Few more jobs done today...
The reversing camera was intermittent and had a black line scrolling up and down it so I ordered a replacement from PowerfulUK.
Before
After
Whilst I had the spoiler off the car I noticed the high level brake light was faded and hazy so I wet sanded, polished and sealed it with a UV protector so that looks better now.
I noticed whilst doing the camera that the rear screen washer wasn’t working. I removed the motor and cleared it with the airline which cured the not working fault. However, it was leaking badly into the boot. Thanks to a guide on full fatrr.com, I’ve ordered the seal to rebuild it. Hopefully it’s here soon.
I then moved onto the badges. The Supercharged one was a cheap chrome one that looked horrible so a replacement was fitted. They retail at nearly 80 quid! Thankfully I managed to get a genuine one on eBay for 15 quid. The LR logo was badly delaminating and the lettering was looking a bit tired too so I replaced them all. A genuine LR oval was around 8 quid. I decided I didn’t want the Brunel badges as I prefer the more modern look of titan silver :)
The lettering that was on the bonnet had previously been chrome as well. It had started to delaminate and most of it was just yellow plastic so I replaced them too.
The tow bar receiver has had a couple more coats of paint so can be refitted tomorrow and then I just need the fan shroud to arrive and then we can get an MOT on her.
David.
One of them just had a new heater matrix and the other had the o-rings done recently.
When doing the taste test, it’s definitely fresh water thankfully. On one of them you can see a drip just above the accelerator pedal.
David.
Both of mine are leaking at the moment and it’s driving me nuts.
It’s only the drivers side footwell that’s getting wet which is leading me to believe it’s likely to be something around the pollen filter on that side.
Plan for this weekend is to clean one of them up and seal it all up with sikaflex before reassembly.
David.
In that case I’ll give them a go then.
Thanks guys.
Does anybody know a good source for the EAS Valve block O-Rings?
Previously I’d have just ordered from X8R but I’ve heard a few people saying recently they’ve had problems with their o-rings not being the right size.
David.
I’ll get a group shot done but its not likely to be until it warms up a bit!
The SC is back together and is out of the garage now.
The fan shroud was broken so I need to order one up. I don’t want to leave it off as it’s obviously there for a reason.
I wanted to give it a wash today but it’s been between -1 and -3 all day and the outside taps were frozen.
I’ve not been far with it today but the gearbox on it is absolutely perfect. I was worried that after resetting the adaptions it might drive horribly for a few miles but it’s been silky smooth from the get go today. Up and down the box was like silk and when kicking it down it was perfect.
Jobs left to do:
Wheels refurbished back to silver.
Remove chrome side vents and fit standard ones.
Fix reversing camera.
Other then that, she’s driving spot on.
It’s definitely a Supercharged one I’ve bought...
David.
There are quite a lot of VAT qualifying second hand cars available.
My Dad was looking at a LWB L405 SVAutobiography last year that was VAT Qualifying. It depends who it was registered to when it was new. As a huge number of I-Pace’s are going to be registered to fleet customers there’s a good chance that when the used ones start coming to the market they’ll be VAT qualifying.
David.
Most of the I-Pace in the UK are circa £40k and upwards and if you want an HSE with a decent spec they're nearer £50k and up.
If you're exporting a car from the UK, can you claim the 20% VAT back on them when they leave the country?
If I start doing big miles again after lockdown, I'd happily buy an I-Pace though, they're a cracking car. I loved the one I drove.
David.
It’s been a productive if slightly frustrating weekend unfortunately.
The replacement Supercharger was fitted, new seals were put on the coolant manifold, the cooling system was filled up and I started the car. I was gutted to hear that the replacement Supercharger I’ve bought has got the exact same noise as the old one. It’s disappointing as I was assured it was a good one. It does however have a 6 month warranty on it. I’m happy to keep it if the price is adjusted as it’ll let me use the car whilst I send my old one off for rebuilding.
The fan shroud on the car is broken so I need to order a new one of them but it is back together now. The engine cover is damaged so I’m tempted to look for one of them too.
I then had to top up the oil in the gearbox and set the level. It must have been low as after draining it, doing the solenoids and seals and reassembly it took 8.2 litres of Lifeguard 6. Whilst I waited for the gearbox oil to come up to temperature I got my Snap On polishing tool out and cleaned the exhaust tips. They’re better but still not perfect. I’ll have another go atthem at some point.
I then fitted the new grill, put my number plate on it and once I’d set the gearbox oil level I reset the gearbox adaptations. Fingers crossed I don’t regret doing the adaptions.
I was going to get it out of the workshop this afternoon but decided to change the tow bar wiring loom to 13 pin whilst the car was inside.
I’ll get it outside one evening this week and hopefully will get it MOT’d this week too before giving it a proper wash next weekend as it is filthy.
David.
The bearings in the Supercharger definitely weren’t right on this car. I spoke to Powerhouse who reckoned it was the bearings that are cast into the case at the front. They can repair them but the lead time on the parts for this specific repair was 3-4 weeks.
I’m inpatient so I found a used Supercharger with a 6 month warranty on it so have bought that and if this one starts to get noisy I’ll have the other one rebuilt so there’s no down time for the car.
Last night I removed the old charger and when undoing the plug from the MAF sensor the smallest wire on the plug snapped as soon as I touched it.
