There is probably a battery in the computer much like a lithium cell on a motherboard etc - a CR2025/2032 that is responsible for keeping the last position and time data in volatile memory.
I've never taken one apart so I don't know for sure, but if its otherwise working... then that would be my first guess. Crack it open and see what you can find :)
The viscous fan is mechanical and thus driven by the engine - if the engine is running, the big fan mounted to the front of the engine should be spinning. It might be the viscous coupling isnt' locking up, but even then, it should be spinning to some degree. If you say it span freely yesterday when it was hot, then chances are, the coupling has failed. When cold, they are usually stiff, and then free up once the engine is running. But as it gets hot again, they lock up and thus pull more air through the cooling pack.
The electric fans in front of the radiator pack are not for engine cooling - on the V8 at least they can be told to run by the engine ECU when overheating, but I don't know about on the diesel, and either way, they aren't up to much once they've gone through the AC condenser, intercooler and finally the engine radiator anyway.
You may have been hearing the auto box cooler fan tucked down behind the front bumper - late auto diesels had them.
Thing to check in my opinion is that the bottom of the radiator is getting hot - if its stone cold and the fan isn't locking up, then there is no flow through it, so no hot air hitting the viscous coupling. That would most likely be down to thermostat or water pump. If the rad is hot top to bottom, then viscous coupling.
Would be my first thing to look at, anyway :)
Yeah those screws really only help with alignment when gluing the windows back in. When I painted my rr I had to cut both windows out to paint behind etc. And the rear pillar trims had been bonded to the edge of the glass too so that was fun.
Trust me, masking up half the car to paint the trims is the easier option ;)
Do you mean the rear fixed windows, or the rear door windows?
If you mean the very rear side windows - the trims are bonded to the glass.
Afraid not, but it does have a BMW M57 3 litre common rail diesel instead :)
:)
The Monaco seat went in primarily because my drivers seat, like most at this point, was heavily worn and the cushion was flat on the door side. I'd recently sat in one of these Monaco's in a friends Defender and actually - they're really comfy. Great for offroading too - loads of support as you'd expect.
It's on the original electric memory seat base - so I have power forwards/back and height adjustment. And memories!
I've had my current P38 for about 6 years, and the paint has always needed some attention. Peeling lacquer on the bonnet and roof, corrosion etc. In that time, the car has had one or two other 'minor' modifications under the bonnet and inside :) So I thought it was time the outside had a freshen up...
Before:
After...
I'm just missing the iron on the bonnet...
Paint is thinned Upol raptor in LR AA yellow. Side steps and light guards are neat black raptor. Doors, tailgate and rear bonded windows all came out to paint anywhere you would see silver day to day.
I'd still rather put diesel in mine now and get more power than the V8 ever could ;)
Gas just isn't viable down here anymore, which is a shame.
I have been up to giving my RR a bit of a tarting up... more of a 'what have you done in the last week' than today. Pics when its finished!
I wouldn't be surprised if they're fine with the cylinders and my fgas - probably detain me for a tube of toothpaste though!
I know Duracells are pretty good... but they're going to pretty sketchy lengths to pack that much power into them...
I'd be willing to bet an open circuit evap sensor would stop the compressor engaging if it defaults to -40 like the others. I haven't confirmed that on a P38 though - but otherwise the HEVAC has no way of knowing how to cycle the compressor. Normally it cuts out at about 4c and back in at 7c, regardless of how you have the temperature set on the HEVAC itself. If you have both sides set to 'Lo' it will still only cycle in that window - otherwise it would risk a freeze up and flood liquid refrigerant back to the compressor and likely cause a big bang as the compressor chugs something it can't squash any more :)
Being an early one as you say though, it may genuinely just be a regas but eh, if it works reasonably well most of the time in his climate then I'd think charge should be okay. The other possibility is that on a properly hot day... if its overcharged, the high side pressure spikes and the high limit is cutting it off. That could be hindered by a dead condenser fan(s) or faulty pressure switch not bringing them on at all or at high speed. The high side limit is then hit, the pressure switch goes open circuit and the HEVAC will see it as a fault and disable the output, so no LED.
Because I have no viscous fan, here in the UK I have had my fans come on at high speed on a hot (35ish) day when first cooling the interior down - had to wonder what the hell the noise was to start with.
Does it work at all to start with on a hot day Paul?
If not... I'd personally be suspecting a wiring issue especially down by that footwell connector. The annoying thing is, that kind of issue will also raise it as a fault that disables the output... Perhaps a regas is the easiest place to start in this instance without diagnostics to ensure a proper charge - and then perhaps look at bypassing that connector for the clutch wiring to rule it out.
Sorry to throw more possibilities out there... always difficult to diagnose something over the internet.
