I noticed last night whilst working on my P38 just how badly faded a couple of my door handles and the grill are.

Everybody seems to paint the grill black but on the late cars it was quite a light grey colour. Does anybody know what a decent colour match would be?

Halfords do a grey bumper paint but the reviews say it dries brown so that's been ruled out straight away!

Thanks,

David.

Right, with all of the work that's being done to the original Vogue SE (Not the one that's getting the engine) I'm fed up having to constantly correct the steering.

Last year I replaced the following:

Anti-roll bar drop links
Anti-roll bar D bushes
Front Panhard Rod bushes
Front Radius Arm bushes (front and rear ones)
Rear Panhard Rod bushes
Steering Damper

This tightened the car up massively but the car still feels like it is wandering on the road and you're correcting the steering. It's amplified when towing the trailer and it's driving me nuts now.

On the last P38 we had that was like this we replaced everything in one go. The upper steering link, steering box, drag link, track rod and both axle ball joints. We were lucky with that one as we found someone selling a New Old Stock steering box for sensible money. Doing all of this work tightened this car up massively, it was really tight, there was no play in anything and you could thread it confidently through the eye of a needle - the opposite of this car!

So... I'm trying to decide where to go next with my car. There haven't been any advisories on the last MOT for any play in any of the balljoints underneath and it's not done 1000 miles since it's last MOT 10 months ago.

With the engine off and wiggling my steering wheel I can't feel any play in the upper link and there is slack between the steering wheel and the output shaft on the bottom of the steering box so I'm thinking it's likely that the box is stuffed.

Looking on eBay there are boxes for a couple of hundred quid, boxes for 600 quid, or second hand ones for around 50 quid. I've found someone locally who is breaking a 2001 Vogue and says the steering on it was tight but at 180k miles it's done 70k more then mine so am almost reluctant to fit it and find out it's as bad as mine. I've also read people saying these boxes on eBay don't last and start leaking fluid within 18 - 24 months so I really don't know where to go.

Also, if I was going to do the steering box I'd probably do the upper link as well. Island 4x4 do a Eurospares shaft for £49.99 and a Britpart one for £98.33. Normally I'd avoid Britpart like the plague but when Britpart is double the price of the Eurospares one it makes me wonder why and if the Eurospares one is to cheap to be true.

Any advice or suggestions welcome as the wander in this steering is really hampering my enjoyment of the car at the moment. In comparison, when we drove the other VSE home the steering on it was night and day.

Thanks,

David.

Told you last nights thread was the first of many daft questions...

Thermostats...

Looking on the Island 4x4 website, there are 3 different makes of thermostat. They range from £11.66 for a Shitpart one, £13.99 for an AllMakes 4x4 one, up to £73.33 for a Genuine LR one (Plus VAT).

Usually I try and stick to Genuine LR, especially where the cooling system is concerned but at almost 7 times the price, it's a huge difference.

Anybody got any thoughts?

David.

Evening Gents,

Starting to accumulate the parts to rebuild the new engine... So the likelihood is this is the first of many daft questions!

What are the recommendations on the exhaust manifold to head bolts? I've heard people have used Allen key bolts before as it makes removing them in situ much easier.

Cheers,

David.

I've just replaced all of the bushes and steering damper on my car and it's made a massive difference to the way the car drives and behaves. The wandering when hitting undulations in the road have gone completely.

She's also just passed her MOT with no advisories but I'm still not happy.

When driving in a straight line there is play in the steering when the steering wheel between 11 and 1. When on the motorway the steering feels as if you're correcting it. It's by no means the worst I've driven but it's annoying me.

The only things I've not replaced are the front axle ball joints, track rod, drag link and steering box. Before I start mucking around and try to tighten the steering box slightly, does anyone have any suggestions? I've nipped one before and it made a bit of a difference but it was heavier to steer which I don't really want to do again as it bugged me when turning into parking spaces at low speeds.

Thanks!

David.

What plugs do people recommend for a Thor 4.6 that’ll be running on LPG?

If it makes any difference it’s got a torque max camshaft and a couple of other head mods done to it so want a plug that’ll be efficient.

Usually I run stock plugs but was wondering if there’s anything better.

David.

When I was a kid my Dad had a E registered 3.5 Classic which he then traded in and bought a L registered 3.9 Soft Dash Classic.

For years I've messed around with P38's as they don't tend to rot but the lure of a Classic is getting stronger. I nearly bought one a few years back but a quick change in circumstances stopped me, I'm now looking at them again.

