Worst case, reset the fault, manually pump up the system so it's riding on air, and then pull the ECU connector or delay timer relay - it will then have air in the springs, but not control the valves to let it out... then we can look at it when you get here :)

A couple of bits of wire in the ECU connector will also just give an EAS MANUAL message on the dash, rather than all the beeps and hard fault messages...

Right.....

I've dropped a PM to Sloth, Morat, and No10Chris with the workshop details.... Orangebean, I emailed them to you earlier today... and GilbertD - you've been there before, so just let me know if you need them again, otherwise I'll take it that you know roughly where to go!!

Grrrrr from Landyzone is going to pop by on Sunday to say hello, as his other plans have cancelled - but other than that, I think I've had contact with everyone in some form or another now.

My mate is coming up on the morning of the 2nd to move the Disco shell out of the workshop, so I am sure we will be able to give a bit of a hand if necessary - that will give us one workshop bay. The Green P38 that we are 'working' on is in the other half, so going to try and get up there on Friday afternoon and get the wheel arch liner and wheel back on, so that is driveable and it can then be moved outside to give us both workshop bays.

I think a worthwhile plan will be to get mine in one side Saturday morning, as I've got a fair bit to try and get through - but with the aim of completing that on Saturday. I live a fair way from the workshop (OK, not as far as some who are attending! But about twice as far as the accommodation that some have booked!) so if mine can be done/finished Saturday then I can drive home/back on Sunday. I'm also happy to help out with lifts to/from accommodation as it's 'on the way' if we then have a couple of vehicles in there overnight being worked on.

Saturday, in the second bay I think it is worth getting Orangebean's one in so we can get the accumulator stripped out so he can work on the BMR kit on the bench. I know there are some other bits of interior he's hoping to change and steering column and brake service.

Sloth, I will bring my EAS calibration blocks - and we can give them a go, even though they are 20mm not 30mm diameter, so might be a bit of messing about, but happy to try them out. I can't remember if you are staying up or just coming up for one day? Once mine is done, then I think we put yours in the workshop and get stuck into the autobox fluid/filter change. If you are staying over, then we can always get it draining on Saturday, and then do the filter/refill first thing Sunday?

Morat - We can find a time I am sure to look at the ABS/EAS bits that you are wanting to check out. I'm thinking maybe Sunday for that - though might get a chance to hook it up to diagnostics and get an idea of what's happening on Saturday!

I think Grrr wants me to have a look at swapping a power/logic board over in his BECM, but that should be easy enough to do outside the workshop.

GilbertD, was there anything on yours that you are wanting to look at? Also you mentioned to me on text about possibly bringing your BBQ? Is that still happening? - if so what do you think about us all bringing a bit of food/drink and then having an informal BBQ on Saturday evening before we disband for the night? I know that on Sunday that we will probably be aiming to finish up mid-afternoon so everyone can get home before it's too late in the evening!

I'm not sure if I'm missed anything out or not - let me know if I have...
My shopping list for this week...
Recon Steering Box
10L ATF (can't remember exactly how much I have left and I'm sure I will use it!
10L 10w/40 engine oil
Oil Filter
5L EP80/90 gear oil
5L DOT 4 brake fluid
New PS system washers for the lines to the pump/box

Is there anything else that people want me to get as part of the order so it's all there ready?

Looking forward to next weekend....

Marty

But leather wipes clean....

Innovative fix!

If you want me to take a look at it at some point, then I have SMD soldering equipment that I can use to replace the smaller components...

I haven't updated my side of things on the HEVAC either... I ended up getting a bunch of the LCD connectors made in China (minimum order was 500!!) and have used them in 4 or 5 HEVAC units now, with good results on all of them for fixing faulty pixels.

I have also found a way to light the LCD with white LED's - and can now also do an option of either standard green backlight, or white (for the LCD):

I have also got for testing/fitment checking replacement ball bearings and springs for the rotary fan knob 'clicking' as I've had a couple where either the ball bearing or the spring has gone 'ping' when I've taken the unit apart... so figure it might be handy to be able to supply spares of these at some point!