I released the pin from the plug in the hope that I could open it up and replaced the tail on it but it was crimped so tight it wouldn’t budge.
I moved on and started to do the diff oils when I had a thought. Thanks to Spud for pointing out that this was the MAF. I Googled the part number on the sensor that the plug goes into and found that it was also common to the Mk 2 1.6 Petrol Ford Focus.
A quick call to a local scrap yard and I found out they had a Focus in stock. 30 mins later I was back at home with a plug and tails from the MAF sensor on the Focus.
I’ve removed one of the pins from the plug from the Focus and will add it to the plug on the Range Rover tomorrow and then solder the tail to the cars wiring loom.
I also got all of the diff oils and transfer box done today. I ordered the oils from Land Rover directly as I wanted to be sure I was putting the right stuff in the right place. The oils I drained out were reasonably clean but the rear diff was overfilled. I reckon it’s been filled to the drain plug rather then having the specified amount of fluid put in it. Hopefully it’s not going to have done any damage. The oils in this are very very thin compared to what goes into the P38 and are twice the price! Rear diff oil is 25 quid a litre, transfer box oil is 29 quid a litre and the front diff oil is 22 quid a litre.
In case anyone is interested, these are the correct fluids for the SC:
Rear Diff: (Interestingly, this is bottled and labelled Castrol but has JLR’s address on the back)
Front Diff:
Transfer Box
Good choice, Morat.
I used mine on Cross Climates to tow the caravan during the summer and was as impressed with them then as you are with them now. I don’t think you’ll regret that decision.
David.
I fitted a set of Michelin Cross Climate + tyres to mine in the summer and am impressed with them. We had snow recently and it never batted an eyelid at it (expected nothing less tbh as it did fine on that the year before on worn Continentals too), the road noise is reduced, handling is great and it doesn't tram line.
Set of 4 was just under £600 including fitting IIRC.
David.
In some ways, buying a car through Cinch or Cazoo if you're not even remotely interested in cars is quite a clever move.
They are massively governed by distance selling regulations and you also have time to highlight the faults. You can have a proper look around it on your own driveway rather than having a salesman breathing down your neck. You can have an unaccompanied test drive in areas you know and you can even have your own friendly mechanic check it over.
If there are any issues at all you can call them up and tell them to come and get it so I can see why people would use those avenues, especially during lockdown. It also saves you dragging kids around car showrooms.
It's not something I'd consider but can understand why people would.
David.
It used to be 10 years, I'm sure I read somewhere that more recently that's been changed to 5 years.
Total joke that manufacturers are only required to produce parts for cars that are 5 years past the end of production.
David.
It was gearbox service time today.
I drained the oil out and found it was very low on oil and the electrical sleeve was wet so it was due a good going over.
I started off with replacing the bridge adapter and the 4 rubber dowel like seals. The old ones were flat as a pancake and the new ones protrude nicely so that was a worthwhile change. The bridge adapter wasn’t as flat as I was expecting but it wasn’t as good as the new one.
I then turned my attention to the solenoids on the valve block. I’d put a plastic sheet down on the bench to keep the valve block clean but it served to catch the oil too which was helpful!
First step was to remove the electronics unit from the valve body.
The bar that holds the solenoids in place was then removed.
And then replacing the solenoids was a very straight forward job.
When I was removing the sump I thought it had been done before as it had the bigger T40 torx screws in it which I thought was a later thing but the date stamp on the sump was 2006 so it’s a long overdue service.
It took more oil then the 7 litres I had so I need to order another couple of litres from LR this week too.
David.
The thermostat seal I’d been waiting on arrived yesterday so I got that fitted and got the car running again today.
Running perfectly on all 8 again now with the occasional stumble. When it stumbles I can hear air hissing so I’m assuming I’ve got a vacuum leak. Had a quick look for the leak unaided then went for a tin of brake cleaner but couldn’t find it with that either.
Whilst thinking about the vacuum leak and whilst the car was warm I dropped the oil out and did the engine oil and filter. Gearbox is on the agenda for tomorrow.
Had a look on Gumtree and found someone locally selling a disco fog machine with a gallon of fluid for £30 so tomorrow’s plan is now to run a hose from the fog machine to the air intake and see if I can spot where the smoke is escaping from which should identify the vacuum leak.
The 4 bearings I fitted have worked a treat as the anciliaries at the front are whisper quiet now. The supercharger bearings are noisy though so trying to decide how far in to go before putting any miles on it.
David.
Took one of the P38 Vogue SE's for it's MOT today... Not the one that had the new engine fitted to it.
Clean pass, no advisories and the MOT man asked me "Is there anything you've not replaced on that car?" Apparently it's better underneath it then most 3 or 4 year old cars he MOT tests. 😀
David.
I've just been catching up on this whilst drinking several Monday morning cups of coffee, that's a really impressive build and the fabrication and time you've put into keep it neat is superb!
It looks very much at home in there, doesn't it!
David.
The LPG on this one appears to have been done nicely. All of the injector hoses are the same length, the pipes from the reducers to the injector rails are the same length, the flash lube has been plumbed in to a central point before it splits off for the injector rails and it's a pumped flash lube system rather then the vacuum system.
The downside of that is the amount of pipework under the bonnet! There's a ton of coolant hoses to deal with before the LPG went in on top!
Thankfully, so far, everything has been straight forward with no major curve balls thrown at me... Yet!
David.