I've been told that they're awful to drive but I'm not convinced that'll bother me as it's not being bought as a race car. I've had P38's and L322's and still have them, adding a Classic to the line up seems like a bit of fun.

What's everyone elses thoughts? Got a feeling I'll be perfecting my welding rather then just mechanical skills with one of these though.

David.

Well, curiosity got the better of me...

As everyone knows there was a ticking noise from our P38 that I would have sworn was a top end tick and probably from a faulty tappet.

Video here so everything stays in one thread: Click Here - YouTube Video...

On Sunday, I dropped the wife at Edinburgh Airport at 8.30am, drove the hour home and started tearing the P38 apart.

I got the inlet manifold and rocker covers off the engine and had a good look around, without seeing much I then proceeded to take the rocker shafts off. The passengers side one was nice and oily, the shaft was still silver and everything was moving freely. The drivers side one wasn't quite as nice, the shaft had browned, and a couple of the rockers were stiffer then I'd have expected. Number 4 cylinders rocker arm wasn't as lubricated as the others either and there was some sludge in the oil way under the rocker shaft.

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None of the rocker arms looked worn though, all of the pushrods looked ok and none of the tappets were dished either. I was getting curious at this point as with the noise it was making I was expecting to see something that was obviously wrong. I was also convinced after listening to the engine that the noise was coming from the front of the NS bank.

Anyway, I decided to keep going as I'd gotten this far. I tried to be clever and remove the manifolds with the cylinder heads but gave in on the passengers side as the manifold was a doddle to remove, on the drivers side I managed to fiddle with the bolts enough to get them undone and then removed the starter motor as the steering shaft makes getting to the back manifold bolts a pain in the tits.

By the time I'd stripped it on Sunday we had visitors arriving so I had to get cleaned up, after they left I was tired and was up early for work on Monday so I left it alone having given it a very, very brief look over.

Last night I went back to the workshop for a proper look and I'm 99% sure I've found the cause of the knocking noise... and much to my amazement, it wasn't the top end!

So... it looks fairly conclusive that the liner for the number 3 cylinder has moved. All of the other 3 are flush on that bank and you can see on the number 5 cylinder next to it that there's no shiny lip at all. When running my finger nail over the others, there's no lip, on number 3 there's a lip that I can very easily click my finger nail in.

So... she's currently sitting looking like this in the workshop...

I spoke to Rob at V8 Developments yesterday about a top had linered block, a high torque camshaft and some stage 1 gas flowed cylinder heads. He advised me that if we're buying the components from them, they don't actually charge to assemble the engine so I'm going to buy an entire engine from them as that way all I have to do is fit it and bed the camshaft in before following the running in procedure and it'll come with a 12 month warranty on the complete unit.

Once I'm certain and I've given Rob a deposit, it's a 3-4 week lead time on the new engine so I've got plenty time to get everything out of the engine bay, get the car dragged out of the workshop and steam clean everything in sight. I'm determined I'm going to do this properly whilst she's in bits.

The engine number on this car has also been damaged too...

It looks like it should be XM56M95B31. Is there a way of decoding these to find out any more about them like there is with some manufacturers engines?

David.

Evening gents,

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding our new Vogue SE... When we got it the seller told us that it was making a tappet noise. It is definitely making a tappet like ticking noise...

enter link description here

What's got me confused though is that when the engine is cold started it, it is totally SILENT, there's not the faintest hint of a noise. Once the car has done a mile or two you can hear the tap start to develop into the noise in the video.

It sounds to slow and to high pitched to be bottom end to me... What does everyone else think? According to the last owner it's been doing it for 5 years and hasn't got any worse. It certainly doesn't feel down on power and it doesn't seem to affect the drive in anyway.

David.

Does anyone know for sure what sat nav disc the P38 uses? I was just wondering out of curiosity what the newest version available was? Both my Vogue SE's have the original 2002 disc in them. If there was an easy source available for a later version it'd be nice to make an out of date system as up to date as possible.

Thanks,

David.

Well, yesterday started as any normal Friday... a day in the office, a decent trip home at the end of the day with the traffic not being to bad followed by a cup of coffee whilst browsing through emails and social media. Whilst trawling through Social Media I saw someone who had an advert out for a 2002 P38 Vogue SE that they were breaking. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be my cars identical twin!

