and wear wellies!

The new ones have been slathered in WD40 silicon version "Safe on metal, rubber and plastic" so maybe they'll come out easier. Maybe.

They're out! At last.
Turns out that if you get angry enough you don't even need to remove the clips

which is just as well as the ones on the driver's side were not moving for anything.

The wood chisel was a welcome addition to the armoury, thank you Richard. It wasn't quite long enough to get all the top off the spring but it did enough damage for the top clip to no longer hold the plastic in place once I rotated the spring a bit.

I nearly took the drivers side shock out, because I couldn't get any leverage when pulling towards it. I'm confused as to why the clip was put in that way round but if it can go the other way I'll do that on re-assembly. If I bother with clips that is, they're clearly just designed to hold the bags until they rust into place properly.

Now tea :D

I'm guessing option 2 then. I've tried prying the top of the spring (where the clip goes through) and nothing doing. Still, it's a good excuse for a hearty breakfast before re-joining battle :D

The bag with no clips is stuck at the top. I have pry bars (thanks Marty for the suggestion!) - I'm just struggling on where to pry it! It's like trying to lever a blancmange!
The other side isn't giving up the clips. I've only started on the bottom one which is now largely straight but the important bit is still in the hole.
I've packed up for today, I'll get more vicious with it tommorow. I had an optician's appointment in York and on the way back I picked up the male-male hose connector I was missing so now I can jetwash the whole area and get rid of all the crap. I was just using a brush today and there was a lot of mud getting in the way.
The WD40 has been liberally applied for an overnight soak :D

btw, there's an hilarious video on youtube on how to remove rear airbags. It's by an Aussie who pulls the clips out with a bent coathanger wire and the bags pop right out. I'm jealous of places that don't have rust :P

Well, I've undone the air lines and got 2 clips out!
Neither bag will come out, one because it still has one and a half clips holding it in and the other because it just doesn't want to.
This is fun!

Gilbertd wrote:

donmacn wrote:

I turned on the ignition again and the ABS pump ran for about 10/11 secs. After another little bit, turned the ignition on again and it did the same. A problem with the bleeding, or the accumulator?

Might be a problem with the bleeding or it could be internal leakage in the ABS modulator. A car that I worked on seemed fine yet the ABS pump would run for a few seconds every so often with the ignition on. Pulling the reservoir off and found rust particles where it fitted in. Cleaned it out and refilled with fresh fluid and it was fine.

Have I ballsed up the valve block rebuild when I did that a few months ago?

Quite possibly I'm afraid. It sounds like you have a leak on both front valves. The usual cause of internal leaks are the really thin O rings that go around the base of the solenoid plunger tube not seating properly. There is an easy way to check them without taking the valve block out again though. Pull the pipe out that goes to the air spring and lever the collett out. with your tyre pump, fit the tapered thing intended so you can blow up inflatable toys and shove that into one of the holes where the pipe went. Then switch on the pump and watch the gauge. If there are no internal leaks the pressure will rise steadily up to about 80psi (or whatever the pump can manage) then switch off the pump. Keep holding the tapered thing in the hole and see how quickly the pressure drops away. If it is good, it will either not drop at all or will only drop very slowly until you get bored holding the pipe in place. If the pressure only rises slowly and doesn't hold, you've ballsed it up and got an internal leak.

Genius!

Before you pull the trigger on all this, have you done a compression/leakdown test? and one of those "detect exhaust gases in the coolant" tests?
It might just be a valvetrain issue which you could fix without the engine coming all the way out.

You're probably right, and a full rebuild will fix whatever the issue is, but it might just not be necessary. Also, if your compression numbers ARE all out of whack and you have exhaust in the coolant - you'll feel better about dropping lots of money on a rebuild. Or I would, at any rate :)

I've watched the Rimmer Bros video and it all looks feasible for a 12 fingered, shovel handed ape like myself.
As I understand it, I get the EAS up to wading mode (that'll take a while!) and then jack the body up a bit to get stands underneath. I've only got the standard Jack, but four decent stands.
The axle should be... not quite hanging loose? I'm guessing that you can't really have it hanging down all the way or I won't get the springs in.
Thanks in advance!

and you only need it far enough off the bump stops to get you to a garage air line...

Those are the guys.

There's a company near me that seems to start at about £8k for Japanese P38. A friend of mine bought one but chopped it in after a year because it "kept breaking down". From the (rather terse) description it was just a few EAS faults that anyone on here could have sorted but I suspect the importers know more about Japan than P38s. Just my suspicion.

Ebay 384689724352
A fine example of your BBC License fee at work!
(apologies to our overseas viewers)

Well I'd have no problem with the warning (I've got it on my Jeep, and it makes me think of Jurassic Park) but a different focus/direction could be an issue.
Ah well, I've got more pressing issues like EAS valve block and rear bags to go at.
BUT, it was payday yesterday so I'd better get the bits :)

I can't even see if they're heated, I'd hope so!

The Duches, being a expensive Bi++.. Lady... has the auto dipping, auto dimming, heated wing mirrors.
The driver's side one has now decided that being reflective was far too common and has changed colour to an unpleasant dog-streak brown.
Not wishing to replace the whole assembly (it's colour coded, too) I looked for a replacement piece of glass.

https://www.paddockspares.com/crd101240-rh-mirror-glass-electrochromatic-convex-from-ya430702.html

Holy Carp.

Lol, thanks guys :)

Yes, I pulled the motor apart to see if I could find any reason for the metal shavings (which I now suspect are the remains of the grub screw).
I'll digest what you said Richard and see if I can grow another hand :D
The main issue I was having was the long screws that run past the magnets invariably click on the magnets and don't want to go to the holes at the far end of the casing. I'm sure there's a simpler way, once you spot it.

If you're at all concerned about the amount of effort and parts you'll need to keep a P38 running, click on my name to the left of this post. That's what I've put on what was a "Minter" since I bought it. There's nothing all that scary, just the constant drip of things that need doing.

Gilbertd wrote:

I want to ask why a taxi converted to run on LPG can be exempt from the ULEZ charge yet a privately owned car converted to run on LPG isn't.

You'll never guess who I had in the back of my cab last week....
And it wasn't his missus either!!

Glad I've got the camera... should be good for some extra ULEZ Exemptions!

In my curiousity, I took the motor out of the casing to have a better look. Can't get the damn thing back in again!! I might go and do a couple of rubics cubes, blindfolded, as light relief 🙅‍♂️