tanis8472 wrote:

Original headlights with halogen bulbs are really quite good if you have a pair with good reflectors. I've managed to find some.
Right pain finding them though.

Yeah, +1 on having good reflectors. I noticed a surprising difference after changing the headlights on my 1995 model to a facelifted pair with the black surrounds (with the same bulbs).

I went out to see where the settings for these options are, using the Nannycom, but I can't find any of these options anywhere. When I start Nanny I get a couple of headings such as Motronic, Bosch and EDC, after selecting the car - P38. After choosing EDC there are four heading - EDC [again, I think it said], Wabco C, Wabco D, and the gearbox [ I think I have the Wabco letters correct].

Sounds like you need to use the right arrow to move to the next page of ECUs where you should find more options.

There's an Nanocom emulator on the website so you can look around and explore the various ECU options. https://emulator.nanocom-diagnostics.com/

I noticed today that my gearbox oil cooler pipe has been rubbing on the crank pulley and is about to be worn through. I recently replaced this pipe as it was leaking. When I replaced both pipes I also fitted the clamp that holds the metal section of the line under the engine mount as it was missing. I didn't have any problems with it rubbing previously but I was running without the clamp supporting the pipes for a long time.

I don't see any clips on the bottom of the fan shroud to hold the pipe so I'm wondering if I've routed it wrong.

Here are some images (ignore the coolant, oil and serpentine belt slightly misaligned - i've been changing some hoses when I noticed it). It's not as close as it looks in the pictures but obviously close enough to get pushed into the pulley sometimes.

Does anyone know if the surrounds for the window switchpacks different sizes depending on VIN/age? I've fitted a new centre console which is a newer leather one and now my window switchpack doesn't fit as it is slightly wider than the gap.

Looking at the parts catalogue I see:
AWR1081 - ASH GREY (MOULDING-CENTRE CONSOLE SWITCH PACK ASH GREY) [ - (V)WA410481 ]
FWJ100020LNF - ASH GREY (MOULDING-CENTRE CONSOLE SWITCH PACK ASH GREY) [ (V)XA410482 - ]

so there must be some kind of difference? There's no difference in part numbers for the actual switch electronics, just the surround that covers it.

I'm not sure how to actually identify the different variants so I can pick up the correct one from a breaker on eBay. They all seem to be listed as being compatible as 94-02.

Harv wrote:

Do you now have front TC on a GEMS P38?

Yes. I fitted the later ABS ECU and modulator.

dave3d wrote:

There is a plastic part that breaks on the early modulators. Can't remember the full details but do a search on RR.net,
The later ones were redesigned with a metal part. I half remember that it is repairable.
Easier to do what you have done and replace the whole modulator. There are different types.

I did have the BMR kit with the metal washers in the broken modulator. I must have installed that about five years ago. I thought about buying another kit and fitting it to another modulator but the later modulator and ECU seemed like a better option. I'll take the old modulator apart at some point and see if I can see what's gone wrong.

Update: I replaced the modulator today and now have a perfect pedal again. So it was something wrong in the old modulator.

Handily someone on a Facebook group posted a guide on installing 4 wheel traction control in the early cars. Since I had to take the modulator out anyway I upgraded it, and the ABS ECU to the WABCO D type with 4 wheel traction control. Everything is working great, no warning lights/errors, diagnostics communicates and the pedal feels great.

I bled the system per RAVE today but the pedal hasn't changed at all. I'm guessing it's something internally wrong in the ABS modulator block.

It's interesting that the RAVE bleed procedure wants you to use the lower two thirds of the pedal travel at the end when bleeding the fronts. I'd say my issue feels like it's only the lower two thirds of the pedal travel that is working properly.

I'll find another and strip this one down to see if I can see what the problem was.

The pedal travel on my P38 seems to have suddenly changed, the top half of the pedal travel does almost nothing. This seems to have happened suddenly after being parked up for a week. The pedal doesn't sink down and if I stamp hard ABS activates as normal.

I've checked and the brake fluid level hasn't changed. I've also checked the hard brake lines and flexis but can't find any leaks. The ABS pump is working normally and cuts in after 3-4 pedal presses. Discs/pads are new all around from a few months ago.

I'm planning to bleed it again per RAVE but I'm concerned that this just appeared out of nowhere with no obvious cause. Anyone got any thoughts on what could cause this?

