Another year passes & it's time to renew the insurance. I have the P38 plus a Smart FourTwo. Last year the cost was about £350 for each car with LV. The price on the Smart is higher than normal as my wife only passed her test just over a year ago & LV wouldn't even insure her on the P38. The renewal price was £380 for the Smart & £535 for the Ranger Rover so I started to look at comparison sites & ring around. I was happy to stick with LV for the Smart. I got a remarkably wide variety of quotes for the P38 including my wife driving. On one comparison site it was about £400 with Aviva & on another £350 with RAC Online (minimal customer service via web chat). Footman James was £866 Lancaster £755
Finally I entered my details for a quote from NFU Mutual & got a call back the following day. I had a forty minute call with a nice Scottish gentleman called Graham. The upshot is that the P38 is now insured fully comprehensive for £338.34 & the Smart for £272.55. I thoroughly recommend NFU Mutual who are not on any comparison site so you do need to speak to them on the phone to get a quote. It's nice that like LV they are a mutual so aren't going to rip off customers to pay out shareholder dividends.
I have owned my P38 for 13 years & every year or two the A/C needs to be regassed but then works well for a year or two. This year I was going to add some of the A/C leak sealant while having Richard's mobile A/C chum regass it but as he was on holiday I got the regass done at Kwik-Fit so will need to wait until next year to use the sealant now.
For getting a system regassed taking the car to Kwik-Fit or ATS (regass currently only £45 with Groupon offer) is the cheapest option but if there is anything beyond that then you are much better off taking the car to an independent auto A/C engineer. You should be able to use Google to find a local ndependent auto A/C engineer.
What I did yesterday was a job that I have been promising myself to do for about a year. At least that's how long ago I bought the zebra strip to fix the HEVAC display. Doing the job is straightforward following directions on YouTube.
I hadn't appreciated how the zebra strip worked to replace the wonky ribbon cable & the first time I put the HEVAC back the display was completely dead as I hadn't got the zebra strip properly compressed between the LCD screen & the circuit board. I re-did the installation & the second time it worked fine so I now have a fully functioning HEVAC display so that's one more job ticked off on the list.
Not what I have done today but what I did the week before last when I visited @Gilbertd to collect the working DSP amplifier that I had bought from @MartyUK.
Richard did most of the work but while there was access I fitted new speakers in the subwoofer as the old cones had disintegrated. Fitting the new amp was straightforward if a bit fiddly with all the trim, CD charger & subwoofer that need to be removed to get at the amp. Sound was restored to the car although I found there was an irritating intermittent crackle from the passenger door speaker. I was contemplating swapping speakers from the driver's door to see if it was the speaker or the wiring causing the crackly noise. Today I was trying to tune the radio & discovered that it's only when I am using my FM-Bluetooth dongle tuned to 108MHz that I get the noise. Regular radio stations are clear as a bell. It's annoying as otherwise the dongle lets me play content from my iPhone with decent sound quality (apart from the intermittent crackle). Now that I am reassured that it's the FM-Bluetooth dongle at fault I can confidently get one of those GROM Bluetooth modules that plugs in to the back of the radio instead of the CD changer.
The A/C hasn't been working for a few months. I have owned the car for 13 years & every year or two the A/C needs to be re-gassed. I had the A/C recharged at Kwik-Fit but it still wasn't working. Richard checked the system with his A/C gauges & confirmed that it was full of gas but then noticed that the A/C compressor had been unplugged. I hadn't done it so it can only have been the guys at Kwik-Fit but plugging it back in the A/C sprung to life.
I have been plagued for some years by water in the passenger footwell that comes from condensation on the A/C evaporator. I have many times cleared the drains but it always seems to return. Richard had the panel off under the. glove box & confirmed that the top end of the rubber drain was connected to the pipe that projects down from the gutter under the evaporator that catches the condensation. There was a bit of a twist or kink in the drain which he attempted untwist.
I drove home with the A/C on full blast as I set the cabin temperature to 16C. The passenger footwell was bone dry when I arrived home after my 90 mile drive back from Richard's place. Unfortunately when it was particularly warm & humid a few days later I once more found icy water dripping down over & through the OBD socket. I squeezed the air duct joint & icy water poured out. I again cleared the drains with a piece of wire & confirmed that the drains are connected to the gutter. I can only conclude that perhaps there is still something obstructing the drain & when it's particularly hot & humid producing maximum condensation that the water can't drain out fast enough. If I could figure out how to do it I would replace both drains.
I had all sorts of problems with overheating & in desperation I used steel seal which fixed the problem & it lasted for a couple of years & 20K miles before the head gasket started blowing so I then got the engine completely rebuilt by V8 Developments.
