I keep this busy, I might be able to (one day) make this into more of an income earner for myself, and then be able to tackle more of the jobs that will make a bit more, and can afford to then have an apprentice!

But rant/digression over....

I'll try and get a board done anyway - as when it's on the bench and I'm actually working on it, I can get a fair bit done if I'm doing 2 or 3 at the same time, and then it will be useful to have them on the shelf and ready to send for if people enquire!

Connectors/printer... I guess anything is possible - would need to design it in 3D to make sure it's identical and has all the pin locks etc in it too, and then source the pins. I might have a look again at the Tyco/Amp website and see if I can find them in their catalogue somewhere, as I'm sure there must be a part number - maybe can still find them somewhere!

Marty

Were the o rings in the rebuild kit black, or orange?

It's worth checking the rear springs, and make sure they have 2 O-rings in the air inlet aswell.. I've heard of some air springs only coming with one (usually blue box Britpart ones) which gives a bad seal.

I almost have one in stock...

As in... I have some metal plates... I have some amps... I have connectors... I have 2 nearly complete wiring looms... I have the wire to complete the looms... but I haven't had time to put all the bits together to make a complete amp board yet...

I've been swamped in window switchpacks, HEVAC controllers, and this week another P38 sitting outside, which I've been doing a dash-out heater matrix/box removal/replacement. I got that all back together today, and have it ready for the owner to collect tomorrow... Then my list is back to switchpacks and HEVAC controllers, as I have some in the queue for people who are wanting them... but when I get a spare 10 minutes (or bored of cleaning HEVAC buttons/switchpack switches, I'll pull the amp boards out and try and get one of the wiring looms finished off, and make sure all the wires are labelled up.... how are you with a soldering iron? ;)

I'm looking at about £100 for the amp replacement - which includes the board, amps, wiring loom with bare ends labelled up ready to solder onto the vehicle loom (If I could find the male DSP amp connectors then I'd be laughing and able to make it plug and play!). It also comes with an extra 5m loom for the rear left/right signal feeds, with ISO terminals crimped on - so they just push into the factory ISO connector to give the 4 channels of audio.

If you want, and can wait a bit - I can probably make up an attenuator loom aswell for you, with ISO connectors on both ends to plug and play into the vehicle loom...

I'm in no hurry to sell it, no - it's been sitting around for the past 3 years - and the past few months since it came back from repair... it is taking up space in the garage, but I can always take it back up to the workshop and stash it!

Chips - it could be that swapping both of them changed the immobiliser code aswell, so it won't start as it won't be getting the proper code from the BECM.. Also it might be possible to just swap one of the chips, as there's another DSE owner I know who has a chip for his, and it is only the one chip that he has to replace.. I don't know much about the internals of the engine ECU's so can't give any professional advice on that, sorry!

ABS... I don't think it's anything to freak out about just yet - if the system all works as it should. I've heard a couple of times from various places that it can be because there's either an internal leak in the ABS modulator, so the pressure bleeds down quicker than it should do - so the pump kicks in to pressurise it again, or it could be the pressurised fluid bleeding back down through the pump itself, which again will cause the pressure switch to turn the pump on. Other than it being annoying to listen to and the bit of extra wear on the pump - if the braking system is working fine, then it is worth making a note of it, and if you notice any adverse changes to the braking, then it might be work more investigation.

EAS pump... worth checking the valve block, yes - what rebuild kit did you use? Also worth checking the lines around the rear axle, as I've heard of a few occasions where they've got too close to the exhaust and melted through, but that also seems to be more with the air tank line - but might be worth a look when you have it up on the ramp to do the brake lines..

You can now get a slimline version of the unit I bought and hacked apart (though I now have longer screen cables to make the other version fit better!) which should fit in the dash with no hacking apart, as it is probably about the same depth as the standard factory nav screen.

A few points/thoughts from me...
I'd look at ditching the DSP amp and putting in something like my replacement amp board - mostly because the DSP amp only takes in a front left/right feed, and does the rest... however, when you remove the factory head unit, you remove the way of controlling the DSP amp aswell, so if you adjust the fade etc on the new head unit, then it won't replicate properly on the DSP amp.

It might have been my updated intercooler on eBay... I have one sitting in the garage which came from a vehicle that was stripped for parts, as the rest of the engine was trashed.

It had a split in one of the welds when I pulled it out, but it's been repaired and pressure tested now.. not sure if it's the same one that you've seen on eBay...

