That may be the answer. They are a soft rubber plug with a round metal circlip on them, probably to stop the plug from being inadvertently pushed into the airbag.

Thanks for the answer, Chris. I now know that I don't have to unduly worry about them.

Pierre3.

Hi, I received two new rear air bags for my P38, can somebody tell me what are the soft rubber pipes, located in the top, or bottom, used for ?

Pierre3.

Could it not be the heater plugs ? I have always had diesel work SUV's and one thing that I noticed through the years and vehicles was that if the heater plugs were not all working then the motor would try to start, even just start to run, but then just cut out. And of course the engine would not start after that.

I suppose that I am a bit anal about bad performing heater plugs that the first thing that I do is just replace them all. I always have a box of Bosch spare items for immediate replacement. I have done this for all of the diesels that I have owned, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and Renault.

Pierre3.

Richard, I agree completely with your comments. You are absolutely correct about drivers today being unable to either change a tyre or check their oil. You're lucky when most of them can actually reverse correctly. As you are probably well aware, the ability to reverse park in a supermarket car parking space is almost unknown. Clowns [sorry, Clowns, I don't mean to disrespect your industry as a whole !!], seem to think that it is perfectly acceptable to park halfway into the space beside them !!!

Pierre3.

Karlos, some manufacturers obviously had engineers who drove cars whose bulbs failed, or needed to change a tyre on the roadside, or some other minor task that is a serviceable item, and then thought about how to make it easy. Whereas other manufacturers had engineers who said to the designers "make the car really cool-looking, and don't worry about serviceable, the owner is bound to take it to their garage to get a new brake-light bulb [or whatever]".

At least, back in the 40's and 50's, as cars were progressing they were also improving. From this point of view I think that when they introduced knock-on wheels, with a nice big wing-nut holding the wheel on, that was the best idea ever !! Jack up the car, bash the wing-nut with a mallet, and the wheel was off. Easy-peasy, and the manufacturer only had to fit on big wheel nut.

Pierre3.

Nigel, I have certainly had cars on which the engineers had actually thought out how to change headlight/sidelight bulbs, which are such a common failure point, but presumably LR didn't employ any of these guys !!!

I can never understand why car manufacturers make it so difficult to change stuff like light bulbs. They must think that their bulbs never fail when you see some of the stupid steps you have to go through, just to change a bulb. And seeing as I am in a grumpy mood I have another point that really gets up my nose - why are manufacturers stopping putting oil dipsticks in cars ???

If anything should be fitted as standard it ought to be a dipstick. Relying on the stupid electronic system, and the 500 steps required to check the oil, is just asking for trouble. At least if there is a dipstick then any twonk can physically check the oil, but with the electronic stuff people won't bother. I had a Merc 220E which didn't have a dipstick, and in the 4 years that I owned it I never checked the oil, except for its' annual service. The requirements for checking the oil made it that you were hardly ever in the correct position to go through the various steps to get a reading.

And, lastly [thank God, says the reader], what has happened to having a spare wheel ?? These days, when people get a flat tyre, they sit on the side of the road for a couple of hours until their roadside service provider turns up and fills the flat tyre full of gunk so that [a] the owner gets home, and [b] the tyre garage chucks out the tyre and fits a new one.

I normally carry one of those kits where you pull out the screw or nail and push in the string thing so that you get an instant repair. The only problem is that I haven't bothered buying an electric pump so I have to use the old fashioned foot pump. My daughter gave me an electric thing, some years back but it was totally useless.

So that's my grumpy rant for the day, now I am going to go out for a walk, just before it rains, with my Te***o umbrella which will probably collapse in the wind just as the rain starts. I could have easily lived next door to Victor Meldrew, we would have had a lot to talk, or complain, about !!!

Pierre3.

Thanks for your reply, Marty. I was aware that you are very busy, and that you would be away in Europe for a while.

Whenever you get the chance to check them out would be fine as I am not in a rush to get a replacement for my own. I have mine currently set so that it is fully closed in the roof space so at least there is no rainwater getting in. I am happy with this for the time being, but I would quite like to have a working sunroof again. I just don't want to put in a cassette in a poorer condition than my own.

I took my sunroof cassette out, about 18 months ago, and at the time I removed the seal around the glass and tidied everything up so, at the moment it is in good shape. But it is non-operational because the motor seems to be knackered, and the cable that retracts the roof seems to be not pulling the glass back for some reason. If I can get a good cassette, without rust or corrosion around the glass, then I would put that it in so that I can let out the flies and bees from inside the car on sunny days !!!!

Pierre3.

Marty, I sent a couple of PM's to you regarding the possibility of a good, complete sunroof cassette. Didn't hear from you so I assume they are all gone, but if you have a good one then I may still be interested.

Pierre3.

So I finally got a bit of luck with the weather, nice and warm, and sunny this morning. I jacked up the car and grabbed the wheel top and bottom and gave it a good pull and shake in both directions. It's absolutely solid, there is no give in the bearing at all, from what I can see and feel.

I just need to wait for some Wabco sensors from a breaker, to arrive and I will stick one in the front left hand [passenger] side hub and hope that the ABS/TC message clears off, permanently. I am fairly sure that the current sensor is a spurious one, as I had one replaced around 18 months ago - I just can't remember which one !!!

