Debating a P38

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Palmers

Original Poster:

478 posts

110 months

Tuesday 24th March 2015
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Following on from this thread im seriousely debating a P38 as a daily

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Man maths means it will cost an extra 20 quid a month to my fiesta.... based on 15mpg on the P38. Also


Am i mad? Ive got a friend who does all my mechanics work so its not like i will be going to a dealer for the issues they have, that im sure will crop up at some point. I also do a bit myself but nothing major.


Also have an lpg specialist down the road who could do the servicing of the system etc.


Any P38 owners want to chip in? Experiences? Problems?

Chris

budrover

300 posts

203 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
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No doubt there will be a few people who have never had any problems with a P38, but I know a lot of people who have had there fingers burnt due to niggling electric faults requiring constant attention.

P38 have air suspension - so additional components like air bags / ride sensors / valve block to go wrong - these can be removed for normal springs but the grandeur of a Range Rover is lost.

Am sure plenty of people have good experience of LPG Rover V8's - again every one I know suffer problems like the intermittent back fire that blows the valley gasket or loss of compression due to piston ring wear.

If your on a budget a Range Rover will give you heart burn !

V8 Fettler

7,019 posts

131 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
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Like all old Rangies, P38s have character. Sometimes they dislike their current custodians and lock them out...

http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/7-range-rover-mar...

Buy carefully!


Palmers

Original Poster:

478 posts

110 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
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Ive never heard anything bad about the LPG side. Lots of people from googling are racking up the miles from what i understand as long as its serviced yearly, set up correctly with quality plugs / leads and its a modern multipoint / sequential system then its the dogs danglies.


I am a bit dubious about all these issues though....

CAPP0

19,530 posts

202 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
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I have had a P38, a 2001 4.6 Vogue. Currently own a Classic and an L322 (and a V8 90), so I'm reasonably well-versed in the Solihull ownership experience!

A good P38 is a lovely place to sit and waft around. I loved mine. Initially not too many problems except replacing suspension airbags (which, once you know how to do it, is an absurdly easy job, perhaps 20 mins a corner) but it did develop electrical.electronic gremlins. First I lost the (extremely good) HK sound system, which was probably down to a blown sound processor. They are £250-ish secondhand so I resorted to putting a standard head unit in, but because of the way it is wired it required completely rewiring all (13 or 16 iirc) of the speakers.

Then it grew the infamous battery discharge problem. Again iirc, the BECM (the brains of all the electronic systems on the car) goes into a state where it picks up signals from all sorts of other electronic equipment around it, e.g. other car fobs, etc) and thus never "goes to sleep". Because it's such a busy little sod, it drains the battery in a few days if you're not using it every day. It's all well-documented on the web.

But as I said, they are lovely cars. I did write something at the time when I owned both the P38 and the L322, that whilst the L322 is undoubtedly a fantastic car (mine is my daily, I have had it 4.5 years and covered nearly 50k miles), there is something about the P38 which just somehow has a little more "something" about it. Character? Class? Britishness? Gentleman's club-ness? I can't really explain it.

Don't go for the diesel (sounds like you're not anyway) because they really are glacially slow. But do go for a nice P38. Buy well and you won't regret it. I ran mine for about 18 months and dropped just £200 on the purchase price (£3850 > £3650) when I sold it.

Busterbulldog

670 posts

130 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
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I bought a cheap 1 owner 2001 p38 11months ago now. £2600 inc 1years tax and mot.4.0 v8 In that time it has not cost a penny more.Lovely car for little money

Palmers

Original Poster:

478 posts

110 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
quotequote all
Seems to be a growing trend over the internet that anyone will shout the horror stories or the reputation. But speak to an actual owner of a P38 and it doesnt seem that bad....

Convert

3,747 posts

217 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
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I've had mine since October last year, it's a 4.0 V8 SE.

Bought it with nearly a years ticket on it for £1100. It even had L322 18" alloys on it with new General Grabber AT2's.

Had to put a battery on it, as it went flat after a couple of days not being used. Still went flat with the new one.

So used my Googlefu, and found the cheap fix of making a break in the RF signal (orange) wire and fitting a manual switch.

This means I have to unlock it with the key, hit the switch and then use the unlock button on the fob.

Also fitted a 6W solar panel to the parcel shelf.





Lovely thing to drive, Economy is around 12mpg, but it's only been used for short trips, except when we had snow.

It did have a seized front brake caliper, that I've freed up, along with a few scratched that have been touched up.

Also had a problem with a damp interior, that I think is down to the windscreen trim / seals (covering them in black gaffer tape has allowed it to dry out).

Came in really useful over winter, as we're quite high up and live on a steep hill, with a steep driveway.


budrover

300 posts

203 months

Thursday 26th March 2015
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Palmers said:
Seems to be a growing trend over the internet that anyone will shout the horror stories or the reputation. But speak to an actual owner of a P38 and it doesnt seem that bad....
Am a Land Rover anorak for last 35 years and have a L322 / 90 and series 1 ...had a P38 about 7 years ago but gave in due to suspension / body electric gremlins.