If it doesn't sell this time around, it will probably be sitting in the garage for awhile - if you're interested in it in the future, then let me know and I can keep it aside.

Marty

If the pressure bleeds down out of the system (eg overnight) it can take up to 45 seconds for it to pump the pressure back up and charge the accumulator.

The brake pipes aren't that much of a pain..

EAS on high, wheel arch liners out, remove the old lines.

I threaded the line across the tank first from the RR and then using a bending spring on the line form the corner and then thread the line back down the vehicle length to the RHF footwell.

The RR one isn't bad as it's pretty much a straight run.

It has been awhile since I did mine, but Sloth might have more to add as I recall he did a settlement of brake lines not so long ago

Congratulations!!

Yeah... another reason I don't clean mine....

Still, that's probably the first outstation that I've seen that has failed in YEARS... you do like to be a pioneer with random faults :)

That's one of the thoughts I've had (but no time to check yet) as -40 is what the HEVAC will read if there's no connection on a sensor (from memory they are 10K too),.. the sensors are soldered/heatshrunk into the loom, so I'll either attack the loom with a pair of side cutters, or I'll try popping the pins from the ECU connector to see what happens.

If the readings change, then I'll put one wire back in at a time to see if there's any change.

The lambda sensors aren't hooked up at the moment, and in guessing the are no real benefits of reconnecting them?

Cheers

As the title says... I have a few oddities, which I wouldn't mind a couple of other opinions on!

My Zavoli LPG ECU has decided to take a dive to the point where it wasn't putting out 5V properly (I made mention of that in my engine rebuild thread). I traced a bit in the ECU, and found that a couple of the capacitors were pretty dead - bulging on the side and things like that. I've got replacements to fit, but found that even with no load on it, the 5V supply to the sensors etc was pulsing 0V-5V-0V..... found this was also the case on the 12V input side of the 5V reg, so think I have a bit more digging to do to see if I can fix it..

However - I decided that the best way forward was to get a brand new King LPG ECU, it's the later type 'D' which has OBD connection if I want (not wired in yet). Bought said ECU, and it came with a wiring loom which I've kept in the box, as it's identical to what's on the vehicle already - other than the OBD wiring.

Got it plugged in, connected up and on the laptop - configured everything (set injectors to Hana 1.9 ohm! :) ) and all good.. or so I thought.
Got it to autocalibrate, but have now noticed that the temperature sensors for both the gas rail, and the reducer are showing 110 degrees C permanently, no matter what setting I set them to in the ECU (Mine are 10K sensors from the old Zavoli ECU).

Any thoughts as to why this is showing like this? Also noticed that a couple of times the LPG switch hasn't lit up when the ignition has been in position II (same as the Zavoli ECU was starting to do) but comes on as soon as the engine fires up...

My next step is going to be checking the wiring to the temp sensors to see if there is a break/short in one of them that's causing the erroneous reading.
The RR runs OK on gas - good pick up and happy to cruise, but it is pulling the fuel trims a bit (needs fine tuning) but then I also wonder if the temp sensor values being out has affected the calibration when I ran that (I don't recall them being that far out when I calibrated it - but could be wrong - I had taken the RR out for a good spin to get everything nice and warm to calibrate it with).

Any thoughts or pearls of wisdom?
The ECU is stamped as 02/2017, so a new build, has firmware 11.52 on it, and I'm connecting to it with King software version 6.2.1.0 IC

Thanks as always...
Marty

Another +1 on V8 Dev... I bought a short engine from them on exchange last year, (as seen in my engine rebuild thread) and I'm impressed with the quality - it's loosened up well too, and pulls like a boy's boarding school after dark if I let it...

Howcome we've jumped to a possible/probable liner issue? Has the head been removed yet to see if there is a visible issue in that cylinder?

You probably don't need to replace the drain plugs - the diff ones just screw in and have magnetic piece to them to collect any metallic content in the oil.

Again, oil sump plug probably doesn't need replacing, but a new washer would be useful.
Part number for the washer is: ALU1403L
Spark Plugs - I would go with NGK plugs... BPR6ES or BCPR6ES (these have smaller socket head which some of the Rover V8 heads need) - they are also a LOT cheaper than £5/plug...
Mahle and Mann filters look fine, as does the autobox filter.
HT Leads, Eurospare will probably be OK aswell.

Later V8's don't have a separate fuel filter, no - it's just a filter screen in the pump assembly itself.
Britpart pollen filters will also be fine...