Marty

I am sure we will be able to organise lifts and the likes where needed...

In theory if we can get the modulator swapped and the PS pump/box done on mine on Saturday, then I can also drop people off as Alexandra house is fairly well on my way home anyway - so happy to do that.

I'm still not 100% sure on the steering box, I'll look at ordering that next week assuming the funds allow... otherwise it will just be the pump being done for the moment!

Sounds like there's going to be a few of us there then...

Sloth... shouldn't be a problem to do the autobox fluid/filter.

The disco is going to be moving outside on the 2nd according to my mate... so might have to help get it out of the workshop, but after that will have space again!! I'm going to head up there and get the wheel arch liner and the wheel back on the green RR so it's movable aswell.. which should give us 2 workshop bays for most of the weekend.

No problem if anyone can't make it - I am sure that there will be another one at some point in the future!

Oldshep - no hurry on the kicker - I am not needing it for anything else at the moment. I will have a look and see what compressors I have on the shelf which are finished and tested. I haven't really had a chance to get anything more done on most things RR... This week being back has been somewhat of a strain on the system for a variety of reasons! Still, I got my LPG system replumbed and it seems to actually be running on gas OK now... so happy days there!! Will have to tweak the map a bit at some point - but I'm just happy that it's actually running semi decently on gas, and not throwing the petrol side of things out too much either!

Nice workaround!

I have been considering what to do on mine for a long time, as it is a very common P38 problem, yes.
I did look at repairing mine (I think it is just wear on the plastic for the 'flash' that contacts the pad that causes the problem - over the years it's just worn down enough so that it doesn't activate before the stalk is pulled all the way back.

I did manage to fix mine, and it worked for a few weeks, but then went back to 'normal', and I haven't had time to go back in there and have another go.

I also don't use the speed limiter button, so might be a good modification for me to do aswell... I had wondered about fitting an extra switch, or maybe modifying the current switch in the stalk to make the original design more reliable - but it's currently still just 'on the list'

Yeah, it got a new MF31-1000 battery put in... still - the one that came out was a MF31-750 and lasted just over 4 years, which I think in a power hungry P38 which is left sitting idle as often as mine get left at home alone, is pretty good.

Was so nice to get out and drive again last night though... been 9 weeks since driving anything, and hearing the V8 again was just lovely :)

Just got to get the LPG all working happily again now... I remembered getting a whiff of gas under the bonnet before I went away so have bought leak detector spray, and a few new bits of hose and clips etc to hopefully get it narrowed down and then I get try getting the gas tune done!

Interested to hear how the extra relays/wiring goes!

Right...

So the good news is I'm back, and gearing up for the Summer Camp weekend... I've got a few bits I need to buy to be able to complete my service list on the RR before I get her MOT'd, so hopefully I can get as much of it done as possible on the summer camp weekend...

My list is pretty much as follows:
Replace Power Steering Pump
Replace Steering Box with reconditioned one (i'm sure mine has a LOT of play in it, and it makes sense to me whilst the system is open and drained to do them both!)
Replace ABS modulator block with my spare one
New brake fluid/bleed
Engine oil/filter change
Diff oil change

I've canned from my original thoughts/plans the radius arm bushes and replacing the VC. Gearshift mechanism is something I can do separately when I get a chance, and it's going to be taking too much apart to get to it - so I can't be bothered with that either at the moment.

I also would like to sort through the wheels/tyres I've got up there and swap my current ones for 4 different wheels/tyres to see if that cures my death wobble.

So, parts I am looking to get:
Recon Steering Box
Engine oil filter
10W40 engine oil
EP80/90 gear oil
Dot 4 brake fluid

I know Orangebean is wanting to do some work on his brakes too (BMR kit in the modulator) so will get enough brake fluid for us both to be able to bleed/flush the system.