Aragorn wrote:
mad-as wrote:
those pressures are a bit worrying as the thermostat is suppose to control the temp, at 1.4 bar that's max pressure for the system, the system should be around .8ish bar or so around 9psi is a good pressure to have. do you have temp readings or just pressure as the temps for that pressure would be around 118+ degrees. there is something wrong with the system, you are running around 20psi which is way over the top for the system
Temperatures are totally normal, it'll sit around 90c when driving on the motorway for instance.
I do generally agree though i think the pressure is too high and i imagine its a cracked block.
A sniff test for exhaust gases in the coolant should confirm (or rule out) a cracked block.
Yesterday we drove back 1000km from Port Leucate in SW France to our cottage in Brittany. The P38 didn't miss a beat mostly cruising at 130kmph on the motorway. It was the hottest day of the year so far at 28C in much of France. The non-functioning AC was a minor annoyance but with the sunroof tilted & a rear window open the flow of air through the car kept us cool enough. We enjoyed our holiday immensely & even took a day trip into Spain. We take the ferry from Saint-Malo to Portsmouth on Tuesday. Total mileage for the trip is going to be well over 2000 miles. Not so much compared to the journeys that Richard takes but it's the longest trip that I have done in the car. The engine rebuild by V8 Developments was really worth it as it pulls like a train & hardly uses any oil.
Nearly forgot. The car is absolutely filthy covered in dead insects. I have been using glass cleaner & vigorously rubbing away on the windscreen & headlights.
Yesterday I had to replace the left hand dip headlamp bulb as a bulb failure message popped up when I switched on the headlights the previous evening. It's not as fiddly as the driver's side but it's still annoyingly fiddly. I know that it was common on all cars of this vintage to have a spring clip to hold the bulb in but surely they could have designed something better? Pushing the connector on through the rubber boot which is splitting was irritatingly fiddly too. The job definitely took longer than it should but at least I am now equipped to go out at night again.
Gilbertd wrote:
nigelbb wrote:
Apart from just putting the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner over the aperture below the clock how else can I clean it? I can't find how to remove it.
Centre console side panels off, knee panel off, switch panel off and it is screwed to the inside of the switch panel with two tiny but long pozi 1 screws. Once it is out, the best way of cleaning it is with a soft paintbrush as the fins of the fan get covered in dust as well as the thermistor.
It will have to wait until after our South of France road trip is over as while I have all my tools in the boot I don't think that it would go down too well with my wife as we are on holiday & while it sounds like a five minute job (famous last words😀) it's non-urgent.
Apart from just putting the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner over the aperture below the clock how else can I clean it? I can't find how to remove it.
We have been staying at our cottage in Brittany for a few weeks & the weather has been utterly crap with driving rain almost every day. It's my wife's birthday this week so on a whim I suggested a week in the South of France. We booked a holiday with a firm that have self catering residences all over France & beyond. We have had five holidays with them previously & highly recommended them. They often have special offers. Last year we had a fortnight self catering in the South of France for €469. This time it's €301 for a week self catering on the Med hard by the Spanish border. https://en.residence-nemea.com/summer/france/languedoc-roussillon/aude/port-leucate/holiday-residence-les-carrats-216.html
What has this to do with my p38? Well it's 1000km from Brittany to near Perpignan so a bit of a road trip. We stopped overnight in Bordeaux & the P38 hardly missed a beat cruising down the motorways. The one glitch was when we were about 300km from our destination I got the EAS fault error warning with all the lights illuminated. The car drove fine so when I filled up at the next services I got out the Nanocom & reset the 'Invalid fault code' & it didn't come back. It was fun to drive due South going from very early Spring to full Spring with leaves on the trees. We are enjoying our accommodation that is within earshot of the Mediterranean waves & yesterday evening ate our supper outside on the terrace.
I'm running the car on E85 (85% bioethanol) which is widely available even at the motorway service stations. It's literally half the price of regular fuel so while consumption at 14-15mpg is a little higher as like LPG ethanol is less energy dense than petrol it's still a great saving. I'm amazed that everyone in France doesn't run their car on E85. While the P38 happily runs unmodified for other cars you may need a €300 box that frigs around with the ignition timing but I really cannot see any downside.
The one mild annoyance is that the A/C isn't working as it needs to be recharged & I want to put some STP Super Seal Air-Con Stop Leak in to seal the micro leaks in the system. Before I do that I need to sort out the air con drains as in hot weather I get water pouring into the cabin. This is what condenses on the evaporator & should be discharged underneath. I've cleaned out the two tubes either side of the console that are the usual problem but this must be where the water is collected under the evaporator before it's directed down the drains.
We plan on driving into Spain while here then I think that I will probably try & do the 1000km back to Brittany in one day without an overnight stay. Our accommodation was a bargain €301 but even running on E85 with a 1000km round trip it still costs around €300 each way for fuel.
Richard, you need to update your signature to include the new acquisition. It looks like quite a project that you have taken on but I'm assuming with all the issues that you got it at a good price.
I quite like the Lightstone interior on my Alveston red P38.
