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The dye was instrumental in locating a tiny leak which didn't show under normal running as whatever fluid came out evaporated behind alternator/ aircon or on valley gasket.
Only knew I had a very minor leak somewhere after pressure/ vacuum testing cooling system...
enter image description here

A couple of thoughts....
I've never boiled a P38 with knock correction, but on other engines that I have cooked, if they lose coolant from the head area they go into detonation when the combustion area gets hot enough. This will cause the engine to knock loudly as well as the characteristic running on and rattling when the engine is turned off.
On the failed thermostat, they can also fail as a result of overheating, when the wax device that controls the opening is damaged by the heat, so the thermostat may not be the initial cause.
I'll be interested to hear the noise (belted and beltless) when you get a chance to record it. Check the viscous coupling while you're down there, just in case something's broken in there.
It's a pain when you've put as much time on the car as you have recently, but, fingers crossed, there's no terminal damage.
EDIT- viscous coupling refers to the fan clutch, not the transmission VC :)

Buy a couple of bottles of fluorescent dye for the coolant. I used this:
You can get a UV torch for a couple of pounds.
The advantage of the dye is that while small coolant leaks evaporate leaving no trace (well, eventually you might get some crystals), the dye remains and is easy to spot in a darkened garage.
IMO K Seal is a get you home in an emergency bodge, not a fix-all. Once in the system, it's a bu99er to clean out.

Hi Tony
Have you had a look at the Symptoms & Diagnosis section here?
Re the Diagnostics stuff, the only other software that can access HEVAC (among many other systems) that I know of is the paid version of EASUnlock (V4) which is cheaper than Nano etc
The fault symbol does clear once the fault is fixed though so no software required to clear it.
EDIT this post seems to have a fair list of diagnostics processes you can do manually

I'm still around- I've just moved away from my "stream of consciousness" postings where I was posting too much inconsequential cr@p relating to my builds and thought processes! Just getting on with doing it...
New heads are on. Castings must have been in their first iteration, or valves beautifully topped as didn't need any shims on pedestals, so I've got a large assortment of shims to hand for the next head job.
Lower inlet manifold was slightly damaged as whoever fitted it previously had not clamped the rear end seal correctly, rather they'd trapped it partially up the manifold, distorting the clamp and messing up clamping face, but that's sorted- just waiting for a new clamp to turn up.
Other than that, new QH water pump, new thermostat, new temp sender, bunch of new hoses and away she goes, again!

blueplasticsoulman wrote:

Out of interest, whats in the box behind the battery? Thats got all sorts of wires coming out of it too.


On a GEMS, the engine ECU. On a Thor it's just an empty box so, sandwiches, mini tool kit, or, more realistically it's where the LPG ECU is usually fitted
EDIT- beaten by Gilbertd, but we agree on sandwiches :)

Pots 'n kettles Morat :)

Well, you said you'd never really been hands on with cars so I factored in lots of time!
Looking from another perspective, I can pull the top plenum off (had lots of practice recently) in 1/2 hour, injectors out and cleaned- probably a couple of hours (15 mins/ injector), re-assemble with new rocker gaskets 1 hour (inc bleeding the bleeding cooling system). I suspect others on here can do it faster :)
So, if you've done it before, it's a mornings work including tea breaks.

If you budget a weekend that should be plenty of time for getting as far as plenum/ top manifold off (you need to do that to get to injectors), cleaning everything and reassembly. If you have to work outside that's weather dependent though.
Make sure you have all the gaskets/ seals that you'll need. The injector seals will need replacing- as a minimum the 14.5mm viton ones but as you're taking them out and cleaning maybe get a full kit like this one.
Plenum gasket maybe, but its metal and can take being re-used. I spray mine with a bit of Blue Hylomar when putting it back together.
Take lots of photos before and during disassembly, bag and tag all of your nuts and bolts.
As far as tools- just a normal socket set etc. make sure you've got a long slim 12 point 8mm for rocker cover bolts.
You'll need coolant as you're bound to lose a bit when taking off throttle body hoses etc even if you clamp them.

There is cable setting info in RAVE (Section 19 Page 2) for both types, but for GEMS throttle cable adjustment RAVE does say
NOTE: Accurate setting of this cable is
critical to correct operation of automatic
transmission.

It's the Oily Bits front page. I can access individual messages but not the front page.

Morat wrote:

I'd never head of the Tornado chip (being a newbie to Rover V8s). Some pretty startling claims are made - but £385 plus VAT and shipping is a little harsh!


