Humm, not having a lot of luck with this hevac problem. All three motors seem to be working, both off and on the car. Resistance between white and black/red for each motor appears to do what it's supposed to on a multimeter. The book icon was off for a bit, but came back on whilst testing.
I guess at this stage I need a fault code reader. Don't really want to start the head gasket work until this is sorted.

Spent this evening removing the dash to get at the blend motors. Haven't done any testing on them yet, but there was one oddity.

The two flaps at the top nearest the gear selector have a square bar going through them which seems to transfer drive from the cogs on the side to the flaps themselves.

This bar was hanging out the side of the unit, at least a couple of inches out, presumably preventing those flaps from doing anything.

Grr. What's the point in google drive allowing public access, if it's not persistent.. :(

Anyway, uploaded elsewhere, picture should be there now.

I think so.... right way up definitely, flat tang towards you for pulling it back out?

Do I get a prize?

Island order arrived, so set about sorting the hevac bulbs and switches.
New air filter installed after giving the lower chamber a quick vacuum.
Blue box cabin filters are a work in progress, the passenger side one really didn't want to go in, and didn't seem to go as far in as I'd have liked it to. Lid went back on to hold it in situ. Was going to do the drivers side, but looking in the slot I'm not happy about the alignment, so will take that side apart again and make sure it's all correctly seated.

No worries - there's no rush for them, half of the windscreen looks to be knackered anyway (open circuit on the drivers side element).

Re tank that sounds sensible. I was more getting at the dual tank setup pictured previously which involves cutting the whole bottom out of the wheel well.

Ok made a wee bit of progress this week:

Front washers are now mostly working. The right angled connector on the bonnet had snapped off so no fluid was getting as far as the jets. Also one of the jet connectors was a little ropey, so that's been replaced too. One of the four jets still needs clearing with a needle but otherwise they are good to go.

Checked that washer fluid was making it through to the rear jet, which it was. So that looks like a blocked jet. Couldn't get the jet to pop out though to clean it, and it's kinda fiddly to get to to stick a needle in, so haven't done that yet.

Battery replaced with a behemoth, and fully charged. Unfortunately it hasn't fixed the flickering lights, and my mate who was checking the voltage whilst I was in the car reckoned he saw a 15v spike a few times, and that the voltage was generally all over the shop. So perhaps the alternator (or regulator at least) isn't too clever? I know it's only running on 6 or 7 cylinders, but even with that lumpiness I'd have expected the regulator to cope (tested at idle and fast idle).

Sticky boot switch disassembled, cleaned and reassembled. Working a treat now.

Scuttle and cabin air inlets fully disassembled, cleaned and vacuumed. Discovered that the passenger side fan wasn't spinning, which turned out to be a bad relay. Swapped it for one of the heated screen ones and it fired up quite happily.

Drivers door card off to look at the speaker bodging, and also to see why the puddle light wasn't working after changing the bulb.

The puddle light turned out to be disconnected, not sure why, but it's back in now and working. Checked it goes out when door closed so who knows why they disconnected it previously.

Speaker wiring was bodged, but not as badly as I had first feared. Amp wires to the mid-range speaker had been cut and crimped onto a wire that ran back through to the old head unit. This connector was actually connected to the low-range speaker. Removed the crimps, soldered and heat shrinked the connector back on to it's original wire, and reconnected the mid and low range speakers.

Still to do the same wiring fix in the passenger door.

Went up to gemm 4x4 and found some trim panels to replace slightly damaged ones in mine. Also got a couple of bulbs for the hevac so I can see what it's up to before my island order arrives, and some relays. Except I forgot to pick the relays up, so they are still in Falkirk (going that way any time soon Gordon?)

So, started testing the hevac. Fan control is ok, and blowers are sorted. Directional control seems to work, but the two temperature control blend motors look to be doing nothing. So I guess I'll be digging them out soon to fix. Book icon is on, obviously.

