The thread you linked to was for an earlier P38 with a GEMS engine - those don't crank when the immobilisation sync between BECM and engine ECU is lost, unlike a Thor (which yours will be, being a 2001). A Thor will crank all day but just not start.

To not crank at all, is a bit odd, if it isn't showing any disabled messages. If the remote is locking and unlocking properly too, then it really shouldn't be an immobiliser issue. As above, if the dash display is showing P for park, it should crank.

What happens if you bridge the starter relay to make it crank yourself with the ignition in position 2? Any signs of firing?

I take any auto breaker that says 'item is tested and fully working' as BS until it turns up and I've seen it - because:

a) they aren't going to spend the time properly testing anything and everything, let alone more complicated or bespoke parts
b) they generally always offer at least 30 days warranty - on the basis it hopefully works and everyone is happy, if not they refund you or send out another one

For the price most parts are offered at, its kind of hard to complain really even if the odd thing does turn up and not work - and I've had that more than once.

I bought a replacement Webasto diesel heater for my BMW a few years ago. Fully tested the add said. Now... for one, without diagnostics and an understanding of when and how said diesel heater with BMW firmware on it works, you cannot test it at all on demand. And then considering it turned up and the whole coolant passage was full of black oily coolant gunge, the car it came from had clearly suffered a catastrophic failure and had this heater been lit up, it would have very quickly gone into overheat and noped itself into faulting out.

Alas - it was cheap, and I actually only needed the controller PCB from it, so it worked out for me in that case. But you can't really expect breakers selling stuff so cheap to sit and test every component they take off a car - it doesn't make economic sense.

Frustrating when stuff turns up and doesn't work? Yes - but that's the risk. If it turns up and is clearly not as described though, that's a dick move on the sellers part.

BMW engine, ZF gearbox, everything works. No bodged in sensors or anything like that.

You can keep your barge pole :)

Funny you say that Morat - I don't think the AT3 looks that great either :)

Going to be next month before I buy I think - but the Falkens are so far my favourite.

Thanks guys

I'm after 18s - and while I did like my ATs, I must admit in the wet they were a bit less grippy at times. Never caused an issue, just made it a bit easier to get the traction control doing something.

I'm wondering about going with the Falken AT3WAs. After my less than ideal experience with Falkens on the BMW I said I'd never consider them again - but these are a very different kind of tyre, and seem to get better reviews than the current AT3s too... so I don't know.

I don't do much off the tarmac but its (in my mind) very much a case of when required - I don't want to be worrying about tyres letting me down. I had pure road tyres to start with and a damp field was hilarious but ultimately not conducive to getting anywhere :) in a straight line at least...

More of a twix fan myself... :D

Having just picked up a set of Mondials, I think it is about time to replace my 5 year old General Grabber ATs, as they're really resembling normal road tyres these days. Very happy with how they have lasted me and their performance.

I see now the option is the AT3 - does anyone have any opinions of them on a P38, or if you have another currently available AT, what is it and what do you think of it?

Anyway...

Apart from about two weeks where I dug the BMW out of hibernation to drive it for a bit - I have still been driving the P38 every day. And after a deer ran out in front of said BMW at 3am doing a number on the whole of the front end... I now have no choice :P

Still going great. Recently found a considerable amount of missing low-down power after adjusting the VNT actuator again. Now I'm pretty sure I'm up against exhaust restriction, so that is the next thing to sort out.

Its most likely the sensor itself - they are a common failure. It is a simple thermal switch. The connector is unlikely to have come loose as its one of the standard econoseal sealed types used throughout.

Its on the side of the cooler as Gilbert says - it is the same on a diesel, though the cooler is obviously in front of the left wheel behind the bumper.

If you unplug the sensor, the message will pop up permanently. Shorting the two wires to the sensor together will clear it - whether you leave that as a permanent fix or temporary is up to you.

I'm relatively sure the 630R used a GEMS ECU to run it - obviously with different mapping, and could then have been connected up to the older non-CAN HP24 controller, as you say also with custom mapping.

But anyway, lots of options for the custom route. Anything aftermarket under the bonnet can be seen as complicated compared to standard - because its different. You couldn't lift the bonnet of mine and then go to RAVE to work out why it won't start. You'd need RAVE and the BMW WDS to even start on it, before you get to any of my custom controllers. But I've built it, I know how it works, and as a one-off project, that's all that matters.

Exactly... you're spending big money on a Rover V8... £5100 if you want a 5.4 short, or 6450 for a long engine. Let's assume you go for a long engine...