Mark is pretty much the global authority on the GEMS ECU. All of his numbers are backed up with dyno figures. He's extended that to the Thor as well, although, as he says, you don't get the same overall power increase as you do with the GEMS.
My GEMS has the Tornado chipset. I've only driven 1 other GEMS and mine certainly feels like it has much more poke in the mid-range than that one did.
He does also supply ECUs for GEMS and Thor with the Tornado upgrade that have the security stuff programmed out- designed for using the engine in other cars. No danger of the BECM and engine ECU conspiring to immobilise the vehicle.

gordonjcp wrote:

Mine sits at around 25% all the time, sometimes more, when the engine is idling. I wonder if that's why it's so bloody gutless between 2000 and 3000 revs, it's not sitting in the right parts of its fuelling and timing curves?


On a GEMS (and to a lesser extent the Thor) the mid-range gutlessness is due to fuelling/ timing designed to "cheat" the emissions test. The famous Tornado chipset is designed to address that
"Normally these engines are not very interested in revving much further than 4500RPM, and they also feature a flat spot on full load between 1750 and 3250RPM. Most of the available response is seen on the first and last 25% of the throttle pedal travel, whilst the 50% in the middle doesn’t make much difference."

Just for completeness an Absolute Load Value is needed. I think this is what Nano reports as Engine Load

ALV is the normalised value of air mass per intake stroke displayed as a percent
Characteristics of ALV are:
— Ranges from 0 to approximately 0.95 for naturally aspirated engines, 0 – 4 for boosted engines,
— Linearly correlated with engine indicated and brake torque,
— Often used to schedule spark and EGR rates,
— Peak value of LOAD_ABS correlates with volumetric efficiency at WOT.,
— Indicates the pumping efficiency of the engine for diagnostic purposes.
= [air mass (g / intake stroke)] / [1.184 (g / intake stroke) * cylinder displacement in litres

On my Vogue using Nano data I get
Idle Load Air at 3% (from Air/ Fuel recording in Motronic)
Engine Load (at idle) 18% (From General 1 recording in Motronic)
Maybe RAVE refers to Idle Load Air as reported by Nano?

That question pricked my interest, so did a bit of digging
CLV is (crudely)an indicator of manifold vacuum and is internally calculated from inputs of air flow, air temp, air pressure
Characteristics of CLV are:
— Reaches 1.0 at WOT at any altitude, temperature or rpm for both naturally aspirated and boosted engines.
— Indicates percent of peak available torque.
— Linearly correlated with engine vacuum
— Often used to schedule power enrichment.
= [current airflow] / [(peak airflow at WOT@STP as a function of rpm) (BARO/29.92) SQRT(298/(AAT+273))]
— Where: STP = Standard Temperature and Pressure = 25 °C, 29.92 in Hg BARO, SQRT = square root,
— WOT = wide open throttle, AAT = Ambient Air Temperature and is in °C

Gilbertd wrote:

That's interesting George, as far as I know the cable is adjusted correctly but I'll give it a go. As there's no kick down cable on the P38, that would suggest it has something to do with the signal from the TPS. My TPS is an aftermarket one too so may have slightly different characteristics.


I've emailed you a copy of the SID for the Automatic Gearbox
Covers most of the controls and interactions for the box controller

Many have tried, across the various forums worldwide, and nobody has come back whooping with success.
There was a Brit guy on another forum who thought he could fix them and asked for U/S units to play with. He's gone strangely quiet on the subject for a couple of months though!
Marty's got a project on the bench to build a replacement for the "standard" DSP amp, using the old discrete separate amps. Last I read his prototype was all but complete.

Hi David
There's a chance the nav (if it's iffy) is interfering with the DSP amp and muting it. Unplug the nav unit in the loadspace (usual power down stuff!) and try the audio again.
If the amp is actually stuffed, there are actually a couple of the right model on the bay at the moment. Pricey though
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Range-Rover-P38-Harman-Kardon-Amplifier-Amp-XQK000110-with-Warranty-/192172593166?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331926540611?

Might be worth disconnecting the gearchange cable at the box end. It's just a clevis pin. Don't rotate the pin on the thread and you won't have to readjust anything.
You can then move the gearbox input lever through its notches and see if they correspond with selection display on dash/ selector

blueplasticsoulman wrote:

Google chucks up the possibility of a Neutral Sensing Switch. About £7. Looked in Rave but can't find where it lives.


There's one on the manual gearbox
Edit. When I was changing the selector cable on mine a while ago, I do recall seeing a microswitch in the "gate" on the selector end.
Found this thread which might relate to your issue