Valve spring removal tool and valve lapping. Any suggestions for where to get reasonable quality tools/pastes/etc?

orangebean: cheers for info and pics. I think I'll go with the toroidal tank for now, don't really fancy chopping big holes in the boot floor this early into ownership. :)

Am pondering having a look at megasquirt to replace gems ecu and to drive both petrol and lpg. Will be a while before I get anywhere near looking at this though.

Sounds good, thanks. Will need to find one then; looks like all from the US for ~ 70+ quid at the moment.

It's a romano system apparently:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/car-replacement-parts/Range-rover-Lpg-kit/1207219627

Everything is there to fit the kit. Including inlet manifold, make is romano, i bought it for my 4 litre disco but i have changed my plan, it was
removed from a 4.6 range rover will fit 4 litre also.

Think between you and Gordon I've been almost converted to single point.

That said, spotted a guy selling what is supposedly a used complete multipoint kit for a P38 in Glasgow for ~ 100 notes, including inlet manifold and tank. Just waiting to find out what bits are in it, to see if it's worth a punt.

Sloth wrote:

As for steering wheel controls - get a PAC SWI-RC. Its a learning steering wheel control adapter, so it will work with any controls, including either the early steering wheels or late (the resistor networks changed when the standard Clarion head unit was changed to an Alpine). You can also assign the buttons however you want with it.

How good is the response time with this one?

Is it worth doing any more work on the heads whilst they are off, oil stem seals and the like?
I might have a go at lapping the valves, can't really hurt.

Found some info online about after market head units, so a handful of resistor network attenuators will be the cheapest way to get audio sorted. Presumably the same theory for the sub amp, but will cross that bridge later. Steering wheel controls look like a resistor network, and there are various conversion units out there for that.

I can live without them for the time being anyway, plus I half fancy getting one of the newer P38 wood trimmed steering wheels assuming such things can be had for sensible money, and i believe the steering wheel controls in them work slightly differently as different head units?

What's the best way to confirm the UJs are the problem, or are at least worn and needing sorted?

LPG.. I'm guessing multipoint should be more efficient overall, and less likely to contribute to liner/head issues? Also, since I've got to take the heads etc off anyway, that would be an ideal time to fit the injectors.

Where's the best place to go for kits, Mr lpgc? Or A.N. Other? Preferably someone who can certify the install and is vaguely between Glasgow and Sheffield.

Tank wise I'm thinking spare wheel well, but probably bigger than the toroidal tanks. I've seen mention of putting an additional tank underneath along one of the rails, but not sure if that has been done or is practical. Also mention of replacing petrol tank with a partitioned one.

Fortunately this is not my daily so there is no particular rush to get things done in a weekend. Plus once it's fixed I'll be required to remove the XM donor vehicle.

Stunningly, out of island, rimmer and ebay, island is cheapest shipped for this lot at 24 quid delivered:

4 x STC1878 (green backlights for switches)
5 bulbs for HEVAC (either as kit or separates)

Gilbertd wrote:

You mean this is the one where you can flash the lights with them already on and not get main beam instead? I figured they must have made one where the switch worked properly, seems this is the one.

Seems so. I know my snag list is quite long, but as you have pointed out, most of the stuff on there is relatively benign and expected for its age. It does seem so far to be a reasonably tidy example.

Replies inline..

Gilbertd wrote:

New head gasket

Gordon reckoned it might be as well to do both heads, given the amount of extra work by the time you've got the first one off. Is this a job that's easier done with the engine out, or is that just making unnecessary work?

It may well have once had the high line system with amps in the doors so will have needed a lot of mucking about to make a standard head unit work.
The two aerial plugs confirm a high line system, one on each rear side window as the original radio was a diversity unit.

Am I best off trying to get hold of an original head unit, or unbodging the wiring to suit a modern unit, presumably one with line level outputs?

Martrim do a headlining kit for the P38 http://www.martrim.co.uk/catalogue/landrover-headlining-kit.html

Looks good, do you know how close the colour match is to the original?