If you are still planning on coming (Sloth, Gilbertd, Morat, Oldshep?) then if you can just give a rough idea now that we are a bit closer to the time of what you want to look at/get done - then we can all work out a plan on doing it :) Also if you want me to get any parts as part of a bulk order, then let me know...

Right, now onto the bad news... even though I've asked multiple times to make sure that both workshop bays are usable for the first weekend in July, I think that there is still a heap of shit sitting in one half of the workshop, as my mate has been too busy/lazy/whatever to actually get up there and get it scrapped. Even though I've been told numerous times that it would be gone by now. Also, the Green P38 that myself an same mate have a half share in each, hasn't had anything more done to it since I finished putting the exhaust manifold back on and getting that all buttoned up. Luckily it just needs the wheel arch liner and the wheel put back on and it's driveable to move it outside to give us one half of the workshop free.

So, my thoughts are that we might have to either just cope with the one workshop bay (not ideal) or find a way of moving the Disco outside to free up the second bay. I think there is a bit to do to it to get it back on 4 wheels to actually be able to move it, and it is missing engine/transmission/any form of braking - so it might be a pain to get out of the workshop, given that it's a fairly short access and it's a downhill slope...

Also as a side note, my mate wants out of the workshop altogether, so it's going to end up being down to me fairly soon to stump up the other half of the rent on it to be able to afford to keep the workshop space going. Which is frustrating a bit, as I feel like I've been paying for a space I can't use for the last nearly a year that the Disco has been there.... and I can give the space up, as I've got 2 other RR's that I have nowhere to put or no way of moving! I know I'm just ranting now, as it feels like I'm being lumbered with it all, and have no real choice in the matter! but I do think that when I can get the other 2 restored and moved on, I will be looking at shutting up shop there and either finding somewhere closer to home, or just sticking to my electronics side of things that I can do from home!

Looking forward to the 2nd/3rd July...

If you can reply quickly with if you are definitely coming and what you would like to achieve, then we can do a final tally and work out which is the best order to do things in. I've also had word that one of the guys from LZ - Grrrrr isn't coming now as he has a family occasion that weekend and won't be able to get over to us - but maybe next time!

Cheers,
Marty

Well, the battery was totally dead on the RR... showed 1.8V when I put a meter on it... so a new MF31-1000 should be delivered today, and I'll get that installed and see if the old girl actually still likes me when she starts up...

Re lamp monitoring... As far as I know (I will check though to be sure once I'm up and running again!) Police mode in the BECM does not change anything to do with the lamp monitoring on any of the circuits. I know that my BECM is set to 'Police' (was like that when I got it officer...) and again, pretty sure it tells me if a front fog lamp has blown...

In regard to your question Sloth, the monitoring is constant all the time - it's actually done off the status pin of the MOSFET, so if it is driving a lamp, and it then blows, then it the MOSFET will suddenly register no load on it, which will activate the lamp failure message. So if you have a separate relay operating the front fog lamps, then turning the fogs on from the switch will most likely throw an error up.

It's on the back burner at the moment, but I am looking at making a 'bypass' for the lamp monitoring to allow being able to use LED lamps in the indicators/stop lamps etc - without load resistors. At the moment if you try to do it, the MOSFET will drive the low current LEDs, but you get the bulb warning - so I am hoping to be able to modify a BECM power board to bypass the lamp warnings altogether. But it's quite a way down the list of things to look at... The 30 door latches sitting in bits on my bench waiting to be cleaned and rebuilt are the first priority at the moment as I've got a list of latches I need to try and get done for people!

They are MOSFET driven, yes. And they should have bulb monitoring on the circuit. Mine will tell me if one has blown...

Bit strange that Gilbertd's one doesn't throw up an error... Though some vehicles with a Low Line BECM (older ones) didn't have the fog light MOSFETS, and the wiring was added afterwards to control the fogs separately through a relay, which won't have lamp monitoring on them...

I am back now... yay.... o a different note.. noticed that the security LED isn't flashing on the RR anymore :( so I think that I'm going to be replacing the main battery! Will have to investigate that today... guess 9 weeks was too long for it, even with the MK3 receiver!