Hope this helps,
Marty

I'm starting to get mixed up aswell, between these 2 threads, and private emails about this, so I will post here what I just posted in the other thread aswell - though looking at it, - the same applies to RRHSG if he gets there first...

Yes, the Nanocom will do what you need it to.

Gilbertd - apparently the fobs aren't syncing up, so there must be issues with the RF somewhere... but as far as Nanocom is concerned, if you just go in and switch off the passive immobiliser, it should stop the need for the EKA when trying to unlock in the drivers door. Though, it might also be worth checking the drivers door latch microswitches in Nanocom (BECM->INPUTS->DOORS/LOCKING from memory) as it seems double strange that sometimes it needs the EKA but sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it accepts the EKA and sometimes it doesn't.

When the BECM was here for unlocking about 6 months ago, I checked the fob codes against the fob that was sent, and they checked out against what was stored in the BECM - so everything should work as it was originally intended. Though I don't know what the mechanic who had the vehicle for so long has done to it in the meantime!

Yes, the Nanocom will do what you need it to.

Gilbertd - apparently the fobs aren't syncing up, so there must be issues with the RF somewhere... but as far as Nanocom is concerned, if you just go in and switch off the passive immobiliser, it should stop the need for the EKA when trying to unlock in the drivers door. Though, it might also be worth checking the drivers door latch microswitches in Nanocom (BECM->INPUTS->DOORS/LOCKING from memory) as it seems double strange that sometimes it needs the EKA but sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it accepts the EKA and sometimes it doesn't.

When the BECM was here for unlocking about 6 months ago, I checked the fob codes against the fob that was sent, and they checked out against what was stored in the BECM - so everything should work as it was originally intended. Though I don't know what the mechanic who had the vehicle for so long has done to it in the meantime!

Worst case, I probably have some spare 5 bar seat bases on some of the other interiors that I've accumulated - I know I have at least nearly 2 lightstone sets of seats, and I'm sure one of them is 5 bar.

Since we know how vile and close to puking it makes Mark at the thought of doing seat cleaning/trimming - you wouldn't then want to have vomit to try and get out of the Duchess' carpet or ECU's under the passenger seat!

As long as it's High Line, then it should work fine..

I'll reply per problem...

Problem 1: I've replied to your PM on this issue.. As mentioned in there, if you have access to the interior of the door, then post up a picture and then we can see if it is something simple like the sill lock rod being bent too far and jamming the latch - or whether it's something more complex

Problem 2: Above the oil filter housing could be a few things. Most likely if it's running down from the front of the engine is the water pump, or gasket. If from the side of the engine, then moving further up are the outlet to the heater (and probably LPG reducer plumbing) outlet to the top hose, and also possibly the temperature sensors - any of which could be weeping coolant from.

Problem 3: All of the P38's I've owned have all used a bit of oil - even my new engine in the current one seems to use a bit. I don't know where it goes, though the intake always seems a bit oilier than I would expect it to with the oil separator in the outlet from the rocker cover... but it could also be a lot of things. Probably best to observe it as/when it gets running again.

Problem 4: Is it all of the windows that are intermittent, or just some of them? Most common issue is the switchpack itself, whether it's one or 2 switches that go intermittent/fail, or the whole unit just stops working - it can be totally random.. I repair switchpacks and sell them on exchange for the faulty one back.. It must be the season for switchpack failures, as I've sold about 6 of them on eBay in the last week, and have another 3 on my bench in the process of being repaired, and one more already back to be pulled apart. Hence why I say the switchpack is a common issue! Check the obvious things first - that there is a good power and ground connection to the connector/switchpack.

Problem 5: - probably easiest thing is to try and get it hooked up and the faults read/cleared and see what comes back. It could be something as simple as the fuse to the ABS ECU (engine bay fuse box - there's a couple of fuses and actually the first thing to check before looking into getting it on diagnostics), through to a sensor not quite pushed home enough, or through to ECU failure (which is pretty rare on the early ones - it's the later ones that seem to suffer from ECU issues).

Cosmetics... at the end of the day, it's your vehicle and you can do what you want with it! I personally prefer the standard P38 grille - though I've seen L322 and Sport grilles which have been cut to fit... I've also seen the result of someone taking to a P38 grille with a drill bit to make it look like the sport grille..

Being as the grille swaps etc aren't a 'normal' cosmetic upgrade - as in a simple purchase and replace - there probably isn't any guidelines on swapping it over, so that one might be a case of you having to experiment and see how you get on. Maybe making a cardboard mock-up to see what various results will look like?

Hope this helps,
Marty