Abandoned Range Rover P38... Resurrection or Bust

[Tyre Tread]

Seems I may have condemned the motor too soon:

It couldn't make the motor run by applying voltage to the appropriate wires (Black and brown) so ordered a s/h replacement from a breaker, which arrived today, and wired it up.

Still no response from the motor so i put the meter on it.

When the other motors are turned on by operating the controls, I am seeing around 5v fed to the brown wire on each of them but not on the one that isn't working.

I had a spare HeVAc head unit (display doesn't work) so swapped it over and the situation remains the same so I can only surmise that the BECM (ECU) isn't sending the command to move the motor.

Unplugging the HeVAC control units doesn't clear the book symbol (Error) and "!" from the display so it could be that it needs clearing via Nanocom or similar. Wish i had access to one - might have saved me a lot of work.

So I am somewhat frustrated and once again face a half a day working in the cold to reassemble it all but without a resolution.

[Tyre Tread]

Oh, and just for good measure there was a puddle in the passenger footwell. I think its leaking in via the cabin air filter.

[Tyre Tread]

niva441 said:

Tyre Tread said:

Oh, and just for good measure there was a puddle in the passenger footwell. I think its leaking in via the cabin air filter.

Replacing the pollen filters can cure this, I forget in the amount of work you've done here whether you've done this.

Yes, but obviously not sealed the access points properly (if, indeed, that's where it's leaking).

[Tyre Tread]

The only piece of advice I can give you visa vie Range Rovers is, if you must buy a V8 P38 buy a later one with the Thor engine management (Bosch) rather than the Gems (Lucas) one.

Another few hours lost trying to get the passenger blend motor to work without success so I've thrown it back together(ish) for now until I can get a Nanocom on it.

Rear Jazz brakes freed off and friend's Fabia bumper off and back on again to sort the reversing sensors (He hadn't pushed the connectors back on properly on 2 of the sensors so easy fix) ETA: Oh and neighbours car put onto one of my battery conditioners to help bring it back to life.

Will take the RR to a car meet at Mahmilad near Pontypool tomorrow morning if I can drag myself out of bed after today's exertions (achey breaky) .

Edited by Tyre Tread on Sunday 29th January 12:57

[Tyre Tread]

Bobberoo said:

It's soul destroying when you have to put something back together knowing you haven't fixed it yet!!!

Disappointing, yes.

Made it to the car meet AND BACK and in the process cracked the first thousand miles since it went back on the road.

one small puddle on drivers side mat under the dash (suspect cabin air filter) and one drip on my head from the sunroof from the rusty bit in previous pic. The main drain channel is dry so could it be condensation?

[Tyre Tread]

The sun shone for a few minutes today so I went outside and decided to do a small thing: Since it was already out, fix the glove box i.e. reattach the small bracket that holds the mini strut to the plastic box.

How many tools do you need for such a simple job?



Several minutes later:




Tided up the tools from the bench that I'd used over the weekend and then went inside to make a mess finishing off getting the internal house doors to fit properly.

Been reading up on replacing the sunroof seal. That doesn't sound like it's an easily accomplished task either.

Still haven't even removed the sunroof blind. I am assured that you can bow them and take them out but each time I have a half hearted attempt I feel like something is going to break and I chicken out.

The lexus is going back on the road on Wednesday so I'm half tempted to SORN the RR.

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Mikebentley said:

SORN is the third from last stage of automotive Nirvana closely followed by “get rid” and “destroy “.

OP I admire your efforts with the old boat.

Thank you

Used to think like you BUT now I realise that nit SORNing a car that I might (i.e. probably won't) use, is akin to handing money over to the Government and saying, yeah, it's fine to charge me £30+ a month for me not using my car. So now, my policy is, if I'm not sure if I'll use it, I SORN it and save the cash. If I decide I need it, I just tax is. no big deal - 2 mins online and it's done. I've calculated that over the last year this new "policy" has save me IRO £500 that I can use for other things.

If any corporate body was to charge us in the same way we are charged RFL then Trading Standards would be taking them to task. In this day and age the tax being by the month, rather then by the day, and refunds being given by cheque is just ludicrous. The worst part of course being buying and selling a car where seller gets charged to end of the month and buyer is charged from beginning of month- Gov't gets paid twice for the month.

Edited by Tyre Tread on Monday 6th February 16:45

[Tyre Tread]

Almost a week since my last post but I haven't been idle.

I spent most of the weekend pulling the gearbox from a 1983 Marcos coupe and using bread to help dismantle it. Nope, I'm not joking, bread! Who knew?

Today I decided to see if fitting the silicone vacuum hose would fix the cruise control. I was dreading it but was much easier than I thought. Took it for a spin and well, what do you know, working cruise control.

This victory was soon overwhelmed by the fact the bloody car has started clunking on acceleration and braking! FML. Why can't it just behave so i can make some forward progress?

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HarryD said:

I think it might be best to get rid now.

If you’re still looking to scratch the RR itch I’m sure there’re some better/newer (L322) examples - at not too much money, that whilst won’t be faultless, may afford you more use between spanner time.

Thanks for the positivity and encouragement but judging by the experiences of a friend who has two L322s it would be out of the frying pan and into the fire.

[Tyre Tread]

JeremyH5 said:

Go on, you just love all the deferred maintenance items coming out to play, don’t you?

Of course. At least it saves me on gym membership fees and keeps me from spending my money on beer, cigarettes and drugs.

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Tyre Tread said:

The Lexus is going back on the road on Wednesday so I'm half tempted to SORN the RR.