So... I now own 2 Alveston Red Vogue SE's...

First two pictures are of my car:

Pictures below of the latest project:

So... the train is booked for tomorrow to pick it up :)

The bodywork looks good apart from a dent in the bonnet where someone shut the bonnet on top of some tools, the wheels need a refurb and I think it might need the tappets looking at as it develops a tick when it's warm. For the price I've paid for it though, I don't mind a do'er upper as it's a Vogue SE.

David.

I've decided that the vague steering on my P38 is driving me nuts at the moment so it needs sorting...

First port of call is the radius arm bushes... Looking on the Island 4x4 website, they list:

Britpart - £2.99
OEM - £7.50
Genuine - 15.99

The rear end bushes:

Britpart - £1.00
Genuine - £5.25

(All prices per bush and + VAT)

Will probably do the anti roll bar bushes and drop links whilst under it too.

When you times the difference by 4 it makes quite a big difference... Usually I'd go for Genuine without batting an eyelid at it, however, it's got me wondering if the cheaper ones are actually any good?

David.

My 2002 Vogue SE has never had working remote central locking since the last owner bought the car. I've got 2 remote with the car and these both work, the lights on both come on when you press the keys but nothing happens when you try and unlock the car. I've tried the usual process of re-sync'ing the key to no avail.

The other thing I've noticed is that none of the front speakers on the car work either. I wondered if this was an amplifier fault initially but I'm now wondering if everything is related.

I've checked all the fuses in the side of the BECM and they're all ok, I've checked the antenna behind the rear seat is connected but nothing seems to be making any difference. When checking the remote locking with Testbook it tells you to press a button on the remote but the test fails.

Has anybody got any ideas where I'd be best going from here? I don't mind doing some digging to try and sort it but am unsure of the best route to take.

Thanks!

David.

One of my P38’s won’t start... the starter motor has been sluggish for a long time and on Tuesday it dies completely with smoke coming out of it whilst trying to turn over.

I whipped the starter off my breaker and fitted it but it just clicked when it tried to engage the starter. As it had been sat there for years I suspected the starter.

I ordered a new starter on Tuesday evening and have just fitted it now and at still just getting a single click when trying to engage the starter.

Have ran a jump lead from the engine to the chassis in case it was an earth problem but that’s made no difference either.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks,

David.

Guys,

A pal of mine owns a garage in Thornton and we were talking about air conditioning recently. Apparently a 13k bottle of gas used to cost him around £90, due to some changes somewhere it's now £350. When I told him how much gas a P38 took, he reckoned that most placed will be charging £150 to recharge something that size before long... So I've decided to do it quickly.

My Alveston VSE needs a new condenser as it's rough as hell looking through the bumper, I've decided I might as well fit a drier too.

Condenser - £66

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW-CONDENSER-AIR-CON-RADIATOR-RANGE-ROVER-2-LP-P38-1994-TO-2002/292266029046?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Drier - £24

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissens-Receiver-dryers-95223-Fit-with-Land-Rover-Range-Rover/331329652952?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Recharge - £30

https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/ats-euromaster-ltd-8

All in, that'll only be about £120 to get the air conditioning working again, with the current weather, I think that's pretty good value :)

Just check that there's an ATS Euromaster near you as not all centres are included in the offer. There's a link on the Groupon page. My wife had her Peugeot recharged using the same voucher last year and we've had no problems since.

On my last P38 I found the tri-switch to be faulty, I'm hoping on this one it isn't though, there's no fault code suggesting that it is, so fingers crossed!

David.

I’m trying to find my fathers old Range Rover Classic.

It was a 1994 3.9 Vogue Soft Dash model in Avalon Blue with the silver 16” 5 spoke alloy wheels. It wore the registration number L530 AHS when we owned it. The chassis number was SALLHAMM3MA651937.

The car was traded into Inverclyde Land Rover in Scotland in April 2000 for a Discovery TD5.

From what I can find online the vehicle was never again taxed in the UK, and according to HPI it had an export marker put against it on 14th October 2000 when it left the UK.

I know there is very little chance of finding the car and the likelihood is it's been scrapped, however, I'm hoping it was exported somewhere nice and hot with a kind climate and the owner is an enthusiast who visits Land Rover forums! Chance would be a fine thing Anyway, you don't ask, you don't get and all that. :)

David.

Opened the bonnet on the VSE tonight when it was running and heard a TICK, TICK, TICK.

