This is one of my favourite cheap tools - a Uni-T AC/DC clamp meter. Has a 2, 20 and 100 amp scale on both AC and DC current testing.

Makes non-invasive battery drain testing (or general current monitoring) very simple and safe. Very much a must have for a P38 owner I'd say if you're having battery issues.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UT210E-Current-Meters-Capacitance-Tester/dp/B00O1Q2HOQ

I actually lost it (in the house... somehow) for a few months and missed it enough I nearly bought another one before finding it.

romanrob wrote:

"Quite clean" filters? Lol

If you've seen how they normally come out... mine look almost pristine in comparison. They're also not 20 years old and original like most. Needs must and I'm not going to avoid doing the job just because I don't have a nice new set. Don't get me wrong... I wouldn't reuse an oil filter during an oil change...

Re-re-sealed my blower housings and pollen filter covers etc. The morons that did the windscreen (twice) broke some of the clips above the metal plate and replaced them with generic round items that were letting water straight down onto the filters. Hopefully I've sorted it... had to cut the foam out from under the passenger side carpet to dry it out fully. All back in now.

Filters themselves quite clean, but I had no replacements to hand... so into the oven they went.

Replaced the rear shocks for some lower mileage used ones Martin had kicking about. The rear passenger side was crashing down. I forgot to take a pic but the shock itself hadn't leaked and was damping as I'd expect, but the shaft of the bottom mount was badly rusted through, and the rubber bushes were badly worn. I think the shaft was moving and hitting the mount before the shock did its thing etc. We'll see next time it goes down a rutted track!

And to top off the rain related leaks (for now)... I found my BMW has this neat water cooled battery tray. Nothing a few bungs knocked out couldn't fix.

Bah humbug, etc.

When you put the key into the ignition barrel on either vehicle but do not turn it, does the light on the fob start flashing in any combination of key and vehicle?

If you confirm the locks are on the wrong vehicles, swapping them over to make it correct is surely the way to go... considering the time and effort put into making these examples so tidy? To screw the locksets up makes no sense to me with these.

I missed this sorry - but as you've found out, the Thor gasket doesn't fit unfortunately. RAVE doesn't call for one either I don't believe - just the use of a sealant like Hylomar.

To be fair... I'm probably going to get a garage to look at the clanging noise that I'm pretty sure is coming from the drive shaft on my BMW, because its dark and cold in the evenings, and I hate lifting up "normal" cars at the best of times. Let alone dropping the exhaust, heat shields and prop shaft out...

Sometimes its less faff to make it someone else's problem! :)

I must admit I've never driven anything with one in - but I'm not ruling having another E39 off the cards at some point. An LPG'd 540i saloon would fit the bill.

David. Go do one.

In your first post here, you said it was cranking but not starting.

In your second post, you now say, having ignored the suggestions given to you, it does sometimes start. "simple as that" - obviously not, if you don't give us any information to go on. We're trying to help YOU with YOUR problem with only what you give us to go on.

And to then slag us off for our efforts? Thanks, you arrogant tool.

Why do you insist it is in the battery, when its clearly cranking at speed with no trouble? Have you even confirmed whether you have spark or fuel pressure yet? If you don't have a clue, don't piss others off for YOUR shortcomings.

Blanco wrote:

The P38 is a mix of LR and BMW electronic systems and you really need someone with the right equipment.

This is more relevant to the L322, which was basically a mix of E39 5 series and E53 X5 underneath. The P38 doesn't share any electronics with BMW as such. Other than the diesel variety - which obviously has a BMW diesel engine in it :) But the rest of the vehicle is LR.

To make a wild guess on the problem in the video, the dash looks like the earlier style, so it might be a GEMS engine (however this isn't 100%, as I have the same dash, but a Thor engine). If it is a GEMS (square inlet manifold that says 4.0 or 4.6 on top), and the check engine light is lit up before engine start as it is, that suggests the ECUs are in sync as its cranking okay - so it should start. Lack of fuel pressure or a crank position sensor would cause a no start. There is a shrader valve on the fuel rail you can use to check for pressure. If that is good, pop a spark plug out and see if you have spark. If you get a spark, the crank position sensor is most likely okay. After that... diagnostics really.