I also spent an hour and a half replacing the sidelight bulb on the drivers side front, in behind the battery. Being as I have the largest 950 a/h Yuasa extra heavy duty battery fitted there is very little room to get my hand between the battery and the headlight, and then under the headlight plug to twist/undo the sidelight holder. It is just easier to remove the battery and then twist the holder. I had to do a small bit of cleaning to the bulb holder and then the actual plug connected to the wires. I used electrical contact cleaner and gave both plugs a good soaking. Then a scrub with a toothbrush, and finally a blast of brake disc cleaner. Now the bits are all squeaky clean, and the fresh bulb is perfectly happy, shining out its' little shiny message !! Just wish that it is a bit easier and quicker.

Pierre3.

Thanks Richard, that's another bit ruled out. I still have to find the opportunity to check these bearings, as the weather has not been the best.

Pierre3.

Thanks for all the invaluable information, guys. I just need a bit of good weather to get the wheels off the ground, to check the bearings.

Is there any reason why I can't tighten the bearing ? If there isn't much movement in the bearing can I not tweak it up to take out any looseness in the bearing ? It would just save all the work replacing the hub, or getting new bearings fitted.

I wonder what type of bearings are fitted to the Britpart hub, as I notice that the Island 4x4 hub is listed with the Timken name so I am guessing that Timken bearings are fitted to this hub.

Pierre3.

I sent him a PM, but just if you happen to be talking to him then perhaps you could let him know that maybe I could do with one, if they are good.

Very many thanks,

Pierre3.

Richard, could you let Marty know that I sent a PM, this evening, to him with reference the sunroof cassettes that he has ?

If he has a complete good one, with clean outer seals and the motor securely attached, and the price is right then I wouldn't mind one.

Pierre3.

Yes, you are probably right. In fact, I contacted James Coleman and ordered some Wabco-D ones from him, this morning, as I am now in some doubt as to the likelihood of the others ever actually turning up.

I was reading that you need a thirty ton press if you want to fit Timken wheel bearings. What happens if you choose SKF bearings instead ? Do you still need such a big press, or can you reasonably expect to be able to do them in the average garage ? And my garage is very average !!!!!

Pierre3.

Richard, thanks for the explanation. OK, so it looks like I have two problems. one is probably a leaking passenger side rear airbag, and two, one of the ABS sensors is flaky.

I'm a bit disappointed because a guy in Aus is supposed to be sending me 4 Wabco used sensors, in good nick off a P38 that has only had tarmac use in Melbourne or somewhere. I don't think that he is a crook as he has a lot of stuff on the Range Rover P38 facebook forum, a guy named Nick Thomas. But who know, it won't be the first time, and I will look elsewhere.

Pierre3.

It's an interesting discussion, sure enough. Just to add another dimension to the discussion - a company in the States which builds hydrogen powered trucks is call Nikola.

Nikola was supposed to team up with GM, which they did for a while, and now I think Nikola are working with another truck manufacturer, and one would think that the future is looking bright. Based on the reviews in the US financial papers I fancied a punt on the Nikola shares, they looked good at $10, and being in league with GM they should have a pretty solid background. But what happened after two years - the shares tanked, to about 0.50 cents a share. I just hung on until last year, when they got another decent share review and the price went back up, but not quite to the original $10. I didn't lose too much, fortunately. Now I am putting those losses into my P38, with as much chance of getting my investment back as if I had stayed with Nikola !!!

Pierre3.

Hi Richard, what is the effect of the flexible sensor arm not working correctly ?

Pierre3.

Hi guys, thanks for all your invaluable advice.

In regards to the misreading of the sensors it is possible, I suppose, that this would explain why the rear passenger side wheel goes down over the course of a week ? Although more likely to be the airbag.

I will follow up on all the advice given so freely, but much appreciated, over the next couple of weeks. I need to wait for some good weather, and also to get my walking abilities back !!!

Pierre3.

Hi guys, I hope that this is allowed but I want to look for a bit more information in regards to the ABS/TC warning lights coming on, on the dashboard.

I got under the car yesterday, and following both Richards' and Bolts' advice I gave the passenger side sensor a couple of taps with a light hammer, and the warning lights went out, tested by driving about 1/4 mile. So everything appeared hunky-dory, but I know that you readers have guessed that that is not all.

I went out on a 40 mile, each way, journey and after around 10 miles the warning lights came back on while gently bumbling down a motorway. So I continued on to my destination, parked and switched off ignition.

After three hours I returned and set off again, but after 6 miles this time the warning lights came back on and stayed on until I got home, about 1 1/2 hours - due to heavy traffic.

So could I be looking at, as Bolt suggested, a flaky wheel bearing on the passenger side front wheel. This is where I had a lower reading on the Nanocom, when doing as road test as suggested by Richard. The static readings were all around 2.30, a bit above and a bit below, but when driven slowly three readings varied from the 2.30-ish figure by very little, but the front passenger side sensor gave readings around 1.80.

So tapping the F P Side sensors cleared the fault.

Some research suggests perhaps a faulty wheel bearing, a faulty sensor, or a CV joint going faulty. Do I just have to bite the bullet and change everything ?

Pierre3

Ha, that's fine then. Provided it lands on the two ends then I will be able to crawl out from under it !!!