Looked down the side of the engine and saw a spark jumping between the plug and the manifold heat shield. Upon closer inspection, someone has cut the boot on the spark plug level with the end of the connector that goes onto the plug so the spark is escaping. I'd of thought I'd have felt that but it's near perfect when driving.

Anyway... onto the subject of new plug leads.

Our old 4.6 HSE has Magnecor Plug leads on it and they've been great, they've probably been on for 6 - 7 years now.

I'm probably going to for Magnecor leads to this VSE as well unless anyone has any other suggestions? I'm now torn between the 8mm Electrosport 80's or KV85 8.5mm red leads.

Anyone got any suggestions?

David.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5243011/liverpool-arena-fire-horse-show-range-rover-stables-latest/

David.

Right, onto the next issue on the red VSE.

It has a Tartarini LPG kit fitted to it that was installed in 2005 when the car was 3 years old and had covered 37k miles at a cost of £2150 according to the invoice I have here. The owner, a local gentlemen, was a jammy bugger as there's also paperwork in the history file for an £800 rebate he got from the green energy trust for having the car converted!

Anyway, the system is 12 years old and had done almost 80k miles since installation. None of the service positions in the book have been stamped so I can only assume that it's never been touched since it went in.

The car will switch to LPG and it will idle OK but when sitting on the motorway at a steady speed the car develops a stutter the second you switch it over, as if it's being starved of gas. When trying to climb the hill on the single lane road to our house, on LPG there's no power there either, it slows down on the hills, and won't go.

First things first, I was going to order the filters for it and change them but on the several single point systems I've worked on I've never noticed the filters getting that filthy. I can't help but think that the vaporiser/reducer is probably going to be due for replacement. If so, do I need to replace it with a like for like one? If not, is there any particular one that people would recommend?

Any hints/tips/suggestions would be appreciated as I don't know very much about multipoint unfortunately.

David.

Well, the Vogue SE has finally arrived.

It was collected in Gloucester yesterday at around 1pm by Beamish Transport, from there it went to Birmingham, Newcastle, Coatbridge, Linwood and then to Langbank where it was delivered at 1.30pm today. A massive thanks to them for such a pleasant and efficient process.

The car itself needs work doing to it, I knew it did when I bought it. The front bumper is removed and in the back as it was removed for painting but never painted, the interior has had parts borrowed from it for other cars. All the parts that were removed are present so it just needs putting back together.

The car drove off the lorry, I had to unload at my flat rather then at my folks where the workshop is. It's definitely a Range Rover I bought... it had to be jumpstarted whilst on the lorry and it then broke down on the 1.5 mile trip! The small return spigot from the radiator to the expansion bottle was sheared so the coolant was spraying everywhere. Thankfully as soon as I saw the temperature gauge go up I stopped it and used the other P38 to drag it up the hill.

There was a brand new radiator in the back of the car so I've fitted that tonight. The coolant return pipe was some crappy piece of pipe so I've replaced that with a proper one, and I've replaced the bonnet struts as they were shot too. I've had it running tonight, it was beautifully smooth but after about 10 minutes there was a bearing from something on the auxiliary belt that was screeching. I took the belt off and felt the pulleys, there's a bit of wear in the tensioner and the water pump so I'll check them out tomorrow. Other then that, the car has been running and has had the cooling system filled and bled out and it's running beautifully. The rear air suspension came up no problem but the front didn't so I'll get a look at that too.

The engine is spotlessly clean so I do believe that it's been changed recently too. The seller has the receipt for the RPI engine that's in the car and is going to send it on so that I can keep it with the cars history file. There's some amount of money been spent on the car over the years, including a receipt from a Land Rover dealer in Benidorm for €1300 for an air suspension compressor!

It does need a lot of work doing to it however I believe all of the parts are in the back of the car but for the price I paid for it I think I've got a fair project. Current mileage is 104,800. It's done about 600 miles from it's previous MOT before it sat off the road for 2 years.

Pictures:

There's some unusual wiring coming off the battery that I wasn't sure about when I saw it earlier. It has however just occurred to me that it's probably to do with the split charge system for the 12S towing socket.

The battery on the car is totally dead, I put it on the reconditioner earlier on and it said the battery was faulty. I was going through the service history tonight and the receipt for the battery is there. Thankfully, it's got 13 days of warranty left on it so I'm going to get a replacement battery for it tomorrow. :)

More updates to come as progress occurs.

David.