If you mean the trim inside the car it was a sort of stuck on flocking. It can be scraped off easily enough and the residue cleaned off with white spirit. Then you can either leave it as plain beige plastic, trim it with a bit of cloth or paint it.

Ok sounds like a plan.

Torn seat is common but seats are readily available on eBay

Better off replacing rather than getting it repaired?

Out of balance wheels or dodgy propshaft UJ's would be the first place to start.

gordonjcp suggested UJ's too. Hopefully he can help with pinning that down.

It does need an LPG conversion.....

Probably a whole forum in it's own right, but is that a specialist job, or can us plebs fit a system ourselves?

May be a problem, may need a reset. Post 99 cars reset the SRS light once the fault was removed, early ones don't.

Is a code reader of some kind required for a read/reset?

Even in Scotland the 20 year old plastic will have been exposed to some UV and gone brittle.....

Actually it looks more like someone clobbered it. Are they available in breakers etc?

Until you get some lights behind the display you aren't going to be able to see what it is doing but if you can't change the temperature or where the air is going, then you need to do the blend motors see http://www.rangerovers.net/repairdetails/blendmotor.html

I'll sort the bulbs out first, but based on this mornings defrosting no amount of button prodding was yielding much in the way of hot air clearing the windows. Looked at rimmer, set of motors is a wee bit pricey.. :|

Sounds like you've got a couple of weekends work there.......

You obviously have a lot more spare time than I do.. :)

Cheers for the rave links, got it now.

Decided to start on the dash lights whilst I was waiting for a working link. Got various bulbs that need replacing, some of which I'm sure Halfrauds will sell, but some of the moulded ones look like they'll be more specialist, eg the ones in the fog light switch. Where's the best place to get them from?

Hi orangebean,

That link isn't working for me; hasn't for a while. Hopefully gordonjcp will fix it soon :)

On a more positive note, other than the issues noted above, it generally drives well, suspension goes up and down a treat and gearbox and range splitter do the business.

Hi folks,

With plenty of assistance from gordonjcp, I have finally joined the hallowed ranks with a 1997 vintage 4.6 HSE:

Things I've noticed that need attention thus far (more for my own reference than anything else):

• battery seems quite weak (alternator is putting out 14+ volts so not that)
• head gasket on o/s bank is blowing. a lot
• heat shield missing on that bank too
• feels quite low on power to me, although it did leave gordonjcp in it's dust - probably mostly down to the head gasket
• side step on o/s is flapping about a bit, looks like it needs a bit of welding
• radio has been replaced with a Kenwood offering, but the wiring has been utterly mangled, and what's left sounds awful
• radio aerial isn't connected (seems to be two connectors behind there, separate ones for am/fm?)
• various controls aren't backlit, including the heating lcd - probably bulbs
• headlining sagging
• b pillar etc trim has gone all wierd, not sure what the fix for that is
• drivers seat slightly torn on the usual edge
• whole car including steering wheel shudders at just over 50mph, not always, but fairly reproducible
• needs an lpg conversion desperately, i've only had it a day and it's already consumed about 60 quid in fuel
• airbag/srs warning
• all the windows are complaining about not being 'set' at power off, probably related to the flat battery issues
• sticky boot unlock button
• engine is a little oily, but not leaving any obvious drips
• slight damage to some of the cream dashboard plastic in places
• cruise control doesn't seem to do a lot; gordonjcp noted the vacuum lines are knackered, but don't know if that's masking any other issues
• heated seats seem to kinda work, but quite slow and weak
• gordons car has some kind of heated windscreen, but not sure if this one does, or if it's just not working
• heater controls (other than fan speed) don't seem to do a great deal (air con clutch seems to be kicking in though), so demisting was pretty much useless

Probably missed a few things, but that covers the majority.

Can someone bung me a copy of this 'rave' thing, assuming that's the best place to start with taking things apart?

Regards,

Miah