My RAVE says I need to remove the RH wheel arch liner to remove the washer reservoir. In fact it doesn't seem to be necessary. I previously removed the fog lamp to get better access & I have now removed the grill, headlamp & indicator lamp. I still cannot see or feel the sensor or identify any connector. I can however get to the two bolts that hold the reservoir to the chassis. They look very rusty so I think that I probably need to give them a good soak in penetrating oil before I start trying to undo them.
My plan is to drop the reservoir out so that I can get at the sensor. I will try reviving it as it may be that it's just sludge up. It looks like the only way to get a used sensor is to buy a whole reservoir including pumps & sensor which seem to go for £40-£60 on eBay. I need to sort out the headlamp washers as only the driver's side currently works I have found a couple of loose hoses that look like they should be for the washers. It will easier to see where the various hoses run with the headlamp out of the way.
Interestingly looking from the from of the car my right hand pump is different to the other two with the connector on the top not on the side. It's not been replaced in the 14 years that I have owned it but perhaps the PO did it?
I've been trying to get at the sensor lead all afternoon & I just cannot reach it. I removed the right fog lamp to give me better access & I can run my hand over the top of the pumps but I cannot feel where the lead goes to the sensor. Does it mean that I need to remove the bumper to get access?
In my research I have found contradictory messages as to whether you need to disconnect or short out the connector to the sensor. In particular I found a couple of separate posts by @Martyuk stating that you only need to disconnect the sensor to get rid of the error message but I also found someone who had actually needed to short out the connector lead to get rid of the message.
Access is difficult but while disconnecting is possible (& I thought that I had done this) shorting out with a piece of wire would be difficult. The solution would be to get one of the blue connectors that is on the end of the sensor fly lead & short it out with a soldered wire then disconnect the plug & plug in the ready shorted connector. I have looked the ETM & the connector is C192. Where can I get one of these sockets?
I have been getting the low screen wash error message for quite a while now & I have been investigating how to fix it. The screen wash reservoir is of course full. At the recommendation of @Gilbertd I left a hose running in the reservoir as apparently they can get sludge up. This did work the first time that I did it but the error message returned. I have subsequently left a hose running for a couple of hours to no effect.
The sensor AMR3270 is NLA & the only way to get a used one is to buy a complete reservoir with pumps etc & then you take the chance that the 20+ year old sensor won't work anyway.
The only issue with having the low screenwash message is that to conserve screenwash the headlamp wash/wipe is disabled. I have read that just disconnecting the sensor should get rid of the message but that doesn't seem to work for me. Access from underneath isn't great but I thought that I had found the blue plug that connects to the sensor & disconnected it but perhaps I got the wrong plug?
I need to look in RAVE to see how easy it is to replace the sensor. Even assuming that I could get a replacement it looks like it would be quite a chore to get at it.
JimAHH wrote:
Perfect! Thanks a lot. They are half the price of the genuine LR part so I have just placed an order.
I fitted the new motor yesterday & the wiper arm fairly whizzes across the screen now. I had forgotten what it should be like so on reflection it's not been working properly for years. I started taking the old motor apart & discovered that the drive spindle was seized. A bit of penetrating oil & some judicious wiggling released it enough that it started working again. So it's been put on the shelf with the other parts.
The only problem I had fitting the motor was that the angled rubber grommet had split at it's thinnest & the new motor didn't even come with the spacer. The part number is STC2811 for the whole set labelled 2 in this illustration but this is NLA. I was able to effect a repair with some gaffer tape so it's OK now. 
One issue I now have is that the plastic trim that goes across the top of the upper tailgate covering the wiper motor has two shaped foam filters that were caked up with 24 years worth of crud. I have tried washing them but they started to disintegrate. Amazingly the genuine parts are still available (AWR2014 ) but at the ludicrous price of about £25 each. Does anyone have recommendations for some foam that I could cut to size? they look to be about 20mm thick.
For my satnav I use TomTom on my iPhone 12 Pro Max. It's in a very decent Brodit holder & is powered from an adapter in the cigarette lighter. I plan on getting the GROM Bluetooth so the iPhone can be both satnav & media hub. I used to think that I needed a DAB radio but there really is no need when you can stream over the Internet. I did contemplate getting an iPad Mini as a dedicated satnav/media centre in the car but TBH the iPhone screen is big enough.
Problem solved or rather problem correctly diagnosed as I haven't reassembled it all yet. I paid £15 for a used rear wiper motor from East Coast 4x4 in Beccles. I plugged it in & confirmed that it's working OK when I operate the stalk.