Gilbertd wrote:
ABS sensors are ABS sensors, it doesn't matter if they came off a car with Wabco D or an earlier one.
If you want to change the bearings in the hub, yes you do need a big hydraulic press irrespective of what brand you buy. Far easier to just buy the complete hub assembly complete with bearing like this, rear https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/rear-assy-eurospare-ftc3223-p-27885.html and front https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/front-assy-britpart-ftc3243-p-27181.html or https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/front-assy-timken-ftc3226-p-27883.html.
I wonder why the front hub assembly is £100 while the rear hub assembly is £400. The rear hub assembly is available at Rimmers for £288 https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-FTC3223P while a genuine JLR part costs £828.
Gilbertd wrote:
That's the external temperature sensor, not the aspirator. Aspirator is JTF000030 which is available but a little more expensive https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.com/jtf000030-sensor-in-car-temperature.html?code=60907
I have a feeling I have a spare one, I'll have a look later and see if I can find it.
Wow! £167! I hope that cleaning all the fluff out of mine is all that is required.
Interestingly while you can buy new from JLR there aren't any listed on eBay in the UK. There is one from Latvia for £50 including postage that looks nice & clean & one from Spain that is £85 including shipping where they haven't even bothered to clean all the dust off.
romanrob wrote:
blast of compressed air for the current one, and order a replacement aspirator from ebay :)
Amazingly you can still buy a genuine STC3365 from JLR for £45.43. They either stockpiled too many or they don't fail very often.😀
https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.com/stc3365-sensor-temperature.html
Martyuk wrote:
Yeah, I would try swapping the aspirator then.
I looked at mine on nanocom today and it was reading about the same as heater core (11-12 Deg) with the engine being off for awhile and just ignition on.
If I put my finger on the sensor it would go up in temp as expected, and drop again when finger removed.
With engine on and the system in auto, I could set the desired temp on HEVAC and then again with finger on aspirator, I could see the blend motors moving a bit, so I don't think there's a delay on aspirator sensor read.
Trying another sensor is probably a good place to start on your RR.
Thanks for the troubleshooting. It does look like the sensor is at fault.
Martyuk wrote:
I don't know if the interior aspirator sensor is part of the 'doesn't update straight away' ones, or if it does update straight away.
I'm meeting Nick at the workshop today to sort some more parts out for him - so I'll borrow his Nanocom (as I forgot to bring mine with me) and have a look on my RR as it's also a 2001 with the later HEVAC controller.
Not getting as hot as it used to could be a lot of things - from sticking blend flaps that don't fully go to hot, or restricted flow through the heater core.
Is your RR just on Petrol or LPG aswell?
No LPG just petrol (although running on E85 85% bioethanol when in France).
Moving & calibrating the various blend motors with my Nanocom seems OK so I don't think that the blend flaps are sticking.
The heater core was replaced less than two years ago so I don't think that it's clogged up. The heater core is about 85C while coolant temp is 90-95C.
Gilbertd wrote:
Amongst the assorted bits I rescued from Marty's workshop yesterday before they get consigned to a skip, was a rear wiper motor. Had no use for one at the time but having stuff is always useful so it got bunged in my trailer. Looks like that will find a home soon too.
Great!
Martyuk wrote:
Is the fan behind the aspirator clean and spinning freely? is there any clogged dust in the aspirator that could be causing it to read high for some reason?
Also, is the reading with the vehicle running? or before you start it? I know on the later P38's the external air temp sensor is delayed in reading until there is some road speed and a certain time (I think maybe 30 seconds) has gone past. I have never actually looked at it with the other sensors, but maybe all of them don't update straight away... (which doesn't make a lot of sense - but thinking from a coding point of view, if the temperature read is a sub-routine, then it would be easier to put a check in over the whole routine than maybe just one sensor).
If it's reading 25, and you put the temp to 26, does it start warning the air up (you should be able to see blend motor positions aswell in the nanocom to see when they are moving). Also, if you move the temp up to 'HI' then that will override the 'climate control' part of trying to reach a target temp, so you should get full hot at that point - which at least will blow it where you have the vents already set, rather than at the windscreen as in the 'PROG' mode
Marty
It's going to make it more difficult to diagnose if the reading isn't correct until the car is rolling along. The basic issue is that years ago I can remember the heater kicking out a lot more heat than it does now. It does work when I set the temp to 'HI' but still not as hot as I remember. It would be interesting to know whether it's normal for a stationary P38 to have the aspirator temperature read 25C.
It's still a bit 'tired' as it sweeps across the rear screen & the motor is a bit noisy so I suspect that it's on its way out. It stopped mid sweep today & I needed to 'encourage' the wiper to park by lifting it up off the screen. It looks like I will need to take the motor out. I have read of people refurbishing the motor with new brushes but I haven't found where I can buy those. I would prefer if I could get away with replacing brushes for £10 rather than buy a whole new genuine motor (part number AMR3265) for £265.