That said if you want to fly me out to you, I'll happily bring diagnostics and recovery/evac/recharge kit with me to diagnose and regas it once we find the problem. No charge, just cover my travel costs :P
I was going to mention the clutch air gap - but if no +12v from the HEVAC to the electromagnet, it isn't going to do anything. But I'm working on the assumption that +12v is being measured (or lack of) on the connector on the back of the HEVAC, if its somewhere else on the loom, then it could be a break or the usual footwell connectors etc.
Aha, since the "upgrade" to the forum I can't be arsed looking there anymore.
In that kind of climate, while stationary you might get the electric fans to come on at low speed, but it is quite normal for them to rarely/never run if your viscous fan is working well - as that pulls a lot of air over the whole cooling pack even when the coupling isn't locked up. But if you're not even getting a compressor clutch output, I'd say something else is at fault first. Honestly off the top of my head, I can't remember if the HEVAC a) has any way of detecting faults with the fan relay control and b) if it did, if that would disable the clutch control. Diagnostics again would be your friend here.
The LED you have on your HEVAC output - where is that wired in? Actually physically on/by the HEVAC, or elsewhere in the car's wiring loom?
Are you in the UK, if not where are you and what is your climate like? What kind of ambient temp counts as a hot day for you?
The evap sensor is used constantly to cycle the system - not just for icing. Ideally you'd need diagnostics to see what is going on with that sensor, the aspirator (internal cabin temp) and the outside air temp sensors. All three will be used to determine as and when to run the compressor. The only other thing that gets involved is the engine ECU - the HEVAC has to 'request' whether it can run the AC compressor output, and if the engine ECU says no (overheating, max throttle/revs etc) then the HEVAC complies and does not run it.
If you're not getting the +12v output from the HEVAC to the compressor clutch, then its likely a sensor fault or the request signal is being denied for some reason. Does the outside air temp read properly? That's the easy one to check as it will be on the display.
Yeah, electrochromatic is expensive on any car.
It is nice to have, but on any car I've had it - once it fails (which it always does) it just gets replaced with plain heated glass. Occasionally with blue tint which does cut down on some glare at night.
Gilbertd wrote:
They have got to be joking!!!!!
I take it the camera they took these pictures on is from a similar vintage....
So 8k for one of the oldest P38s with an actually unknown spec really, on springs, a remote fob issue that could even end up as being a BeCM swap that hasn't been programmed properly, and who knows what else is wrong - there is no way that is the end of the list of faults. And what is going on with that thing on the lower tailgate? Clearly whatever it is for is missing.
The ad just reads... 'we're too busy/lazy to sort it out but still want top money for this polished turd'
Aragorn wrote:
Sloth wrote:
Yeah I tried a cheap GEMS MAF - did not work properly.
Yeah, and this is my fear... Whats the solution? these parts are all 20+ years old, and clearly are all reaching end of life. Buying more used ones isnt a solution.
Unfortunately I don't have an answer for that one - my GEMS P38 wasn't long for the world and for other reasons I ended up replacing it with one that happened to be a Thor. And now its got an entirely different engine it altogether.
Yeah I tried a cheap GEMS MAF - did not work properly.
14.8v is on the high side for a lead acid battery... I'd be more worried about overcharging the battery personally.
Where are you finding an alternator that fits a P38 engine with that set point?
I'd say dirty contacts on the blower speed adjustment - if you find its difficult to turn the speed up or down without needing a few attempts to get it where you want, that's another sign of this.
Yes, that is right - code number 1 generates the other 3 internally.
Hopefully you don't have two #3s for one car or want to use them both, as one would quickly get the other out of sync unfortunately.
I'd have to check again as its been a while, I can't remember if anything other than fob code #1 can be programmed in and expected to work. I have a feeling this might be a no, as the transmission sent from the fob would potentially not match up with what the BeCM expects for say, #3.
The way we can read fob codes is something we've done ourselves by reverse engineering the keys - it is not something off the shelf nor am I willing to divulge any specifics on how it is done, for hopefully obvious reasons. If someone wants to know their fob codes though I'm happy to read them, I'm not looking for anything for doing so - so long as postage is covered obviously. The only caveat with NAS fobs is I'd need a 315mhz receiver, and I don't think I have one in my stash.
At some point we were looking at producing replacement P38 keys or at least fobs. While we have prototyped them and we can do it, life has kind of gotten in the way. I'd like to look into this again soon. There is at least one other company that actually makes P38 replacement keys, although I have never had my hands on one to see what the quality is like etc. I'd like to think I could do it significantly cheaper too, but it would probably be low volume.
I'm also down to one working fob... so I should really get my arse in gear and at least make some.