Assuming when it was overheated, it wasn't utterly roasted in some spectacular fashion?

What year is it? Do you know if its a GEMS or Thor engine?

Harv wrote:

I think you want to be really careful with water getting in the blower. I got the Disco for barely above scrap price because the PO ignored the leak into the blower intake (among other leaks), which corroded the ECU (which his mechanic couldn't seem to troubleshoot).

Water getting in through the blowers is a fairly common P38-ism, thankfully they're pretty resilient against harm from it. It's more annoying having a load of water blown down onto the footwell and having wet carpet/insulation issues.

StrangeRover wrote:

M62TU in the L322 is hard enough to get running right lol

Locking the Cams is possible, I've used a grub screw on a cheap L322, just drilled into the unit and locked it..

She ran ok.

An M62 without Vanos is pretty sedate, on par with my 4.6 i'd say.

This is the thing... the Rover V8 is 225hp on paper. The M62 is 280ish I think? And given the L322 weighs a lot more, it doesn't seem like a massive bump in numbers.

Unfortunately the M51 and M57 ECUs don't have much in common, nor do the engines really. Direct injection vs common rail, variable vane turbo on the M57, completely different autobox communication etc. Sure, they're similar blocks, but that's about it in my opinion.

The BMW 4.4 vs the Rover V8 is also quite a bit different, and can vary further depending on VANOS vs non-VANOS engines. The ECUs are both Motronic, but they're not the same era. Without looking into it, it would be a gamble if the autoboxes talked in a similar format, which is the issue I'm having with the M57 and Thor build auto ECU.

It's like my E60 - that's an M57 engine too. Albeit it is the TU2 version. But the ECU spits data out entirely differently from the original M57 - nothing lined up at all in our tests.

I hope to get back to this next year - I just have too much on the go at the moment. The V8 is holding on at the moment. Bigger irritations are water getting in via various places around the tailgate (and one of the rear load space windows?!) and the passenger blower again...

It did get a wash though the other day :)

Technically yes, Thor has a metal gasket between the upper and lower manifolds that should be replaced, though I've had mine off many times and only replaced it once when I actually remembered to get a new one!

It is possible to wiggle the coil packs out towards the (RHD) passenger side of the car. Or to the left of the engine, as seen from the drivers seat, for the pedants.

It is a ballache but it was possible on mine with LPG tat in the way. Depending on your setup it might not be.

I believe I had the upper inlet manifold removed too at that point, which opens things up quite a bit - might not even need to remove the coils.

We have also since seen spurious RF transmissions corrupt settings within the BECM too. So it is feasible yours may have temporarily inhibited it from sending through the correct code (or any code) to the GEMS ECU.

Be interesting to see what you find.

Yes, it aligns the static code in both BECM and GEMS ECU.

The EKA actually has nothing to do with the engine ECU - it is entirely a BECM security function. When the correct EKA is entered, the BECM sends the engine mobilisation code to the engine ECU as it would if the car had been properly un-alarmed etc. But if its sending a code that doesn't match what is in the engine ECU, said engine ECU will just sit there immobilised. So the car appears to be behaving normally - no EKA or disabled message, and the BECM is firing off the mobilisation code - it's just the wrong code.

The Thor has a similar option under Motronic on the nanocom, but in my experience it doesn't work, and you have to go into the engine ECU, make a note of the code, then go back to the BECM and manually enter it. It has been years since I've done it on a GEMS - you might be able to do it manually for those too, or use the security learn.

The Syncmates do the same thing.

If the BECM and GEMS engine ECU have lost sync, the EKA will not fix it. It just won't crank, and you don't get any engine disabled messages etc. The check engine light will simply not light up and that is about the only sign of what is going on.

A nanocom will be needed to sort it.

Do you have the check engine light when in position 2?

If not, lost sync between becm and engine ecu. GEMS won't crank when sync is lost. A Thor will though.