I found a recommendation online shortly after I posted this for "3M 08008 Black Super Weatherstrip Adhesive" which says "designed specifically to bond rubber gaskets and weatherstripping to metal" so I thought it was worth a try. I bought a tube from eBay which should last the rest of my life.

It works very well. Once it was tacky I shut the door with a towel in between the frame to add a bit more pressure and it was fully set when I came back in a few hours. It doesn't seem like it will come off in a hurry.

I'm looking for suggestions on what to use to stick my a-post door seal back on. The seal on the drivers side has come away from the a-post/roof pillar join. The seal seems to have shrunk so it no longer matches the shape, unfortunately they are no longer available. It's number 3 in the below diagram / ALR6938

I bought some Evo Stik Impact Adhesive today but it didn't seem very sticky. It barely held up the roof section never mind the the bit that needs to stretch round to the a-pillar.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Can you point me to where you got that foam for the top of the heater core? I'm about to pull mine out and could do with something similar.

I noticed my car was loosing pressure from the tank overnight and I found that my EAS reservoir was leaking. It passed an MOT like that last week. Mines in a pretty sorry state so I'll be buying a used one and refurbing.

Thank you, that is a great picture.

I went out tonight and re-routed mine to go under the engine mount. Everything now lines up perfectly.

I noticed two broken clips on the bottom of the engine mount that look like they are meant to hold the harness (they attach to the two holes you can see in your picture). I've cable tied mine into the two holes but it looked fine without.

On my car the O2 sensor connector on the drivers side doesn't reach the holder on the side of the sump. I believe that I routed the harness incorrectly when I had the engine out. It's not causing any issues but I'd like to fix it whilst I'm fiddling in that area. RAVE has a "harness routing" section in the electrical troubleshooting manual but it's not very helpful.

Does anyone have any pictures or a description of how the drivers side O2 sensor/starter branch of the harness should be routed? Does it go over the engine mount or under it? I don't see any clips that hold it so I may be missing them too.

I would guess it's done about 40-50,000 miles since the rebuild. As long as it's not the block I'll be happy. I'm thinking of getting some ported heads from v8developments so I'm not concerned about the heads. I think I'll follow your blue hylomar suggestion when I reassemble - as you say it can't hurt.

I'll update the thread when I get round to removing the heads.

I was thinking yesterday that the P38 has been pretty reliable recently and it has now decided to reward me with a coolant leak. Not just a normal coolant leak from a hose, it's coming from the around the bottom 3rd head stud on the passenger side bank.

The engine was fully rebuilt a few years ago with top hat liners, ARP head studs, new gaskets etc. As far as I know there's no coolant passages from the block to the head in the middle so it must mean I've got a cracked block or a cracked head? I can't seem to find much evidence of Rover V8s with cracked heads. I've seen cracked blocks before but I thought generally they cracked behind the liner which lets coolant into the cylinder rather than between the block face/head gasket.

Has anyone seen anything similar?

I did this last week as I'm attempting to fit projectors with clear lenses. To open it I stuck it in the oven at 150 degrees for 7 minutes. Then I got a wide flat screwdriver and pryed under the sealant to lift one side of the lens up until it comes off.

I tried the first headlight at 120 degrees for six minutes and attempted to go around the edge which resulted in damaging the lip most of the way round. I personally wouldn't consider using a heat gun as it seems like it would be much more effort with more chance of breakage.

I'm getting water pooling in the lower area behind the right rear light after heavy rain. I can't seem to find the source.

I'm only getting water in on the right rear, left rear is completely dry. I'm not getting much in the boot but there is a trickle coming from the right rear area.

So far I've:

• replaced the rear tailgate seal (including bending the flange outwards)
• removed the rear light, checked seal and refitted. The seal seems to only come as part of the light so I couldn't replace that.
• checked sunroof drain - it's clear.

Does anyone have any clues what to check next?

The gears are all connected unfortunately. I'm guessing my problem is caused by the flaps being a bit tight towards the "face" end of travel. It's not massively tight and I can move it with a finger but it's definitely got more resistance as it gets towards the end of the face setting. Once it's in the face position I can remove the motor and give the gear a little push to fully close the feet vents off.

I assume that the recalibration just runs the motors until they stop and records the potentiometer positions?

I suppose it's not really a problem as I just leave it in auto anyway. I'll probably take the dash out next year and make it a bit smoother. At least I managed to fix the dodgy binnacle bulb whilst in there.

Excellent, thank you. That sounds very promising. I was planning to check one of the instrument binnacle bulbs tomorrow so that's an easy check whilst I'm in there.