Abandoned Range Rover P38... Resurrection or Bust
Discussion
Tyre Tread said:
Despite the cold weather and despite having spent Friday in the freezing cold fitting new calipers and pads to the Jazz, and yesterday putting a Fabia back together, today I braved the cold again to remove the HeVAC display from Nelson and had a go at connecting a 9V Battery between the black and brown wires from each motor as suggested in the RangeRover.pub forum in an effort to exercise the blend motors back into life but wasn't able to get any reaction.
I'm a bit bemused because before I tried the above I had sat in the car and operated the direction controls and on each press of a button I could hear the flaps operating, the same for the recirc button.
When the heat was working it hadappeared to be coming from the passenger side, however, when I operate the temp buttons it is the driver's side flaps I can hear moving but not the passenger side.
I removed the glovebox as I need to repair the restraint anyway but that doesn't appear to give me any access so I removed the knee panel from the driver's side and that doesn't seem to help either (ducting in the way. So, where do I go from here? Back to the warm and more research on t'internet.
dashout I think. I believe dealers quoted 17hrs work or something to remove and refit. The biggest issue is, I think your only choice is to replace the broken blend motors with items that will also fail in time.I'm a bit bemused because before I tried the above I had sat in the car and operated the direction controls and on each press of a button I could hear the flaps operating, the same for the recirc button.
When the heat was working it hadappeared to be coming from the passenger side, however, when I operate the temp buttons it is the driver's side flaps I can hear moving but not the passenger side.
I removed the glovebox as I need to repair the restraint anyway but that doesn't appear to give me any access so I removed the knee panel from the driver's side and that doesn't seem to help either (ducting in the way. So, where do I go from here? Back to the warm and more research on t'internet.
300bhp/ton said:
dashout I think. I believe dealers quoted 17hrs work or something to remove and refit. The biggest issue is, I think your only choice is to replace the broken blend motors with items that will also fail in time.
They quoted 12 hours. There's a workaround that involves cutting some air ducting and taping it back together that means it can be done withot removing the dash
Working on a solution based upon various information from multiple forums.
geeks said:
Tyre Tread said:
geeks said:
Tyre Tread said:
Aaargh! Just Aaargh! 
That is all.
U ok hun?xThat is all.
b
d fking ahole tt of a heating system!
Nearly fell off my chair ....
I feel with you, I had a P38 once too. Bought a Range Rover Classic thinking it would be easier to live with
The headlining material and glue arrived today.
Annoyingly, a small puddle has appeared on the passenger side front footwell. But it hasn't rained!
That can fking wait!
I will sort out these damn blend motors. You're supposed to be able to get them to move using a 9V battery but although 2 of the 3 motors work when plugged in the third doesn't and none will move using the 9V battery.
The only ways to reach the blend motors is either to remove the whole dashboard - I'm not sure I want to do that- or cut through one of the pieces of ducting through the aperture for the instrument binnacle. The whole car is built around the heater for sure.
It got far too cold to continue so tomorrow is another day.
Annoyingly, a small puddle has appeared on the passenger side front footwell. But it hasn't rained!
That can f
king wait!I will sort out these damn blend motors. You're supposed to be able to get them to move using a 9V battery but although 2 of the 3 motors work when plugged in the third doesn't and none will move using the 9V battery.
The only ways to reach the blend motors is either to remove the whole dashboard - I'm not sure I want to do that- or cut through one of the pieces of ducting through the aperture for the instrument binnacle. The whole car is built around the heater for sure.
It got far too cold to continue so tomorrow is another day.
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.
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.
Cabin air filter leak an easy remedy hopefully. I had a P38 with blend motor issues. I found a bloke with a good rep by forum who stripped and rebuilt my motors without taking the dash out. The fix lasted 6 months. I found it infuriating that Toyota churn out millions of basic cars with perfect HEVAC but LR aimed beyond their engineering budget/capability. It renders the car frustrating. The same bloke swapped my heater core for an Audi one. Well worth doing to avoid the cracking issue.
I was lucky with mine/bought one off an Indy who had cared for it. Looking back, I feel like I got away with a lot of the pitfalls
I admire your efforts here
I was lucky with mine/bought one off an Indy who had cared for it. Looking back, I feel like I got away with a lot of the pitfalls
I admire your efforts here
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.My 2004 L322 4.4 V8 petrol has averaged 16.1mpg over 45,000 miles. That includes some regular local towing (including off road) and a few times a year long distance towing.
On long journeys without towing it does 19 - 20mpg.
But it’s not a P38 with a Land-Rover engine, so a fair few folk wouldn’t consider an L322 or that BMW engine.
If you’ve got a hankering for ANY V8, do it quickly whilst we still can.
On long journeys without towing it does 19 - 20mpg.
But it’s not a P38 with a Land-Rover engine, so a fair few folk wouldn’t consider an L322 or that BMW engine.
If you’ve got a hankering for ANY V8, do it quickly whilst we still can.
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) .
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
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