I know it's considered bad form to quote oneself but I've been bumbling about in the Lexus IS250 again today. It's 16 years old, so not much younger then the RR but a completely different experience and, relatively speaking, so reliable. Yes it threw a code the other day but cleared it and it's been fine since so probably objecting to being l;aid up for 3 months.

If only Lexus made Range Rovers (Somebody will say Land Cruiser I'm sure but they really are not the same)

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Bobberoo said:

Tyre Tread said:

JeremyH5 said:

Go on, you just love all the deferred maintenance items coming out to play, don’t you?

Of course. At least it saves me on gym membership fees and keeps me from spending my money on beer, cigarettes and drugs.

So just what do you use to numb the pain then?!??!?

Self abuse!

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Arnold Cunningham said:

Tyre Tread said:

Almost a week since my last post but I haven't been idle.
I spent most of the weekend pulling the gearbox from a 1983 Marcos coupe and using bread to help dismantle it. Nope, I'm not joking, bread! Who knew?

Pilot bearing in the flywheel?

2 pilot bearings, one behind the other and a bush which had to be removed as it protruded as far as the bolt heads securing the flywheel and was so close that you couldn't get a socket on the bolt heads,but even if you could have got a spanner on them the hex of the head wouldn't have turned because it would have fouled on the bush.

Today I took the Strange Rover to the gun club; a 40 off mile round trip and i was sat on the motorway using the newly fixed cruise control set at 60mph in the sunshine with some heat emanating at least from the driver side and all seemed right with the world.

Just need to work out what the clonking is.

[Tyre Tread]

Bobberoo said:

Have you checked the boot for dead bodies/forgotten about abductees????

Frequently but it would have to be a live abductee under the car at the front as that's where the noise is emanating from.

Actually there's no room in the boot as it's full of spare wheel, a box of spare parts and the trim from the dash and glovebox which I've left off until I can get my hands on the Nanocom

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Been underneath and all the bushes look good. Tried using a prybar but no excessive movement.

Found a CV joint boot that the jubillee clip had rusted through and was just starting to allow grease to escape so took the wheel off and remedied that but nothing that would explain the clonking

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No progress on the knocking yet but yesterday I did manage to achieve this:



I had been told the sunroof blind could be removed by flexing it in the middle but mine felt as though it would break when I flexed it downwards and obviously couldn't flex it up enough with glass sunroof in the way. The correct method to remove the blind is to drop the whole sunroof which I was reluctant to do.

I then found a third method online where you remove the glass and unscrew the guide rails. Partway through this I realised I could flex the blind upwards enough, with the glass out of the way, to pop it out. When it suddenly came free I managed to slam the side of my hand into the sharp metal edge or the roof surround and cut and bruise it. I might have said a few naughty words too.

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Just spent a wonderful couple of hours in the carport with the headliner, a can of thinners, a scraper and rags getting the glue from the headliner.

The various animals and birds that popped by for a chat greatly helped the time to go by along with the swirling patterns I could see in the headliner. Good job breathing thinners fumes has no effect or the poor little animals would have got high on the stuff.

Anyway, one step further and next will be to fit the material - Scary. It's a one shot opportunity as once it touches the glue it's stuck and a £100 piece of material is wasted if I get it wrong.

I'm told it's best to have at least 3 or preferably 4 people to put the headliner on so maybe a job for next weekend. Maybe.

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Took the old bus to the gun club this morning (the lane down to it justifies owning a Land Rover product) which was a 40+ mile round trip, mostly motorway, Headed via the local Asda store for some gas but they've run out and awaiting a delivery.

Figured I had enough gas to make the trip (i did) and was on cruise control all the way there and back (M4 J30 to J36).

Got back home and got a call from my Polish friend in Pontypool that he'd got me a compressor so I went up there to collect it in the Strange Rover and ran out of gas 12 miles from his place so has to use Petrol (fortunately I'd chucked £50 worth in at Asda as the Petrol level was low). I had a magic moment when I couldn't open the fuel flap until I realised that when I'd had the instrument cowl out last week I'd omitted to reconnect the connector plug that goes to the release switch. 10 mins of contortion later and I was back at the pumps.

When my Polish friend went to fill up the gas tank he couldn't get the adaptor to fit from his tank. It seems that somehow the connector on the car has been damaged (looks like old damage) which is why I was struggling to connect the pump at the petrol station. One new connector later...

Knocked up over 100 miles today and quite enjoyed it. Window down, sunroof open, tape playing. Even had a young guy at Asda lean out of his car and shout "Cool car" and give me the thumbs up. The Strange Rover may be cool! Who knew?

[Tyre Tread]

I've ALMOST sealed the eater leaks - Very slight weep at the top of the passenger side to of windscreen.

Today was head lining day, so arranged for some friends to pop round and assist as it's definitely easier with 5 or 6 people.

Full briefing on the do's and don'ts and away we go.


Big thanks to (L to R) Trev, Rob and Martin.




It's not a perfect job but it's a darn site better than it was and we learned a lot doing it.

Obviously after the efforts the team needed to be paid so Mrs TT kindly broke out the tea and bacon butties.



I haven't done all of the final trimming around the edges and fittings yet but that can wait for a day or two.

Meanwhile, much later on Sunday evening, preparations continued to return the Marcos gearbox back to it's home with a new (free moving) clutch. Rob and Trev were underneath lining up the clutch plate with George the GSD in an advisory role while I stood idly by and watched.

Edited by Tyre Tread on Monday 20th February 17:41

[Tyre Tread]

Sunroof blind cleaned up ready for trimming tomorrow.