I suspect that the original motor could have been refurbished but compared to buying a used motor for £15 it would have been more hassle than it's worth. In any case I won't be chucking it away just putting it on a shelf in the garage with my other spares like the two HEVACs, EAS valve block, EAS compressor etc
I just did some more testing & I'm pretty convinced now that it's the motor that's buggered. If I hold the motor I can feel something moving but it's very feeble. Yesterday when I was testing I didn't actually hold the motor so I missed the fact that it is still live but very feeble. I see that you can still purchase a genuine new rear wiper motor for about £220 but I think that I will go for a used one on eBay at £14.95.
Gilbertd wrote:
Highly doubtful it is the BeCM and has nothing to do with fuse 10. You do have the tailgate closed I assume? Rear wiper doesn't do anything if the tailgate is open....
I had to double check as I wasn't 100% sure about the tailgate. I had removed the motor from the tailgate before I used the Nanocom yesterday so when testing I have just hooked up the motor to the loom & let it dangle. Testing today I find that the motor doesn't work at all whether operated from the stalk or the Nanocom. The rear wiper is on the same fuse as courtesy lights & tailgate light which are all working. I'm pretty certain that I did have the tailgate shut yesterday & it was definitely shut today.
It's an odd coincidence if the motor had failed totally since yesterday. I suppose that I will have to test the motor in some way before proceeding with troubleshooting. I think it is a 3-pin plug on the motor.
My rear wiper has been on the blink for a year or more. Sometime it's very reluctant to park & just hangs down in the middle of the rear screen. At the suggestion of @Gilbertd I bent the arm outwards a bit so it wasn't pressing so hard on the screen. Sometimes it would work OK but other times it didn't work at all.
It now doesn't work at all so I decided that the problem must be the wiper motor & I removed it with the intention of refurbishing or replacing it. I have the motor out but I still had it connected to the wiring so I connected up the Nanocom & discovered that the rear wiper motor is perfectly OK & operating correctly when I switch it off & on with the Nanocom. Likewise I was also able to operate the headlight wipers with the Nanocom.
I'm wishing now that I hadn't removed the wiper motor as I now have the problem of putting it all back together. My biggest problem is that the rear wiper motor doesn't respond to the wiper stalk on the steering column & I'm wondering where I should start troubleshooting. I have a sinking feeling that it might be a problem with the BECM as I had been getting FUSE 10 FAILED until I took the seat out & disconnected the power supply to the inflatable lumbar support.
As a follow up to the FUSE 10 FAILED problem I took the seat out & was able to do a bit of keyhole surgery at the back & lift the leather skin enough to be able to disconnect C0974 which is the power supply to the inflatable lumbar support. I put it all back together. I bought a cheap set of Torx bits from Amazon specifically for the T45 bolts that secure the seat & seat belt. As I was tightening the final bolt the T45 bit disintegrated so I returned the set for a refund. I knew that I should have bought a decent T45 bit & not a cheap set of Torx bits so lessons learned.
Disconnecting C0974 seems to have fixed the problem but who knows whether it was that or something else that was actually causing the problem. The answer I suppose is to reconnect C0974 & see whether the fuse blows.
It passed the MOT after it had new front brake pads fitted. The worn rear brake pads were an advisory so I am pre-empting problems by getting them replaced this week.
nigelbb wrote:
I'm relieved that the fix was as simple as replacing the fuse as troubleshooting looked problematical especially with not being able to move the seat at all. The BECM is there under the seat so I had visions of that being an issue. Long ago before the heater matrix & O rings were replaced the carpet used to be sodden but it has been dry for years now.
Oh dear! I spoke too soon. I've been driving about today then went to pick up my wife from town after she had been given a lift by her son. Just after we had started off back towards home I heard a beep & the FUSE 10 FAILED message appeared again.
When I got back I again looked around for any wires chafing or any signs of anything else amiss. I found nothing so replaced the fuse & then spent a while moving the seat every which way by the buttons to try & see if it would fail again. It didn't. As the seat can be moved when the door is open I had been testing with the ignition off but then decided that I needed to test with the ignition on so I started the engine. After a minute or so...Beep & FUSE 10 FAILED appeared again. I switched off & put a new fuse in & tried again. I did more testing with the ignition on & ignition off & door open. It's all working apparently but it's that worst of all faults i.e. an intermittent fault.
It was getting cold in the garage so I have now given up for the day trying to troubleshoot. I have just ordered a set of 1/2 drive Torx bits including a T45 so that I can remove the seat & get a proper look at what the problem might be. They are supposed to arrive tomorrow.
nigelbb wrote:
I just took the car for an MOT & it failed on worn front brake pads which is fair enough as that is normal wear & tear. The other fail was because the FUSE 10 FAILED has returned & as the seat cannot be adjusted it's a fail. Obvious really but it hadn't occurred to me. I will need to investigate tomorrow why the fuse is blowing.
There were a couple of advisories on worn rear brake pads & tyres. I had new tyres on the front for the last MOT so I think that I will replace the rear tyres & take it into the garage & get the brake pads replaced all round.