Palmers

Original Poster:

478 posts

110 months

Thursday 26th March 2015
quotequote all
budrover said:
Am a Land Rover anorak for last 35 years and have a L322 / 90 and series 1 ...had a P38 about 7 years ago but gave in due to suspension / body electric gremlins.
SHHHH!

Im trying to convince myself its a good idea! LOL

Busterbulldog

670 posts

130 months

Thursday 26th March 2015
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It is a good idea. Just don't buy rubbish.When you get one join Landyzone.

Convert

3,747 posts

217 months

Thursday 26th March 2015
quotequote all
Busterbulldog said:
It is a good idea. Just don't buy rubbish.When you get one join Landyzone.
Agreed. Some great help on that forum, but some of it is quite blunt and direct, albeit very useful.

uk_vette

3,336 posts

203 months

Thursday 26th March 2015
quotequote all
Busterbulldog said:
It is a good idea. Just don't buy rubbish.When you get one join Landyzone.
One of the best forums on Internet.
Says a Landcruiser owner.

vette

Palmers

Original Poster:

478 posts

110 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
quotequote all
Busterbulldog said:
It is a good idea. Just don't buy rubbish.When you get one join Landyzone.
Oh i dont intend to buy a scrapper.

Would you advise its best to get 2000+ for the bosch electrics?

Busterbulldog

670 posts

130 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
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Palmers said:
Oh i dont intend to buy a scrapper.

Would you advise its best to get 2000+ for the bosch electrics?
I think you can go another year or so back and still have the later engine and electrics.

kooky guy

582 posts

165 months

Monday 30th March 2015
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Busterbulldog said:
I think you can go another year or so back and still have the later engine and electrics.
99 I think was the start point for the THOR engine management although I'm not sure it offered any real improvements. Having said that, you do get 4 wheel traction control on the Thor ones.

I've had mine for about 7 years now and its been pretty good. It was my daily drive for a long time and regularly got used and abused off road (they're very good). Never had any issues with lpg - Mine ran beautifully on it (and most do as long as they're multipoint sequential systems).

There are a lot of scare stories about them - but really there isn't all that much to go wrong with them. They're been around for so long now that all their foibles are well understood. The air suspension is simple to maintain and overhaul and even problems with the electronics can be resolved reasonably easily. I'd certainly recommend Landyzone for advice, both in finding a good one and keeping it running. The workshop manual (RAVE) is freely available for download and is extremely comprehensive.



eliot

11,363 posts

253 months

Monday 30th March 2015
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Palmers said:
Oh i dont intend to buy a scrapper.

Would you advise its best to get 2000+ for the bosch electrics?
Having owned two GEMS and one Bosch - I would say go for the Bosch one. They just seem much nicer, the instrument binnacle used a slightly newer font, the engine is smoother and has more torque and the gearbox changes up and down better.
All of mine have had the battery drain problem, I just disconnect the blue aerial cable going into the receiver underneath the rear parcel shelf support.

More info:
http://www.mez.co.uk/p38.html

bakerstreet

4,755 posts

164 months

Wednesday 1st April 2015
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kooky guy said:
99 I think was the start point for the THOR engine management although I'm not sure it offered any real improvements. Having said that, you do get 4 wheel traction control on the Thor ones.

I've had mine for about 7 years now and its been pretty good. It was my daily drive for a long time and regularly got used and abused off road (they're very good). Never had any issues with lpg - Mine ran beautifully on it (and most do as long as they're multipoint sequential systems).

There are a lot of scare stories about them - but really there isn't all that much to go wrong with them. They're been around for so long now that all their foibles are well understood. The air suspension is simple to maintain and overhaul and even problems with the electronics can be resolved reasonably easily. I'd certainly recommend Landyzone for advice, both in finding a good one and keeping it running. The workshop manual (RAVE) is freely available for download and is extremely comprehensive.
What do you mean scare stories?? The known issues with the compressors and air bags are not scare stories!?! Same with the battery draining its self.

The diesels have to be worth a look. No slipped liners for a start. Also its the BMW straight six lump, which is known to be pretty robust. Agreed that at 138bhp, its going to be a bit slow, but for £100, you can get it re-mapped to 180 smile


kooky guy

582 posts

165 months

Thursday 2nd April 2015
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bakerstreet said:
What do you mean scare stories?? The known issues with the compressors and air bags are not scare stories!?! Same with the battery draining its self.

The diesels have to be worth a look. No slipped liners for a start. Also its the BMW straight six lump, which is known to be pretty robust. Agreed that at 138bhp, its going to be a bit slow, but for £100, you can get it re-mapped to 180 smile
They are known issues and very easy to resolve but are often quoted as being the end of the world. They're not. Hardly anything is on these if you actually look into it.

The diesels do have a habit of cracking their heads...