That's nuts. I can't believe the standard ECU will fuel correctly to make big power - so you'd need to go aftermarket on the engine control, which will then force you into going Compushift for the gearbox, unless you're going dirty manual. So throw in another 2k or so in electronics - unless someone can tell me otherwise.

Engine swaps aren't anywhere near that money if you have the capabilities to make it work. And there are so many options that are better than a Rover V8. If you can make your replacement engine a) fit and b) run, the rest is possible. And you can choose anything you like within reason.

Interesting that he went the route of keeping the original engine ECU with the bare minimum sensors needed to make it think it was running etc for the auto - I had considered that, but the diesel M57 power delivery just wouldn't have played nicely.

Nice work otherwise though, nice to see another engine swap that isn't a bunch of wires twist and taped all over the place or look like the engine was literally thrown in along with all the ancillaries from the original donor...

They will only wipe as long as the button is held if the screenwash is low.

My front-rear battery cable is only a 20mm^2 cable - good enough for 100 amps or so (and fused as such)

There is a large grommet on either side of the firewall though that you can make a hole in to pass cables through - you could certainly fit bigger cables than mine through too. After that it runs down the sill under the panels, and then in the pictures here you can see it comes down over the rear wheel well on the inside of the car and cheekily passes under the trim panel between the load space and rear carpet sections in black flexible conduit. My size cable including the conduit fits nicely in this little gap - any bigger and you'd need to look at another option. I did this because it was convenient and I'm satisfied the cable is well protected there.

If I were to go any bigger, I'd probably run it under the car and then bring it into the spare wheel well through a new hole with a stuffing gland etc.

Let it idle with the viscous fan removed and you'll soon see it creep up - I bet you with it in place, you'll almost never feel the bottom of the radiator get hot - short of after a run as you say up hill with a heavy load.

It's because the fan always moves so much air while free wheeling that as soon as the stat opens a little bit, enough heat is rejected through by the radiator with the airflow that it pretty much closes up again or is open jussssst enough to let enough coolant pass at idle and keep things in check.

Also - an upgraded rad won't cause any engine to run cooler than specified under normal operating conditions within the manufacturers design and specs because again - the stat controls the temperature by varying or cutting off the flow through it entirely. If you're standard radiator is, under normal situations, failing to keep the engine cool, its blocked either internally or externally preventing good airflow - it isn't a fault of the radiator sizing or design.

Sure, uprating it can certainly give you increase cooling capacity, which you might find beneficial in hot climates under heavy load - at which point the stat is likely going to be fully open and staying that way. But under normal situations, it is hardly necessary. The P38 radiator is huge as standard. I'm not saying I wouldn't have one - they're certainly more robust, and now that I use a GEMS radiator setup in my M57 powered P38, I could drop one in if I wanted.

Just look at some of the custom engine setups the Aussies and yanks do - far more powerful turbo diesel and V8 applications than a P38 will ever see, with comparatively small radiators and electric fan setups.

Eh? Spark plug temperature has very little to no impact on the engines overall temperature...

The temperature of the coolant is dictated by the thermostat - yes a blocked up rad will make it run hotter if its pushed hard or the ambient temp is high, but that isn't a variable you should be considering. If you're rad is in that poor a shape - its no longer fit for purpose.

Temp sensor has nothing to do with it - that reads the coolant temp. Nor do injectors or oxygen sensors.

I haven't looked in a while but I thought it was actually the Thor stat that had listed a higher opening temp. Can't remember.

This can vary a lot depending on your source of thermostat...

I had a cheap aftermarket one on my V8 that was clearly stamped as an 82c stat on the actual thermostat metal body inside the plastic housing. It would never really get above 88c with the viscous fan.

The genuine LR ones though I have reliably seen run a lot hotter - not being reasonably well open until 95-96c.

Note - RAVE specs two temperatures for Thor and GEMS... however only one part number is available for the thermostat, and in my experiences, its certainly the hotter end. Nothing else controls engine temperature - so RAVEs figures are meaningless.

Thank you gents :)

Furthermore.... converting any vehicle to electric is never going to be brilliant if you start with a vehicle that is excessively heavy before you even start the conversion, like a P38.. you just end up needing more battery capacity to get further mileage, which is yet more weight... which needs to expend more energy to move said weight...

So short of there being some revolutionary battery technology improvement that gives us a similar capacity/weight ratio as a full tank of petrol or diesel, I don't think a P38 will ever be a great contender for a useful EV conversion.