Well that was easy. I swapped Fuse 20 for Fuse 10 & now have FUSE 20 FAILED (RHD passenger seat) but I can operate all the movements of the driver's seat including inflating the lumbar support. Before testing I removed all the excessive amount of crap that I had stuffed into the rear pocket of the driver's seat which mainly seems to consist of garage bills dating back up to 20 years but unless that was pressing on a wire that had chafed through & caused a short I doubt that was what fixed it.
The reason that I swapped over fuses to test the seat motors was because I have no spare 30A fuses but do have twenty on order from Amazon arriving this evening between 5:30pm & 8:30pm. I thought that I would be troubleshooting for a while & chewing through fuses until I found the cause but it looks like I will now have a lifetime's supply of 30A fuses delivered later today😀
I'm relieved that the fix was as simple as replacing the fuse as troubleshooting looked problematical especially with not being able to move the seat at all. The BECM is there under the seat so I had visions of that being an issue. Long ago before the heater matrix & O rings were replaced the carpet used to be sodden but it has been dry for years now.
I just took the car for an MOT & it failed on worn front brake pads which is fair enough as that is normal wear & tear. The other fail was because the FUSE 10 FAILED has returned & as the seat cannot be adjusted it's a fail. Obvious really but it hadn't occurred to me. I will need to investigate tomorrow why the fuse is blowing.
There were a couple of advisories on worn rear brake pads & tyres. I had new tyres on the front for the last MOT so I think that I will replace the rear tyres & take it into the garage & get the brake pads replaced all round.
As I read that if you presented a P38 for an MOT when it was on the bump stops that it would be a "Dangerous" fail & you wouldn't be allowed to drive away from the testing station.
Gilbertd wrote:
nigelbb wrote:
AFAIK no P38 seat has an inflatable lumbar support.
Yes they do, all of them with memory seats and possibly those with electric non-memory too.....
From the owners handbook
I knew that my Vogue has memory seats with adjustable lumbar support but didn't realise that it was a pneumatic inflatable thing. I thought that it was just moving a solid pad. I got my seat adjusted just how I like it years & years ago, stored it as Memory 1 & haven't adjusted the seat for many years.
It's unusually cold for Brittany at present (down to -5C) so I will wait until it warms up a bit before investigating seat wiring.
As a follow up re E85 I am running my P38 on 100% E85 when in France & on E10 when in the UK. Price of E85 is currently 75c while E10 is €1.75. I get 15mpg on E85 & 18mpg on E10 so at present using E85 I am getting the equivalent of 35mpg at E10 prices.
I have noticed that when it is cold that it's a bit reluctant to start & needs cranking longer while pumping the accelerator. However I just discovered that in what I think is a new initiative that from 16th November to 15 March that there is a winter grade of E85. Instead of a maximum of 85% bioethanol during these months the E85 pumps will provide fuel with a maximum of 60% bioethanol i.e. 40% regular petrol. I have filled up with winter grade E85 & it does indeed improve cold start performance (unusually for Brittany we are currently having frosts down to -5C).
Bioethanol like LPG has a lower calorific value than regular petrol so I normally see fuel consumption of about 15mpg versus the 18mpg I get with E10. It will be interesting to see whether I see significant improvement in fuel consumption with this winter grade.
Kbs wrote:
nigelbb wrote:
....found the correct fuse I confirmed that it had blown & replaced it. The seat can now be adjusted again...
If the seat fuse is blowing WITHOUT you pressing buttons, you might want to look at the inflatable lumber support. (I beleive) this is the only seat function that has a switched negative (it has a live unswitched wire in the seat back). You can access this wire without removing the seat but I didn't find this out in time.
I got the FUSE 10 FAILED message again yesterday so it looks like I need to investigate what's actually causing the fuse to blow. We had -5C in Brittany yesterday & the fuse blew when I pressed the PROG button on the HEVAC to clear the ice from the windows. I definitely didn't press any buttons to move the seat.
AFAIK no P38 seat has an inflatable lumbar support. I thought perhaps some short in the heating elements was causing the problem. It's -5C here again this morning & the same is forecast for tomorrow so I'm not going to do any work on the car for a few days. We have lived in this cottage for five years & this is the first time we have had such low temperatures which are very unusual for Brittany.
Kbs wrote:
Today I've decided the p38 (and a spares car) need to go. Insurance is now so ridiculous I can't justify keeping them. Tax & insurance >£2k even with very limited miles. I can get traders insurance but I don't have a big car collection, just the old p38s.
Sad times, I've only had them about 5 years/18months.
Will be back to pick brains about types of wheels and seats before I finally send these great old machines on their way.
Give NFU Mutual a call. They have local offices all over the country. I was very pleasantly surprised when at last renewal LV bumped the premium by 50%. I am paying about £340 for my P38 which is not bad considering my wife's Smart FourTwo costs £275. We are loaded as my wife only passed her test 18 months ago.