I wonder if it is worth checking the reluctor ring on the LHF to see if there is any damage to it at all... I've head of the rings having chipped a tooth or even cracked before - which might only show up if it gets a sudden shock...

Chances are the ECU is OK though if you can consistently (well as much as possible for an intermittent fault!) get it to do it on one corner.. It's worth keeping the other ECU though as they are stupidly expensive second hand if one does fail (another reason why I want to look and see if they are repairable!)

Morat wrote:

I can't bring myself to rip out the standard NAV which is still working after 15 years, even if it is woefully out of date (there were a LOT of roundabouts on the A1) so we use phones and Brodit mounts which are extremely practical even if they can only ever look after-market.

What year maps do you have? is it still the original 2001 discs? If so, then i can probably help with a map from 2012/2013.... I'm trying to see if I can find later 2015 maps aswell, but know I've got something more recent than the originals (I looked into it when I first got mine before I found the nav drive was faulty and went with my aftermarket option...)

Is it a black box? I can't remember the part number off the top of my head - but the earlier ECU's were grey/silver and the later ones for Thor vehicles were black.

Can't hurt to try swapping it over if it is a spare ABS ECU...

I installed an all-in-one kind of navigation thing in mine in place of the stock navigation system, (writeup on rr.net) but it isn't android, it runs embedded WinCE.

I am however looking at options on retrofitting an android device to run everything - radio, nav, the works at some point - it's just a case of finding a unit I'm willing to butcher to make fit in the RR dash, given that most of the units I see are all double din and won't fit depth-wise...

Haha... I have some blocks already cut, yes - but I am a little bit hesitant to try them as they are only 20mm, not 30mm nylon rod. I did order 30mm but they sent me the wrong stuff and by the time I realised (I should have measured it to start with, I know - but I stupidly assumed that the eBay seller specialising in plastic products would be able to send what I'd ordered!!) I had already cut most of them to length!

I can bring them up and we can try them - I do mean to replace them with 30mm at some point though, more for my piece of mind (and the fact they will hold themselves in the bump stops then!) but it's one of those things 'on the list'!

Haha... I have to double check emails I send as sometimes I type too quickly that I miss the T out aswell....

no10chris - got your PM re summer camp... If you have a look in here: Summer Camp 2016 there are some details... I'm going to be posting up again in there soon to confirm details, who's coming etc.

Marty

I wonder if it could be the ABS ECU that's having issues...

I think I have a repaired spare ABS ECU for the Thor models, so if you are down at Summer Camp, then we can swap it out to see if the ECU is the problem, or whether it's something else that's inputting to the ECU that's causing it...

Indeed, my 'original' front diff I pulled out was only 2 pin, and given the beating the hubs needed to get them apart I don't think they had been apart before.

I put a 4 pin, rear diff into my front axle (before there was the debate on the other forum about the gearing in fact being backwards cut). Granted, I don't do a lot of miles in it, but it doesn't seem to be affected too much so far and doesn't seem too noisy either.

All P38 diffs were 24 spline (talking about the half shafts in the axle). As far as I know, the reason some places put 24 spline is because the same diff is used in the back? axle of some Defenders, but not all of them. I think the original Defender diffs were 10spline - so the 24spline note is more geared (excuse the pun!) towards that side of the market... but all P38 differentials, front and rear were all 24 spline.

I don't have a picture of one fitted, but I was looking into it the other week before I left home, as a 'test fit' for my amplifier replacement project.

You need to remove the trim from the front of the subwoofer/cd stacker, and then the sub/stacker unit first. Then the trim that is still there needs to come out and the DSP amp is mounted inside the bodywork by 3 bolts. So if you remove the current subwoofer/cd stacker, then you have all of that space to fit something else in without interfering with the fitment of the DSP amp.

I will have a look and see if i have any pictures of mine when I had it apart to re-trim it and might be able to at least show you the location of the amp...