I have had very mixed results from tyre places when it comes to alignment. I guess it doesn't really pay them to do a good job :(

Top tips! I'll have to have a go at the radius arms when I get a chance. I don't know if a trip to Peterborough would be on the cards but it sounds intruiging :)

Marty, Chris,
I've got a freshly burnt 2012 CD for Chris - but is it worth me sending it if Marty wants me to test a 2015 version which I could copy?
I'm happy either way, just let me know.
Cheers,
Miles

Gordon, I've been asking myself the same question. It's certainly quieter and less clonky which makes it seem less wobbly. But trying to demonstrate the wobbles to Marty last weekend made me realise how tricky it is to reproduce the issue on demand.

There's a general improvement with the front driveshaft unable to move 10 mm back and forward whenever the axle is unloaded as it was doing before but I hit a change in the road surface tonight and got three rapid shakes of the steering wheel before it calmed down.

I think there's more to find but I don't know where to look next.

And she's back on the road :)
Quieter than ever... now I know what that strange intermittent noise was. DOH!

I'm sure you want to see the grim details!
It was a two pin, which is a relief. Before he even started, Bob said "Someone's been in here" based on the gasket and his final diagnosis was that someone had put new pinion bearings in but hadn't got the preload right and left them too tight by a long way. Eventually it let go and took out the rest of the diff. As you can see from the chipped teeth, it's not a surprise it was chuntering away as we drove up the M1!!!
There's a stock diff arriving in the morning. I can't afford the extra shiny so it'll have to do - and if it's installed correctly I'm sure it'll be fine :)

Fullsize: CLICKY

Fullsize: CLICKY

Fullsize: CLICKY

I caved under time pressure and bought a 2 pin from Ashcroft for £285.
They're certain that no P38s left the factory with 4 pin front diffs, obviously others disagree!

If a 2 pin comes out of the front of this car I'll be happy enough but if I've swapped a lunched 4 pin with a weaker diff I'll be less pleased. Ashcroft will take the return if necessary, of course.
I'm probably better off being sensible and keeping that £200 for the upcoming "Fun with Coolant" weekend that I need to plan with Marty, but my innate love of shiny things will always regret failing to upgrade.

I've phoned them. They only have 2 pin in stock but want £560 for a 4 pin which would be available next week.
I'm going to wait to see what mine actually is and then take it up with them again.
An extra £50 I could wear for a 4pin - 4pin swap but doubling the price is a bit steep.

The diff is toast, Ashcroft here we come....
Do I want my diff "pegged"?
Also, Ashcroft say that all front P38 diffs are two pin. Is that because they just don't stock 4 pin?

Things become clearer!
If this is an undocumented reach into the unknown it'll be why Bob wants to do it. He does auto transmissions for fun.
I suspect I may be in for a bit of a wait!

On the other hand.. TruTracs look nice ;)

Actually "My Man" is up for replacing the bearings in the current unit, if it was just swapping a diff he probably wouldn't be interested.
Hmm, there's a limit to how much favour I can ask...
On the other hand, I wonder how the rest of the diff looks.

Two steps forward.....
I've found out what the noise is underneath the Range Rover. How bad a job is this? I've got someone who will do the work but I'd like to know how many hours I'm looking at. It sounds like a reall ballache to get that far into it all :(
Cheers
Morat

I'd imagine they'd be doing the whole refurb thing rather than just selling the connector and you'll be undercutting them.... why don't you offer them "bulk discount" on the connectors before they bother to do the research?

I wonder how much mark up they'll put on them!

I wonder how much mark up they'll put on them!

Sloth wrote:

LPG installer?

Good work with the doors - presumably this means now if someone breaks in through either front door, the alarm will actually go off now :)

I need to replace my heater core and sort out the heater box too before winter - so if I get around to it first, if you want it Richard you're welcome to the old core!

Yes, not only will the alarm go off - but we've found that it is super paranoid. You can't disconnect the battery ever without the sounder going off. The old "power on/off disconnect within X seconds" doesn't work. This Range Rover is not for stealing.
That instant decision to hook the sounder up and see what happens is having consequences. There's only so much damping you can achieve with a towel :)

Sure thing Richard. Also, guess who put the self tapper through the loom!

After Summer Camp, I asked Marty about some of the things that he could sort on my (my wife's) Range Rover and we set a date for last weekend. It turned out to be quite a busy time... for Marty at least :)

A lot of my original list is now gone!
The heated seats now work, and have the uprated 50degree thermostats, which are very popular.
The HEVAC unit now shows all of its pixels. Also, it is LED illuminated which doesn't quite match but is very clear and pleasant to look at.

The drivers door lock was replaced - I knew the switches were dead because I couldn't enter the EKA the first time I got locked out. This forced me to buy a Nanocom (which I don't regret) but now there's a new door lock which even has superlocking.

Then when we were scratching our heads and watching the EAS go up and down, we realised that it was still going up and down with the passenger door open. Duh.. shouldn't be doing that! Another door lock solved the problem, there's something eating microswitches round here :(

The EAS was a complete bastard. Marty was flicking through the circuit diagrams at ludicrous speed but the only thing that stood out on the Nanocom was that the Hand Brake on/off input was always showing ON. Weird. There wasn't any known reason why that would make my EAS only ever go up but it was definitely a fault so it was worth fixing. Frankly confidence in the vehicle was quite low. Driving at 70mph and finding yourself in High Centred mode is not very pleasant because the thing handles like a baby Giraffe on the first corner.

Marty narrowed the fault down to the Pink/Black wire which runs between the BECM and the EAS ECU. We were running short on time so Marty disconnected it and I tested it on the way back to sleep that night. It worked! For the first time in ages the Rangey dropped to Motorway height when it was meant to. The only downside was that without the handbrake signal, Access Mode isn't possible. We did toy with the idea of leaving it like that but neither of us would have been happy with an unsolved mystery.

The next day, when he started to trace the wire, he found the end of a self tapping screw coming up from underneath the vehicle into the wiring loom on the right hand side ahead of the BECM.
Great. Some soldering and shrink wrap later there were four wires repaired (including the handbrake wire) and full EAS was restored. RESULT! sadly we then wasted a couple of hours because of faulty LR manuals which indicated that the handbrake signal was still incorrect. I got to see inside my own BECM (which is a bit like watching your own open heart surgery) but eventually it was certain that the BECM was working fine.

That cost us the chance to have a go at the faulty blend motor, but by that time it was clear that I've got bigger problems behind the dash. The carpet under the drivers footwell is soaking and pink. Uh Oh. I guess that means the dash is coming out pretty sharpish* for a new heater core, so the blend motor and a sensor can wait till then. Hmmpph :(

In other bodging news, Marty took the chance to change some bulbs in the instrument cluster. The ABS and TC bulbs were fine.. just taped over by some previous MOT dodger. Great.

Then to top it, on the way back a new and expensive sounding noise appeared from underneath. It could be a CV joint... I should find out tomorrow.

But massive thanks to Marty for putting his brain to work on The Duchess, which is now a far more complete motor than it was before. I hope we'll be able to get one of his Audi heater cores in it some time, but I think I'd better investigate the running gear before taking any more motorway trips.

*sharpish is realistically a couple of months. Lets hope nothing goes badly wrong by then.

I do now! The PM notification is still a little.. not working :(
I'll try and pop it in the post tomorrow.
Sorry!

Long as a trip to "near Swindon" :)
Nowhere near Latvia!